Click on the bill to see all the gory detail.
The time: 9:21 on a windy Cape Town Spring evening.
The place: Nonna Lina’s Pizza and Pasta joint, Gardens, Cape Town.
We order the bill. Just ok food, and very slow service. It was a pit stop on the way home after a long day out.
Bill arrives. Something is wrong. Something is very wrong.
Food is totalled, then a service charge is added.
Below that the gratuity line is left blank.
Below that the bill states “A service charge is not included”.
We ask our waiter to explain what’s going on. He hurriedly explains that “I only work here”.
Manager appears. I complain. “Oh yes”, he says, “This is something we do to foreigners!”.
What! A tourist Tax? I should add I don’t have a South African accent.
Backpedalling, excuses “Europeans don’t know how to tip…”.
We leave.
I e.mail the owner, a Mr. Scamuzzi. (Real name) and ask him to explain, outlining that if I had paid the normal 10% on the “bill total” I would have ended up paying a total tip of R83.50 on a bill of R373.
That’s a whopping 22%.
Mr.Scamuzzi replies, blaming the waiter who should have highlighted the double tipping and admitting, actually admitting, their double tipping policy. I quote:
“It is true that we put service mainly for european turists (sic) and to be honest the worst are the Italians (I am Italian), but not because they don’t want to tip, it is just because in Europe in general tip is not in use, waiters got paid fixed monthly amount so you don’t have to tip…”
He adds, without a hint of irony;” About the bill printing I have to apologies and thank you very much to have pointed to me. I already provided changing the writing, now state “service might be included, please check your bill”".
So Mr. Scamuzzi, hold on while I lift my jaw off the keyboard, what you are saying is that you tried to rip me off, but in future you will ask me to check, as I may or may not be ripped off by your attempt at double tipping.
I phoned a well known Cape Town restaurateur and he spluttered in disbelief down the phoneline when I related my story.
I also called Wendy Alberts, CEO of the Restaurants Association of South Africa, RASA for short.
“Shocking, dishonest, morally incorrect” was her immediate comment.
She was quite unequivocal in her condemnation of this practice. “Restaurant owners are obliged to pay their staff the minimum wage, they cannot expect the public to pay their staffs wages”.She said that RASA had issued a press release in February this year condeming the policy of double tipping.
So the tourism season is almost upon us, and, fuelled by all the positive exposure South Africa gained during the World Cup, thousands will descend on South Africa and eat in restaurants across the country.
How many of them will be double tapped??
Nonna Lina
Cnr Rheede and Orange Street
Gardens
021 424 4966
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Cathy Marston Via Twitter.
Happens to me often when they hear the accent. Also, all the specials are always crayfish-& no mention of the price.
ADV AJ Nel. Via Twitter.
Cape Town is internationally notorious for that!
Merlot Girl. Via Twiitter.
Shocking! They have such awesome pizzas there, so disappointed with their dodgy behaviour.
Under the Table CT. Via Twitter.
The cheek here is unbelievable.
Thanks for pointing this out Clare – I’ll be looking out for this going forward.
sam
thanks for the heads up!
The owner once almost kicked people out because all they wanted to do was drink
Cape Town fishmarket in Tygervalley Centre did exactly the same to a table of 12.
Hi Clare,
wow, talking about wrong people into “hospitality” businesses!!!
now the question is: what is the foreigner accent? i live in Cape town for over a year now and i haven’t got it right yet.
In a country with (i guess) about 14 official different languages, with every one having a different accent of english, depending where they come from; who is the foreigner??
How can this guy say he is “italian”? yes italians usually don’t tip: a waiter in Italy/europe has a basic salary of at least R8000 and in season time salary goes to R20k without tip!
Maybe the “european” don’t tip in his restaurant because his food/service is just bad.
One thing i have notice here in Cape Town: sometime bad food/horrible service and people still tip and no complaint.
How a restaurant/waiter/chef can improve if no one says anything?
Clare,
thanks for the information, is a great piece.
Please do Cape Town a big favor and publish it in a
NEWS PAPER, you will see how many will start to shake…
Cru Café Wine Bar And Restaurant in the Cape Quarter did a similar thing, although it is explained in a “brochure” on the table – Who reads the small print….. When we noticed a 10% service charge included on the bill and asked about it, the waiter explained that 10% is automatically added. This 10% is split between the waiters, kitchen staff, dish washers etc. He added (rather embarrassed) that if we felt the service was good, to please add another tip for him, otherwise the waiters only get a portion of the shared 10%. This was about a year ago, not sure whether they still have the same practice – clearly I never went back.
I enjoy Voila in De Waterkant as thir cakes/tarts and breakfasts are delicious. But a couple of months ago I was offered cream with the pecan pie we ordered. And then charged R5 for it on the bill!
When I queried the charge with the waiter, told it was restaurant policy. But he looked embaressed. I advised him to inform customers in advance next time if he didn’t want to suffer in terms of tips…
The excuse they give is always the same. The truth is that the first tipping goes to the BOSS which is always safe because it is added to the bill and then the second tipping goes to the waiter, that is optional. The same problem happens in London
francisco