Well I had a chat with the restaurant manager who confirmed no-one's going to mind if I ask for it to be removed. I suppose they assume most will just leave it so they'll make more money.
I used to always tip in restaurants, mostly cos every else does.
Nowadays I don't bother. Minimum wage exists for a reason and I'm paying for someone else to cook the food for me and bring it to me in a nice place in the difference between how much I could buy and cook the stuff for myself, in my own house and how much the restaurant charges.
Tacking a service charge on to the bill annoys me, in the same way Ryanair or Ticketmaster annoy me by adding transaction charges on, so I don't pay it. just build it in to the price please.
I now only tip if I get exceptionally good service, not just in restaurants but anywhere really. And I mean exceptionally in the literal sense.
