Bill Please!

Every so often I get a bill that has a percentage of service charge along with it. Now this maybe nothing new if at all recognized but do you feel that sometimes that percentage doesn't mirror the actual service given?

I have always asked the question of "do we have the right to not pay the charges?". Although these questions are asked to family and friend most of which have no real knowledge of actual consumer laws here in Malaysia. As I see it, and in the eyes of many I know, we are entitled to deny payment of such charges. Nonetheless I have never seen such a case where somebody has refuse to pay it in front of my eyes.

Why do they put up such charges anyway? My theory is our culture doesn't register a tipping system. Like it or not, if we were to rid the service chargers none (if not at least most) of the customer will not give tips to deserving (or in some cases undeserving) servers. We are not used to such a "foreign" concept. This is the same with not cleaning up after eating at a restaurant because the staff will do it for us (in cases of fast food joints and stalls). At a very early age, we are thought to leave behind our plates on the table for the cleaners to get them for us.

Now I'm not just pointing the finger at this country, I've seen such acts done in the UK and Europe where most of the cleaners, like here, are Asians of foreign origin. When I was a kid growing up in the States, we were made to clean up after our plates. Okay, the word "clean up" is mostly misunderstood because the fact is we just threw away any unusable stuff and leave the tray on necessary table, so it might not have come to the extent of "cleaning up" but the point I would want to make is the effort we put into helping out.

My theory is that with us helping out a bit, this results in better customer relations, hence better service. This also (might) result in a cleaner place unlike what you see in most fast foo joints outside a mall here in Malaysia. most notably the McD in Ayer Keroh. Ha ha! This will enhance our awareness of helping out and maybe (just maybe) improve our ethics in public situation (like that of a public transport where most pregnant ladies are still standing up).

My mom argues that this is due to a low minimum wage. Which to me is confusing because if people had a higher minimum wage, wouldn't they need to do more? But the logic is this, when the minimum wage is higher, less employees are hired. This lacks the man power to clean up. Where as with lower minimum wage, more employees are hired and assigned clean up jobs. In reality I don't see increment in employees in parallel to the work that needs to be done. That is a human right issue however (i think).

In regards to the tipping system, my logic is that if there was one, wouldn't the server increase their work performance (service and customer realtions) to get more tips? Restaurants are reluctant to gamble on the idea so they have placed a fix service charge (and a high fixed percentage at that!). So unless there are any major changes, look foward to that 15% chargers on your bill.

*This is only in theory (mine in particular) and no statistical evidence provided (because I'm that lazy). Ha ha! Observation of a guy with to many questions that are mostly useless.