Restaurant owners dishonest

THE EDITOR: Please permit me a space in your newspaper to bring to the attention of your readers, a wrong that must be highlighted and corrected. The problem exists in most restaurants in TT as a result of the blatant dishonesty of the owners or managers of these businesses. We have adopted a very nice means of thanking the waiters and waitresses for their services, by giving a little extra “free gift” in the form of a tip. In most instances ten percent is given but any amount can be given. In the last few years this “free gift” has been placed on the bill as a legal service charge. And to add insult to injury, VAT is added to that charge, raising the cost of your bill by ten percent.

In researching this practice through discussions with restaurant owners and mangers, I discovered that only three percent was distributed to the employees. The proprietors pocketed the remaining seven percent. Their point was that the Government demanded they must VAT the service charge, once it is placed on the bill as a legal charge, which is correct. But this was never a legal charge! It’s a free gift to the waiters and waitresses and should not be placed on the bill. In fair and honest businesses the practice has been to not place the charge on the bill but to allow the employee to receive the full amount of the gratuity. I do hope you will see fit to publish this letter. It is time that something is done about this blatant dishonesty.

LEARIE GRAHAM DC