Many M'sians would rather pay service charge than tip
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Many Malaysians, including parliamentarians, prefer to pay the service charge rather than tip wait staff at restaurants, saying that it is more practical.
Shah Alam MP Khalid Abdul Samad said tipping might not necessarily be a good practice.
“Many people tip even after paying service charge. But if there comes a situation where tipping becomes a practice, it may be embarrassing for some if they choose not to do so.
“Regardless of the service, the waiters will be expecting you to tip so, that considered, I would personally prefer service charge,” he said, adding the payment of service charge only became a big deal after the implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST).
Pulai MP Nur Jazlan Mohamed said abolishing service charge might only lead to restaurant owners increasing the prices of their food and beverages.
“Yes, it may seem more sensible to be able to tip the waiters based on the service they give. However, the restaurants will still look at their profit margin and eventually increase the price of their products to overcome losses.
“When you really think about it, the only reason people are making a big deal is because they can see the disparity on the receipts due to the breakdown for food, GST and service charge,” he said.
People, added Nur Jazlan, would not question service charge as much if there was no such breakdown.
Malaysia-Singapore Coffee Shop Proprietors’ General Association president Ho Su Mong said many restaurant owners had stopped the practice of service charge to avoid confusion and to keep customers coming back to their premises.
“Our members encountered many problems since the implementation of GST. Some feel like they are overcharging and that is why they decided to stop service charge and leave it to the customers to tip or not,” he said.
Tipping, he said, would benefit both parties because consumers expected good service and reasonable prices while it encouraged waiters and waitress to serve customers better.
He said tips ranged between 20 ringgit and 50 ringgt, adding that only 10 per cent to 20 per cent of the association’s 20,000 members practised service charge while none in Sarawak did so.
He believed that service charge would burden customers, considering that 10 per cent was quite a lot, especially for huge dinners.
“Costumers are already paying a lot in some big restaurants and when service charge is added to the amount, it will be a lot bigger even if it is 10 per cent.”
