Sometimes it’s pretty confusing to know what you have to pay for at restaurants and can be left with an unwanted fee. For example, in Italy, when you drink coffee at the bar, you pay for coffee only, but if you decide to sit at the tables, your coffee will cost you more as you will be charged a fee and if you come for the first time, you may not be aware of it.
This woman who had worked as a waitress herself was baffled by a fee she was charged that she didn’t know existed. She brought a cake with her to a restaurant and the server offered to cut it. The woman thought the server was doing it from the kindness of her heart but upon receiving the bill, she realized she was charged $25 for it.
More info: TikTok
Woman who has experience as a waitress realized she didn't know everything about the industry when her bill said that she got charged for cake cutting
Image credits: vivala_blondiiie
TikTok user vivala_blondiiie or GiGi recently celebrated her friend's birthday with their friend group. GiGi prepared a cake for her friend and they all went to have some nice food at a restaurant.
The woman lives in Arizona and the weather there is hot, so the cake would have melted if she had left it in the car, so she took it into the restaurant. Many people were bothered by this because they didn’t think it was appropriate to bring food into a place where you should be buying it.
The TikToker was celebrating her friend's birthday at a hotel restaurant and one of her gifts was a handmade cake
Image credits: Sarah Stierch (not the actual photo)
But in the comments, GiGi explained that she wasn’t planning on eating the cake, she just wanted to keep it at room temperature because it would have melted in the car. Also, the staff there wasn’t bothered, so no harm was done.
The staff not only wasn’t bothered, but the waitress even offered to cut the cake. GiGi assumed the server was being nice, but when she received the bill, she noticed that there was a cake cut fee.
Seeing that she was in Arizona, she didn't want to leave it in the car, fearing it could melt, so she took it with her into the restaurant where it was cooler
Gigi has worked as a waitress for 6 years and she never heard of a cake cutting fee. Also, it was $25, which is almost as much as they paid for their pizzas. While answering to comments, the woman expressed that although she was surprised by the fee, she could understand it, but still, the amount she was charged was a bit much.
The video in which GiGi showed the bill went viral on TikTok with over 800k views and it seems that charging for cutting a cake is a real thing. Both customers and servers shared that where they eat or work, they do charge a fee because they use utensils and plates that have to be washed after.
The server noticed the cake and offered to cut it, although originally the party didn't have the intention to eat it
Image credits: Glenn Fleishman (not the actual photo)
However, they also agreed that the fee was extortionate and what did surprise them was that the server didn’t think to warn the customer, especially when she offered it herself.
GiGi also mentioned in the comments that they were eating at a hotel restaurant and were charged a service fee, so maybe due to the fact that it was a restaurant in a hotel, prices of everything were higher. Originally the restaurant is aimed at people staying in the building, so hotels allow themselves to charge more because they are providing a convenient place to come to eat.
When the woman received the bill, she noticed a line that said "cake cut" and it cost $25, which was news to her as in her waitress career she'd never heard of it
Another reason why the cake fee shouldn’t have surprised GiGi is because there is a better-known fee called a corkage fee to customers who bring their own wine. According to Touch Bistro, “Many restaurants charge between a $10 and $40 corkage fee per bottle of wine. In New York City, for example, the average corkage fee is $36 per bottle. However, some corkage fees can be upwards of $100. Usually, the more expensive a restaurant, the more expensive the corkage fee.”
They also explain why restaurants charge for something you didn’t buy: “Part of the reason why restaurants charge a corkage fee is to cover the cost and time associated with serving a bottle of wine. While the most basic service that restaurants provide is removing the cork from the bottle, you also supply customers with stemware (anything from a basic wine glass to a glass appropriate for that specific type of wine), refill glasses, and (potentially) chill the wine.”
Squareup adds that “Some businesses may also charge a corkage fee to help recoup lost bar profits. Despite the name, a corkage fee does not just cover the waiter's time uncorking the wine.”
But other people did as they expressed in the comments, although they agreed that the price was steep and the server should have warned her
Image credits: Ron Lach (not the actual photo)
Did you know that you can be charged for asking to cut a cake you brought in? Would you assume that it’s free if a server asked if you wanted your cake to be cut? Did you know about the corkage fee? Do you think it makes sense? Let us know in the comments.