Originally Posted by
Often1
Comparisons between countries don't work well. Different countries have different customs and that's just the way it works.
In fact, many tourist-facing businesses in places where tipping is traditional, wind up addiding service charges just because foreign visitors don't realize it's expected and so don't.
When in Rome...
But many places adding service charges aren't even tipping based countries....
Also if you're going to add a "mandatory" service charge it should be factored into the price of the food, otherwise it will "confuse" the foreign visitors even more.
There really isn't a good argument to be had that a service fee that is mandatory everywhere should be tacked on at the end of the meal, if it's part of the cost of dining out then the prices should reflect that.
There's a big difference between gratuity(which is recommended in tipping countries because otherwise you're being a .........), and service charges which you don't have the ability to modify or object to.