Watch: Customers, restaurant staff break into a fight over service charge – Times of India

Can you imagine your fine dine experience turning into a nightmare after a huge clash? Well, this may sound bizarre, but a recent violent tussle between a family and restaurant staff in Nodia raised a major concern on the rights of customer’s choice to either pay or waive off the service charge based on their experience. Here’s what happened and why it is a major debate? Read on to find out.
What is the service charge?
As per the guidelines of the service charge no hotel or restaurant shall force a consumer to pay service charge. In fact, as per rules, service charge is voluntary and depends on consumer’s discretion. In June 2022, the Government of India announced the removal of service charge from their bills as it was totally optional. While some restaurants followed the guidelines, others continued by imposing this charge, which was voluntary.

What exactly happened?
The bizarre and violent incident happened last Sunday night at ‘Float by Duty-Free’ Spectrum Mall, Sector 75, Noida. Wherein a customer requested to waive off the service charge from the bill on which the restaurant staff argued and led to a major tussle, which started from verbal argument and turned violent. The viral video raised the debate over inclusion of service charge.

The viral video
The viral video was first posted on Twitter by a user @ShaanKh78682118, which went viral and was retweeted. Another user @Sunita57356474 narrated her experience in a thread. She wrote her whole experience: “Today we[sic] have visited your restaurant Float by Dutyfree located at Spectrum Mall, Sector-75, Noida with my family. First of all your staff declined us to serve certain food items post and we said okay. Post that we asked for the bill and they handed over the bills to us and we asked them to remove the service charge but they were adamant not to remove and started abusing my brother and assaulted me,”.
The lady further mentioned how the tussle turned into a nightmare for them when they started beating her family members. She wrote: “Post that your staff started beating my brother, me, my mother and Maasi. 30 people started beating my family and grabbed my brother by the neck and tried to strangle him. Sir, we don’t expect this kind of behaviour from anyone. We go to many restaurants but no one behaves like your staff behaved today”. Here’s a glimpse of the incident:

What happened next?
As per a report by a leading daily, an FIR has been registered on this incident and investigations are underway. In an official statement, Harish Chander, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Noida said “Necessary legal action is being taken after registering the charges. Those who have been assaulted, their arrest will be ensured.”
What’s your take on this incident? Would you still pay the service charge?