Menu card is a liar. Service charge is a bitch. Especially, for 25 year old bachelors living with their parents.

Some gyan first. What is retail? Sale of goods and services from individuals or businesses to the end-user. Now, what is MRP? An information that a product must carry, which is determined by the manufacturer for the consumer (under the Consumer Good Act). It stands for, Maximum Retail Price (MRP).

When you buy a beer in a liquor store, you pay the MRP. When you buy a beer in a bar, you pay (like) 150% of the MRP. When you buy a beer from a five star hotel, you pay (like) 300% of MRP. So, it is MRP plus service charges. Fair enough.

Now it’s clear that “services” does not come under MRP and that the liquor store and hotels do not  purchase the beer for MRP (from the manufacture). Ob(viously)!

So, MRP is really not a big deal for the restaurants or the hotels? they don't use it anyway. So my point is that... 

A lot of us consume products in the form of a service (like, going to a restaurant for food, drinking tea in a café) and we (mostly, 25 year old bachelors living with their mom) don't really buy a lot of products. It will be very convenient if we have a Maximum limit on service charges. 

Maybe there is one already, but, it’s sad that many of us don't understand why service charges vary from one place to another, and cry when the menu says Hot Chocolate is Rs 140, but the bill is for Rs 270.     

PS: Is there any standard way for consumers to find out the service charge (that a restaurant charges)? Please help if you know how. I know there is one simple way, that is, ask the hotel-guy what will be the total bill. J But again, if you are sitting with a pretty girl, it’s really not recommended to ask such questions. J