In recent months, numerous Americans have expressed their dissatisfaction regarding the emergence of unexpected charges on their restaurant bills. In this particular incident which has attracted attention, one restaurant introduced a relatively novel concept referred to as an ‘Employee Wellness Fee.’

The incident gained prominence on Reddit, with the restaurant in question being Plates in New Orleans. This charge amounted to 3% or $3.42 in monetary terms and to be candid, its purpose appeared unclear in terms of what it actually meant. For instance, the very term ‘wellness’ is difficult to define, while it’s not also known whether the fee is compulsory.

The original post was captioned ‘More and more I see extra fees added to my final bill when going out and all of them pre-tax. Some of these places are not cheap, to begin with and should be able to provide partial insurance at least or living wages to the staff,’ which showed that the customer clearly wasn’t pleased with the extra fee. In fairness, you can’t blame them either due to the innocuous nature of the fee.

Nevertheless, it’s easy to understand why such an additional fee might irk even the most patient of patrons. While it’s customary to be billed for your orders and to provide a gratuity, it becomes a different matter when apparently arbitrary charges are tacked onto the final bill.