核心畫面

Think of a bill with two lines on it. The top line is the thing itself — the food, the ticket, the flat. The second line is smaller, and it is there because somebody did work around that thing: carried the plates, took the booking, swept the . A service charge can be thought of as that second line, pulled out and named. It never makes what you bought any better; it pays for the hands that handled it.

可以想成一張帳單上有兩行字。上面那一行是東西本身:那份餐點、那張票、那間房子。下面那一行比較小,會出現是因為有人在旁更多收起可以想成一張帳單上有兩行字。上面那一行是東西本身:那份餐點、那張票、那間房子。下面那一行比較小,會出現是因為有人在旁邊做了事——替你端菜、替你訂位、替你掃樓梯。service charge 可以想成被單獨拉出來、寫上名字的第二行。它不會讓你買到的東西變好一點,它付的是「有人動手處理」這件事。所以每次看到這個字,就代表你付的錢比標價多,而多的那一塊買的是人力,不是東西。

Two branches

有人替你做事,所以另外收一筆

這一組最貼近核心畫面:你看得到是誰在服務你,也看得到那筆錢是為了誰而收。

noun · B1

Money added to your bill in a restaurant, on top of the food and drink, that pays the staff for serving you. It is usually worked out as a part of the total, such as ten percent.

服務費

買賣過程本身的處理費

同樣是第二行的錢,只是這次做事的人你看不見:處理的是訂單和手續,不是餐桌或樓梯。

noun · B1

Extra money added to the price of something you are buying, which pays for the work of arranging or handling the sale rather than for the thing itself.

手續費