Andre Roberson Leaves a less than expected tip in ATX

Where in the following menu do you see a $500 bottle?

http://www.chupacabracantina.com/drinks/

 

Maybe he said to the guy "how much for the entire bottle?" The bartender made a guesstimate and handed him it. I've made similar deals.

Out here there is a dive bar that has tequila on a pump gun. We asked the bartender how much for twenty seconds on the gun directly into a friend's mouth? He said twenty bucks and we kindly obliged. Pretty sure that's not on the menu...

 

Lets keep track of all celebrities/famous/popular public figures. In sure there's tons of 'bad' tippers just like the average citizen.

Non story. Like one poster said the owners need to pay their d@mn employees, wicked stuff.

 

A tipping thread. Never disappoints.

Relevant to the actual story, Roberson claims he tipped $100 on $200 of service, well tipped. He wanted the bottle for his table, so the bartender multiplied the individual serving size price to make up the $487 tab and handed that to Roberson. Not deserving of a tip.

The bartender deserves to get fired over calling out a patron like that.

 

My question is this. We don't tip the people who serve us in a department store. We don't tip people who serve us in a hospital. We don't tip people who serve us on an airplane. In fact, we don't tip people who serve us in most occupations. It works just fine. The principle you cited about better workers ultimately making better money applies to these industries too. Tipping servers in restaurants, hotel, salon etc. seem to me quite arbitrary. Why can't these industries change when most customers don't like this practice?

 

So is tipping optional or is it mandatory? If it's optional then stop judging people for what they choose to do with their money. If it's mandatory then just make it so and stop defending the current system which makes no sense.

Why am I tipping the restaurant worker but not the fast food employee? Why does the bellboy get a tip but not the front desk attendant? Why am I expected to do my job well regardless of my compensation but that doesn't seem to apply to others who need extra incentive? The person serving me a $500 bottle is probably better trained than the person serving me a $25 bottle, but does he deserve a 20x higher tip?

To all of you who tip because you don't want people to spit in your food, do you realize you're effectively being blackmailed by the system or your own paranoia?

I tip well and am not insecure enough to need to post receipts online to prove it. But that doesn't mean I can't also think critically and express my opinion about a system that doesn't make sense.

 

Ok, so assuming that was the case, he and 12 buddies were sitting at the bar drinking and 'all the bartender did' was bring the bottle. Who gave them their glasses/ice/mixers/whatever? Who's cleaning up after them? Plus that's 13 seats at the bar where the bartender could be making money serving other people.

 

Tbf, it's already built into the system. Let's say everyone stops tipping, these workers will then get minimum wage as is. What people in the service industry are advocating for is pay that is higher than minimum wage. My question is, similar to yours is, why do these employees deserve more per hour than a worker at bestbuy, a gas station attendant (in Oregon we aren't allowed to pump our own gas), or any other profession that hires unskilled labor at or near minimum wage?

That doesn't mean I don't tip. I tend to tip bartenders in the neighborhood of 20-30%, because they have some specialization and knowledge (especially out here in Oregon where if you're not drinking craft micro non gmo gluten free beer your not drinking beer). Hell, I've tipped 100-300% before because a bartender nailed the beer I was looking for. But, I don't always do it and don't see it as a requirement. Also, when I have to DD, if a bartender gives me free soda I tip him super well. Support DDs people (but not DaDakota). I'm fine with tipping to reward excellent service, and when I was a waiter loved tips because it often meant I connected with another person.

 

A rational argument. But now the counterargument will be a strawman appeal to your pride by calling you cheap. Let's see if you're secure enough to handle that insult.

 

OK, so the bartender got paid $13 to clean up and hand out some glasses. How much time do you think that takes. Let's say an hour. That guy got $13 an hour to do almost nothing. There are McDonald's employees who get less for doing more.

 

Maybe McDonald's employees should work at a restaurant/bar instead of McDonald's. And if they are unable to for whatever reason, that's how the world works.

 

So we should continue to perpetuate a system that randomly rewards some people for doing less than others because they were lucky enough to find a job at a pretentious bar? Got it. Let's also further reward those lucky individuals by backing them on social media and such when they rudely and unjustly blast their customers, the same customers mind you that support them getting paid more than what they are worth. Got it.

 

Also, in this example I'm assuming a ton, first and foremost that the bar was completely empty and Roberson was the only customer, and that the server is not getting paid whatever his hourly wage is on top of tips. I'm also greatly over exaggerating the necessary time to hand over a bottle, glasses and run a credit card, but you catch my drift here.

Edit: maybe there is something lost in an opportunity cost here. Maybe one bottle could have been split among 10-20 customers each offering an individual tip. But in order for an opportunity cost to take place you would have to assume that the bottle ran out before it was replaced and that in the example where a bartender were to serve that many customers he in essence would be doing more near to 10-20x the work. All in all, I say opportunity cost is negligible, but am open to hearing why it wouldn't be.

 

Using this logic, then someone in the Jim Crow era could be saying:

While I understand where you're coming from, the whole "deal with it that's how the world works" is problematic. You'd never make progress if that was the answer to everything.

 

LOL comparing segregation to working at restaurants, nice leap there! Guess what? I'd like to be a professional golfer, but unfortunately, that's not possible. Waaaaaah

 

Again, other bartenders have defended Roberson. So at least some of them are saying that what he did was reasonable.

That being that case, it is far from consensus that Roberson was being cheap like you claim. You can still claim that but the fact that there is a lot of disagreement should tell you that "everyone knows the tippinig system" is a wrong statement.

 

So what special skill does someone who serves food at a restaurant have over someone who serves food at a hospital? What talents does someone who cleans tables at a restaurant have over someone who cleans tables at McDonalds? Why does the person who makes me coffee at starbucks deserve a tip but not the admin at my office job?

Arguing "that's how the world works" is not only straw man (we are debating the merits of the system, not whether the system exists), but is an entirely lazy and defeatist attitude. In 1900, while women were fighting for suffrage, would you have been the one arguing against it because "that's how the world works?" In the 1800s, were you defending slavery because "that's how the world works?" Obviously those are more extreme examples, but entirely analogous nonetheless.

If history was made entirely of people with el gnomo's mindset, would there have been any progress for humanity?

 

Really? A waiter at a decent restaurant has to be able to know the menu, converse, and sell. I'm sure some fast food workers would be able to do that, but not the majority. I don't drink coffee, but I'm sure the baristas know much more about it than your admin.

If a fast food worker is qualified to work at a restaurant, and they wanted to work at one, they'd get hired at one. What obstacles do you think are holding them back?

Comparing this to women's suffrage? Slavery? Segregation? Have you guys lost your minds?

 

It really seems excessive to me. Tipping based on percentage is stupid, because higher cost ingredients don't change the difficulty.

That is an $8 tip. $1/beer, $2/mixed. Several aren't just waiting on one table or bartenders on one customer.

 

The way tips should work is that they are a reward for above and beyond service. Normal, expected service should receive no tip. Bad service should get reported and reprimanded. In countries that have tipping outside of the US, that's the system. And most countries in fact don't have tipping as its built into prices and/or is a mandatory service fee yet service is fine.

But in the US the law allows tipped workers to be paid $2.13/hour and so tipping doesn't work as "extra" bonus. It is in fact almost the entire source of income.

What this means, in effect, is that the server is like an independent contractor being employed by the customer directly and paid in a separate bill on the "tip" line.

Its clearly why a lot of restaurateurs like the system. It doesn't save the customers any money but owners can say to servers, look you're paid directly by the customers. If you're not making enough, they are to blame. And in some situations, like at high end places, even servers like it. At Dennys or places like that though, probably not as much.

Imagine that all restaurants paid all servers $0/hour and told them that they were no longer employees of the restaurant. Instead they were independent contractors and paid via the "tip" line on the bill. Well in effect, that's kind of the system we have. Except of course the servers can't just work whenever they want like true independent contractors.