I used to tip A LOT. I'd buy a jegar bomb or two and tip like 3-4 bucks... But since I started delivering I don't tip them nearly as much. I drive around town for 10min or so, and I get tipped like nothing...if I even get tiped at all! So now, I don't tip people who have to walk 3 steps to get me a drink that much anymore.
Again, the bar patron is not paying for beers. He is paying for his night out, and the ambience a bar provides (no matter how cruddy). With taxes (HUGE taxes), overhead, and liquor laws are figured into it, bar and club owners really aren't making much more than it takes to keep their bar afloat. This is why you see most bar owners tend bar at the smaller places. For the second time in the thread, let me break it down: The bar owner is essentially living his/her dream, running a bar of his/her own design, and making a solid if unspectacular profit. The bartender/server is making $2.13 an hour, but their hard work and diligence can pay off during peak hours when they are part babysitter/boyfriend/cop/father/dealer all in one. They are (usually) rewarded for good service, and though they usually work from 7pm to 4am, they are free during the days to pursue other interests (school, the arts, whatever). The bar patron gets to leave the house, take in something besides the usual four walls that surrounds him, meet a girl, listen to music, drop peanut shells on the floor, get buzzed and scream -- all the stuff he usually can't do at home. For this, he pays a little extra for a drink with a little extra for a tip. If everyone plays the game right, it's a win/win/win. If someone doesn't want to join the fray (bar owner b****ing about not making enough money, bartender slacking off despite solid tips, bar patron complaining about paying an extra seventy-five cents for a beer), then the balance is needlessly tilted.
Also, remember, YOU are in control here. When bartenders b**** to their co-workers or boss incessantly about making lousy tips, it isn't because they're consistently unlucky -- it means they're lousy bartenders and are not serving the public correctly. Withold tips for bad service, let the bartender know exactly why, and things will change. I've been handed nickles for tips, and I've been handed hundreds. It's that crazy. But at the end of the day, and I did it for three and a half years (starting as soon as I turned 21), I was chuffed beyond belief and grateful to get that one dollar per drink. Seriously. It IS appreciated, because it shows you know how to have a good time and know what "going out" means. It also means I'm doing my job, which still can be its own reward.
Kelly, as a bartender did you ever run into people who tipped at the end of the night, rather than at the beginning? I was discussing this with my friend the other day who is a waiter. You don't tip a waiter a restaurant, let's say, when they bring you your water or bread to ensure that your service will be friendly and timely. You tip them at the end of the night whenever you've had a chance to evaluate their service overall. Naturally this doesn't translate flawlessly to the bar scene, but could you understand someone withholding a tip until the end of the night to see how they had been served first?
It doesn't, which is why we're more than happy to take a credit card and run a tab, even if we don't charge it to the credit card. If you want to be served without prejudice, that's the way to do it. And, you get served your first drink before you even give money to your bartender, much less a drink. So you're in command right then and there. You're withholding a tip until you see how you get served every time you get a drink. Anything else is just a needless mindf!ck, y'know? Imagine leaving work at the same time as a co-worker every day, and opening the door for her, 4-7-10 days in a row. Each day passes without so much as a nod or "thank you." Then on the 11th day, she screams, thanks you, hugs you, and buys you a cake. She'd been saving it, and that's ... great?
I've always tipped as I buy unless I knew the waitress, waiter or bartender and then I would tipped randomly because we always start BSing and I forget, but I do make it up. That's always fun too because I'll give big tip and they kick a bell or something.
Donny: You're completely wrong. I love how you keep trying to justify this. The system is what it is. Everytime you don't tip, you are screwing someone out of money. What? You go to a doctor. He diagnoses you. He expects $100 for this. You come up with some ****-a-mamie story about why it should only be $50. Fine, whatever. You are the one who chooses to do this. It is your right not to tip, but don't expect anyone, friends included to be happy about it. I'll assume you've never shared a tab at a bar before, huh? Because this would be the surest way to get your ass whooped. Or are you the guy that always stiffs your friends and then doesn't say anything, so everyone else has to pay more? Stay at home from now on. There isn't a bar in town that wants your patronage.
Could someone in the restaurant industry answer this for me? Are you supposed to tip if you order a meal at a restaurant over the phone and then go pick it up? I wouldn't think so since I'm not get waited on, but I got a dirty look the other day when I didn't leave a tip for the guy handing me the food. Why the hell should I give a guy money for just handing me food?
in new york, if you are just going to sit at the bar, usually you just leave a 20 or so on the bar. as you drink, the bartender will take the amount for each drink as you go along. usually you get a free drink after 3 or 4 and you tip the amount of the drink you've been having plus a little extra. it's called a buy-back and it works. however, it's based on an unwritten code of trust that doesn't apply to cheap bastards like yourself, enjoy.
KellyDwyer, I don’t get it.. first you seem to give me a hard time about tipping too much by giving a good looking girl a extra few dollars over the norm....You said in the first page of the thread that because I tip hot girls more money I MUST BE flirting with her and most girls just want a smooth order and would rather not deal with it for the extra cash.. So you’ve never heard of the normal guy that closes a TAB and adds 10 more dollars and goes on his way huh?? Now your getting all worked up over the idea that some aren’t tipping enough or wont tip at all for opening a beer.. GET OVER IT, I worked as a bartender for short period in college and it was the whinny people like you I worked with that pissed me off.. I was always tired of hearing "He's cheap!" "I'm going to charge that girl for more drinks because she won’t tip!"... "You take that guy, he only wants to buy 2 drinks.." “That guy wants to open a TAB for 1 drink” “That guy does drink enough for the time I spend with him” ex...ex...ex.. Seems to me like you aren’t taking a side, what do you want?? you are giving some a hard time about the way they go about their tipping and I agree that if you don’t like just stay at home, well the same goes for you.. if you don’t like dealing with all the people that tip differently you should have quit being a bartender sooner..
Yes you should, the TO-GO person is a waitress/bartender that puts your order in, packs the food, gets all the ramikans full of sauce, packs plastic, runs your card... ex. they do it all minus give you the refills of drinks.. why wouldnt you tip?? I understand why you would think not to tip, if you dont see it how do you know what goes on when your driving to pickup the food, but people do the same dog and pony show for your order that they do for thier tables of guests that are already there..
You shouldn't tip. At all. These people are idiots for making you feel that way, and don't be afraid to tell them (well, do it in a way that one get your pizza spat on the next time). These people are being paid hourly and live off of that. They are already getting paid to take your order, and make your food. Why people shove tip jars on counters and the like infuriates me. Meanwhile, there's a pizza delivery guy out there somewhere that's getting stiffed on three pies in a row.
Ok, first of all, let's try decaf tomorrow morning. Secondly, I wasn't giving you a hard time. I was wondering what the motivation was from the guys who tip hot bartenders well, or go over the top to tip Hooters waitresses 30 percent. I never understood it. If I wanted to waste money in the pursuit of sex, I'd ask someone out on a date. It was nothing that made me angry, I just felt sad for the guys who loom around the beer tents, giggling at the boobies. And if the "bartenders" you claim you worked with said things like "I'm going to charge that girl for more drinks because she won’t tip!," then you need to report them to the BBB. It's kind of hard to change drink prices in the middle of a shift, and I don't know what fantasy cash registers you were working with, but drink prices are already set on those things. In short: I don't believe you. Charging for "more drinks" actually entails, you know, more drinks. If one of them told you "You take that guy, he only wants to buy 2 drinks..," then it was probably because you were a brand-new bartender, and your co-worker would rather you deal with a small order, while they took on a tougher task. Don't get all insecure because I wondered aloud why men would waste their money like on women they had no chance with. At least in strip clubs you get a crotch in your lap. What's the point at a bar or restaurant? I got angry at Donny Most because he essentially told me and everyone here that what bartenders do for a living is not worth his pocket change, but after reading his posts I'm not sure he frequents pubs too often. As Fatty said, if he ever had to split a tab with someone, he'd be short on friends pretty quickly.
Are the people at Chili's or Outback (or other restaurants who do that) who take care of the to-go orders hourly employees who don't get tips?
Plead ignorance on that, because I thought he was picking up wings or a pizza from somewhere. I can tell you that they're probably better compensated than the waitrons or bartenders, just because there aren't enough to-go orders in a day (save for Fri/Sat) to make that job worthwhile. At most restaurants I've been a part of or have friends at, the host/hostess is usually the driving force behind those to-go orders, and he/she is paid hourly and doesn't need to be tipped.
Well, then shouldn't I tip the girl that works at the Whataburger driveup window? She takes my order, packs my food, packs ketsup, plastic, and runs my card if need be.
The two restaurants (Outback and Lone Star Steakhouse) I worked at, the host/hostesses were paid like the servers and got a share of the tips at the end of the night. Of course, it's impossible to know that when you're ordering the food. I typically leave 10% when I pick up like that, which is hardly ever.
