Tip the Bartender!!

No.we’ve had bitches on tipping before so let me just sum up for you: one, tipping is a luxury. It’s a curtesy that many people simply CAN’T afford- doesn’t mean I don’t get to go buy a drink. secondly it can’t be assumed as a requirement. I don’t HAVE to tip you, particularliy if you slop my drink down, slosh it, take forever to get to me, hand me back a bunch of small change (in a sneaky manouver to get me to tip to avoid having to lug around 5 pounds of coins) or my favorite, screw up my drink or water it down. Now, if you’re curteous and fast, I’ll tip. plus I often just ask a bartender to make me whatever (how I find new drinks- try it, it actually works! give a couple of adjectives for what you like- fruity, wahtever- and watch the magic happen), and if I like it, I’ll tip. and finally, at bars? usually people are drunk. they may forget to tip. or, and this is rotten but I’ve seen it happen, and often I won’t tip to avoid this, some drunken assholes see the change I leave on the bar as a tip, scoop it up, and use it to pay for their own drink before the bartender notices. there, anyone have anything to add to this one? seriously, this is like the 10th tipping thing we’ve had…

I think tipping is a courtesy, and I always tip, but if I get horrible service or if it takes too long, I get steamed and I will tip small, but I have to be really pissed to leave nothing. That usually warrants a complaint and explanation as to why no tip. I don’t expect them either, they are a gratuity for a job well done. If it ain’t done well, fuck ya, that goes for me too.

also I think we’ve all gotten ourselves in a societally damaging rut here. a lot of servers do NEED tips, because they make under minimum wage, and a lot more people choose to wait tables instead of other minimum wage jobs because the tips bring them closer to getting over that poverty line…the problem here is that we’ve made it the server and the customers responsibility, not the employers. if employers paid their employees a living wage, they wouldn’t NEED that tip, thus they wouldn’t get so steamed when they didn’t GET a tip, and customers wouldn’t feel forced to GIVE them one regardless of performance. it’d go back to being a nod for a job well done.but noooo somehow we’ve gotten to the point as a culture where we allow employers to make a little extra profit by putting their employees at such low wages they need their customers spare change…what made them so important?sorry, side rant there

Am I the only one who tips according to service rendered? I tend to leave a minimum of 25% for great service (although I have gone higher), 15% for standard, and about 7% for poor service. I have, on the rare occasion, not tipped at all, but each time I did lodge a complaint with the manager, not because I wanted to get the waiter/waitress in trouble, but because having worked in a management/service industry before, I realize the damage that poor service can do to a business. I don’t see what the big deal is. If it’s good, tip for it. If it’s not, don’t. But I don’t believe it should automatically be expected. A lot of this could be resolved if the wages paid what the service workers were worth, which IMO, is quite a lot more than what they’re getting. Having spent 12 plus hours a day on my feet, dealing with cranky kids, uptight and harassed adults, and pretentious wannabes, I can honestly say that most service industry personnel are grossly underappreciated. Smooches to the hard workers who may be having a bad day, but never take it out on me. Believe me, I do truly appreciate it.

Rude and sloppy bartenders make no cents.

Groucho Marx’s idea of a tip: ‘Don’t bet on the ponies’.