Thursday, February 7, 2008

Tipping your bartender is fun!

And necessary, as I am only paid $3.13 an hour. This is a fact. As a bartender, I am sorry that it falls on you, the customer, to decide whether I will be able to pay my monthly bills or not. Some corporate bar owner is laughing all the way to the bank over how much he saves on labor costs. I would prefer to be paid a decent wage for my work, but since this is not the case and my boss has instead passed the buck on to you, it is my hope that you will pass that buck (the dollar bill kind) right over to me.

Bar Tipping Etiquette
First, few of my own notes. Tipping heavy for the first round usually guarantees speedy, attentive service throughout the night. Waiting until the end of the night to tip might get you the opposite. Waving money in my face and yelling at me doesn't get you faster service; wait your turn. Staying consistent with one drink will get you faster service because I already know what you want. One dollar for every drink makes me happy, but I'm okay with less if I am just cracking open your beer as opposed to making you a mojito. Campers should pay rent; meaning, if you take up a barstool for five hours and order a few two-dollar happy hours drinks, you should leave a better tip for squatting on the real-estate.

There are numerous places on the web to find out how to tip your bartender, but what I deem most interesting are the comments left by other people. It's very easy to tell who has never worked a service industry job with tip-based pay. I can understand those who don't want to tip for what they consider bad service, but remember this: if you stiff me on a ten dollar drink, I spend thirty cents to wait on you. And I am sorry that I didn't respond to your snapping quick enough.

5 comments:

Christine M said...

Thanks for the suggestions on bar tipping. I am always kind of surprised when I find out that someone is unaware of the fact that bartenders and servers make less than minimum wage. I think a lot of people are honestly clueless that tipping is not an above-and-beyond thing in the food industry.

Todd Bursztyn said...

Yes, very informative. It's good to see it from the other side of the bar. And it's also a shameless solicitation, but hey, more power and (and good tips) to you! Keep the buzz alive.

kimberly s said...

I don't know how solicitous I can be without providing the name of the bar that I work at. I was thinking of the post more like a public service announcement. Support YOUR local bartender! :)

TNLogan said...

I HATE when people don't tip well! I used to wait tables, and I think everyone should work in the service industry at some point to really appreciate their servers! Maybe some people really don't know, but I think others are just stingy and cheap and it makes me want to apologize on their behalf.

R.C. Price said...

LOL I don't drink at all, but I used to be a waitress. I feel your pain!