I don’t understand tipping bartenders unless they are mixing you a fancy drink with a bunch of requests. If they’re just filling up a mug with beer idk why that deserves extra money
You just tip a dollar for the alcohol/soft drink mixes, 2 if you like them. Been a bartender for years and it's not totally expected but very appreciated. It also helps boost your morale when you've been working for 6 hours behind bar and have 2-3 hours of clean up ahead of you when the bar closes.
In the UK people will make an effort to be served in the order they arrived at the bar. If a bartender asks for your order but you know someone was there before you, most people tell the bartender to serve the other person first.
Tipping to skip the queue would be seen as really rude/crass
Tipping to skip the queue would be seen as really rude/crass
I mean, they have no idea if you're going to tip up front. You can however give a decent sized tip after the first drink, with cash. They'll likely remember you and will prioritize you in the future if it's crowded.
Also, if bar is very busy, it helps to get served quicker if you stand there, actively try to make eye-contact, and be visibly holding (not waving like a jerk) cash.
Worked in bars for years in the UK. People here just have manners. People get served at the bar in order (sometimes someone getting a big round will let people getting 1 or 2 drinks go before them).
How bigs the bar?
Are you alone?
Are you required to prep for the openers?
Did someone throw up on the walls?
Do you have to count inventory by hand every night?
Alone, prepping after close and counting inventory every night (other than say a 10 item key line) is all stupid. Unless you're tiny it's never a best practice to close alone, prep work should be the time when you're open and less busy which is almost always the daytime and counting stock should be a weekly managerial job unless like I said it recording house vodka, tequila etc and then takes 10 minutes, not an actual stocktake.
Cleaning sick off the walls is standard fair, though you should do that when it happens, not after
Worked at multiple busy college bars in a college party town. The first couple, owners were ready to leave by close so everyone half-assed cleaning and left the majority for the openers.
The last one I worked at was completely different. Owners expected the entire place to look spotless before we left, so we would close at 2am and typically left between 5-6am.
But we also dealt with throw up and broken glasses and bottles every single night. Constantly at capacity for several hours, the place always looked like an absolute wreck once we got everyone out. Every surface of that place got touched and cleaned every single night. It sucked but I had respect for the work ethic…there’s a reason they were the most successful bar bringing in the most revenue out of the 10 other options on the same block.
See, I don’t go out often, but when I do / did, I would always let them keep the change for every drink unless I only had a 50 or 100. Then they just go their 5 bill, or if I had a 10 or whatever, they got the 2-4$ whatever it was. But I was also a shit head tho I must say I always got my drinks fast, and they would let me slide a couple of mins after last call even though I seen them tell other ppl no lol 🙌🏻
That's one thing I miss from the days when most purchases were paid with cash.
Instead of the ability to click a button and instantly calculate your choice of 10%, 15% or 20%, you would just throw your change in a jar.
So if your purchase was $4.72, and you tip 28 cents, it's not because you decided their service merited a 6% tip specifically. It was just convenient. At other times, the tip might be 23% because that's how the change ended up. There was less a feeling of, "I'm choosing a percentage as a way of judging the service worker," and more of, "hey, here's a tip."
And yes, I know I can enter whatever I want on the tip machines. The percentage option is just convenient.
Exactly this, and don’t let the world hold you down. When I say use to, I mean only 7-8 years ago, ish ago. And recently, when I went out this year, I used straight cash and did the same.
Places that don’t accept cash well, you don’t get a tip or I just don’t go there. That is just how I feel or I’ll make it occasionally. I will make the total even for a tip on the machine so a lot of times they get like 12 - 38 cents lol.
Cash I give 5s and whatever else. Additionally, I get sick of tapping stupid shit for a tip every time I buy something. It’s inconvenient and annoying. That’s just how my fucked-up brain works lol.
There’s a dive bar in my city I used to love going to, but hate now. And one of the reasons is the shitty ass bartenders. They expect you to tip after every drink you order and will comment on it. The drinks are $3 and they’re getting shitty because you don’t tip them $1. Also I’m 98% sure one of them stole my phone the last night I went there and then kicked me out when I started looking for it
I don’t set their wages. Sorry they are working for less than minimum wage. Thats between them and their employer. Also, if they don’t make enough in tips to get their hourly rate up to minimum wage, their employer has to pay them an amount to get their hourly rate up to minimum wage. The employers don’t get to just pay people below minimum wage. Those poor people making $2.13 an hour actually usually make more than minimum wage via tips, they give you the sob story about $2.13 per hour to guilt you into tipping.
Okay? I still didn’t tell the bartender to get a job making $7.25. That’s between them and their employer. I don’t pay their wages, their employer does. Why defend the employers paying such a bad wage?
Im not defending it, just informing that you’re only screwing over the bartender. The bartender does not control society, and chose the job knowing that most people understand how it works and behave accordingly.
It's a bribe to make sure they keep serving you. If you don't they'll just ignore you next time you come up to the bar and you won't get more drinks. They know that you want more drinks and they can hold them hostage.
If you become a regular, they might comp you a meal on your birthday or find that a drink somehow fell off your tab from time to time. I may hate tipping but I'll look out for those that look out for me.
Hot take - people that do this type of tipping thing because they are looking for special treatment are secret elitists that think they are just supportive blue collar bros.
I got kicked out of a nightclub because I got a beer up at the bar, which was a bottled beer that the bartender just grabbed out of a fridge and popped the cap off of. The beer was $9 (when at the time, $5 was the norm), so I gave him $10 and walked away, figuring $1 tip was sufficient (given the fucking highway robbery of that beer price). I get back to my table and 2 mins later the bouncer walks up and says "I'm going to have to ask you to leave." I'm like "I'm afraid you have me confused with someone else, I just got here", and he says "Yeah we don't like stingy tippers here, so I'm going to have to ask you to leave, sir."
If you’re genuinely telling the whole story there and not omitting some important detail about your behavior, then that is insane and ridiculous that they would kick you out for that. A beer priced at $9 is basically locking in a $1 tip for a total of $10 from the customer
It was for a friend's birthday. $15 cover charge (which I paid), we got in, found a table, sat down, I waited 10 mins for a waitress to show up, none came, so I just went up to the bar and asked for a beer. Bartender pulls the bottle out of the fridge, pops the cap off, and says "$9 friend", so I drop a $10 on the counter and walk back to our table, thinking $1 tip on a $9 beer is adequate. He didn't say a word about it at the time.
I was super confused when the bouncer came up and told me I had to leave. I legit thought he had me confused with someone else because we'd just got there, and I thought he was accusing me of doing something.
Only detail I left out was that it was a "posh" bar (called itself an "ultra lounge" whatever the fuck that means), so I guess maybe they expect people to be big tippers or something. But I'm not tipping big when I gotta go up to the bar to get my own beer.
They were probably doing you a favor by asking you to leave haha
Oh absolutely. The place was absolutely not the sort of club I'd ever go into myself, but it was my friend's birthday and she picked the place. The music was this god-awful droning bass-heavy oontz-oontz-oontz shit, the lighting was eye-searing and way too bright with way too many flashing lights, and that $9 beer was just for a domestic (Kokanee), at a time (about 15 years ago) where at most clubs a domestic bottle was $4 or $5. Craft beers were $16, cocktails were $30.
I can only speak for America, but I’m a bartender. I make $6 an hour and depend on tips. I feel like if you’re going to drink at a bar, you should be tipping, because if you don’t, your bartender is serving you for less than minimum wage, and that’s not fair. I know people always say “their employer should pay them” but restraunts only make three cents per dollar of profit. If they had to pay their staff what they were worth, food and drink prices would shoot up even more than they already are. Always tip your bartender. Most bartenders will give good tippers free drinks sometimes too (I do lol)
You're not gonna convince me that the restaurant owner is the victim here.
I can tell you for a fact that drink (soda) prices alone are inflated 300%+. The syrup and CO² cost nearly nothing, and yes I have spoken directly to the guy who orders it. It costs pennies to fill a 32oz cup.
I don’t understand tipping bartenders unless they are mixing you a fancy drink with a bunch of requests. If they’re just filling up a mug with beer idk why that deserves extra money
It's not about "deserve". Your tip is paying for a service over a period of time, and that service is: "I will keep your drinks coming without delay, prioritizing your needs over others."
So I have to bribe the bartender to give me decent service on drinks that are already like 3-4x the normal price. Also, I walked up to the bar to order. It’s not like the bartender is coming to my table to serve me.
Bartender chiming in. If I give shit service and zero conversation don’t tip me, but if you just got in town and I gave you great service plus suggestions for local spots to go to as well as good conversation and tailored my entire personality to making sure you had a good experience a 15-20% tip would be nice. I also make $2.13/hr. If you don’t want to tip I get it, but next time I see you I’ll still give excellent service I just won’t tailor my personality and dedicate my time to take care of your needs. It’s a shitty system but I work with what I got.
Unless you’re a bad bartender then you’re probably making a few hundred bucks on a decent night in tips that I’m like 99% sure you’re not reporting to the IRS or paying taxes on.
I worked at a fast food place as a teen where we walked out to cars to serve them and I could make an extra $50+ just doing that from mostly quarters and an occasional dollar bill in a 5-6 hour shift in a small town. We all know you guys are making decent money.
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u/Definitelynotagolem 8h ago
I don’t understand tipping bartenders unless they are mixing you a fancy drink with a bunch of requests. If they’re just filling up a mug with beer idk why that deserves extra money