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.
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u/JellyTigerr 8h ago
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.