Tipping: I can't be the only one, right?

[palmettomoon]

Oh good grief...they will hire any warm body to tend a bar nowadays. Last September, right after Labor Day so it was technically the off season, we stopped in a local beach bar and ordered a couple bourbons. The warm body behind the bar poured a rocks glass almost all the way up to the top with bourbon. Both of us. Probably an 8 oz. pour!! We didn't complain, sat there for a couple hours and drank them. That guy just cost the bar $50 - $60...

LOL! I was working with Pillsbury's category & space management department a few years ago and my boss and I were staying at a Hilton Hotel nearby. The bartender was a "fill in" but I didn't know this until later. We'd had some success with the client and weren't starting up until 10 a.m. the next day so I ask Tom if he wanted a scotch and he says, "Sure."

I want to do something extra at the bar (Tom was a good guy to work for) so I ask for two 25 year old Macallan, neat, with a glass of ice cubes and a bottle of spring water. The girl goes over to the register and rings it up and says, "That'll be $23.00, want me to start you both a tab?"

After we'd each eaten and had three drinks apiece, Tom says, "You got this? It's going to be way more than you can expense. (a shot of Macallan then was about $100 at any bar) Let me get the tab." I just looked at him and said, "Don't worry about it, we're celebratin'" then walked up to the bar to pay the bill.

Me getting up from the table......

 

[Fatal_Bert]

 

[User170512]

LOL! I was working with Pillsbury's category & space management department a few years ago and my boss and I were staying at a Hilton Hotel nearby. The bartender was a "fill in" but I didn't know this until later. We'd had some success with the client and weren't starting up until 10 a.m. the next day so I ask Tom if he wanted a scotch and he says, "Sure."

I want to do something extra at the bar (Tom was a good guy to work for) so I ask for two 25 year old Macallan, neat, with a glass of ice cubes and a bottle of spring water. The girl goes over to the register and rings it up and says, "That'll be $23.00, want me to start you both a tab?"

View attachment 5966482

After we'd each eaten and had three drinks apiece, Tom says, "You got this? It's going to be way more than you can expense. Let me get the tab." I just looked at him and said, "Don't worry about, we're celebratin'" then walked up to the bar to pay the bill.

Me getting up from the table......View attachment 5966524

Thats the whole story?

 

[teearr]

I actually sent them an email and called BS on them. They sent me a canned response saying "The $1.00 for a neat pour is because we add a quarter ounce for a neat pour", and the same response for the drink on ice. Complete BS. That's just cheesy squeezing their customers for an extra buck per drink. Just raise the price $1 and don't insult me...yes, I took $2 out of what I normally leave for a couple drinks at a bar.

Way to go! If more people did this, sooner or later the "bartenders" would start bitchin' to the boss. Next time I get a Vodka Tonic I want the Vodka named and in a shot glass next to the tonic - no way am I going to get "short served" on a mixed drink. The BS has to be stopped.

 

[palmettomoon]

Thats the whole story?

Pretty much. The tab was about $120 (with tip it was $150) when it should have been about $650 and change. I doubt she was fired but I bet she's trained before they put her on the schedule to "fill in" again.

 

[gh1950]

For a dry martini, you should only have to open the bottle of vermouth and set it on the bar next to the vodka...

I actually sent them an email and called BS on them. They sent me a canned response saying "The $1.00 for a neat pour is because we add a quarter ounce for a neat pour", and the same response for the drink on ice. Complete BS. That's just cheesy squeezing their customers for an extra buck per drink. Just raise the price $1 and don't insult me...And yes, I took $2 out of what I normally leave for a couple drinks at a bar.

Good for you.

I typically order neat, and the bars I go to serve it in a shot glass to show it's an honest pour.

Not to say some of the regular bartenders may "sweeten" it up occasionally, but I sure as hell don't get charged for it.

 

[palmettomoon]

I can understand a little the practice of charging MORE for a martini as it requires a heavy pour to fill the glass properly so charge the price for the heavy pour and leave off the $1 or $2 upcharge on the bill. If a shot of liquor is $9 or $10, charge $11 to $13 for the martini if you need to to maintain margins. Semantics I know.

 

[gh1950]

Way to go! If more people did this, sooner or later the "bartenders" would start bitchin' to the boss. Next time I get a Vodka Tonic I want the Vodka named and in a shot glass next to the tonic - no way am I going to get "short served" on a mixed drink. The BS has to be stopped.

Back in the day, lived out in the country outside Athens. No cable, so went to local bar to watch Braves, no over the air signal.

Especially in the spring, prom season, college students would be bringing in their sweet young things for dinner at the adjoining restaurant.

Big thing at the time was White Russians, and of course, the ever popular screwdrivers -

So sweet young thing, to show how worldly she was, growing up in Hahira and all, would order a Stoli White Russian or screwdriver. Of course, young Mr. Studly was paying the bill, so he wasn't going to say anything.

I'm sitting at the bar watching the ball game, and NEVER did Stoli go in one of those drinks. In fact a lot of times, Stoli didn't even go in the bottles. Bottles don't wear out.

 

[kodis556]

Good for you.

I typically order neat, and the bars I go to serve it in a shot glass to show it's an honest pour.

Not to say some of the regular bartenders may "sweeten" it up occasionally, but I sure as hell don't get charged for it.

That's why their canned email reply was all the more insulting. I watched the bartender use a 2 oz. jigger and pour both of us exactly a 2 oz. pour. The bar there is strictly to service the restaurant, I get it. The bars we go to specifically to drink have bartenders we know and free pour and we know it's always a hair over 2 oz. Those bartenders are tipped (well) accordingly.

 

[GodBlessTheUSA]

I lived in Japan for several years. You do not tip people there. Everyone, from the waiter in your favorite restaurant to your taxi drives considers their job a profession and as such they consider them selves to be professional waiters or taxi drivers or any number of other jobs. To tip them is an insult and says you don't think they are professional enough to command a reasonable wage. I found it very interesting and was taught that lesson by a kindly taxi driver when I first arrived. He understood how Americans are barbarians and don't have any qualms about insulting professional and took it as his duty to inform me. I didn't make that mistake again during the 6 years I was there.

I was in this place once. Once.

Girl behind the bar asked what I wanted and I asked her if she made a good Old Fashioned. She responded "A good old fashioned what?"

I got up and left.

As a brand new LT in Germany I was quickly informed that the Germans did not appreciate large tips either, especially if they didn't know you. White table cloths and dinner jacket places seemed more open to tipping, but the local Gasthaus did not. It was insulting to older Germans that remembered the 1950s.

On the Tarbender note: my wife's uncle was a professional bartender in B'ham. Stayed at one joint for close to 20 years. He expected a tip for good service, but also earned it. He knew his regulars very well and they appreciated it.