Do you tip a bartender when filling a growler?

[rycov]

sorry. the first part of my rant was directed at jd3, but the last half wasn't. i'm not calling you a **********

 

[jfowler1]

Wow - fun thread.

First of all, I waited tables for 8 years - high school and college. Now I have a "big boy" job. They both suck.

Anyway, yes, you should tip for a growler fill. Why? Because that is how the restaurant is set up. It may seem stupid to the customer that you need to throw an additional $2 at someone to fill an eight dollar growler when the only way you can get that growler is by asking them to fill it. However, it is equally stupid that the bar tenders are only paid $4/hour by the restaurant under the guise that they will be tipped for everything they do. Their total income assumes being tipped, so it really is a responsibility of the patrons to make that happen. You got your growler, so the bartender did their part. Now it is up to you to do your part and throw him a couple bucks. Sure, quality of service comes into play, but it should really be a deciding factor between a 15% or 25% tip, not a factor between tip or no tip. I have to agree with what has been said - no one who has ever worked a day in the restaurant industry would ever consider stiffing their waiter/bartender/bell boy/maid/valet - whatever - for a service.

Don't blame the person filling the growler, blame the person who is underpaying his staff. Everyone else is just falling in line, and to take a stance of "why would I tip for something so simple?" really bucks the system.

On the other hand, travel the world a bit, and visit places where people in the service industry are paid a reasonable salary by their employer, and the tips are literally just a bonus. Guess what - the service (on the whole) pales in comparison to what we in America would actually consider "bad service". So is "assumed tipping" really a bad thing?

That said, when I get table service at a brew pub, I always settle the dining bill, and on my way out, swing by the bar for my growler. Watch someone fill that thing, and you will see what a PITA it is. I always get the impression that the bartender really appreciates me doing it this way, because the tip goes right into their bucket, rather than just getting a back end % from the servers sales. Sure, they already poured pints that were delivered to my table and settled as part of the dining bill, but again, that few seconds of work will go back to them when the wait staff has to "tip-out" for the night. In the case of a growler, it is several minutes of work, and I really think should be tipped directly.

So again, at least a $2 tip on a growler, and at least $1 for every drink across the bar. A little off topic, but I found tipping every time you get served a drink will get you better service throughout the night because it eliminates the mystery of you snubbing the bar after running a big tab. You won't get ignored if you run a tab, but you certainly won't get serviced before the guy who tips each time he got handed a drink.

Joe

 

[Gfei]

I definitely feel the need to tip anytime someone is providing a service for me. It seems a lot of people don't tip for some things anymore. I feel wrong not doing it.

And +1 for the Old Toad. I miss Rochester, which is funny because all I wanted to do as I got closer to finishing school was leave.

 

[northernlad]

Wow - fun thread.

First of all, I waited tables for 8 years - high school and college. Now I have a "big boy" job. They both suck.

Anyway, yes, you should tip for a growler fill. Why? Because that is how the restaurant is set up. It may seem stupid to the customer that you need to throw an additional $2 at someone to fill an eight dollar growler when the only way you can get that growler is by asking them to fill it. However, it is equally stupid that the bar tenders are only paid $4/hour by the restaurant under the guise that they will be tipped for everything they do. Their total income assumes being tipped, so it really is a responsibility of the patrons to make that happen. You got your growler, so the bartender did their part. Now it is up to you to do your part and throw him a couple bucks. Sure, quality of service comes into play, but it should really be a deciding factor between a 15% or 25% tip, not a factor between tip or no tip. I have to agree with what has been said - no one who has ever worked a day in the restaurant industry would ever consider stiffing their waiter/bartender/bell boy/maid/valet - whatever - for a service.

Don't blame the person filling the growler, blame the person who is underpaying his staff. Everyone else is just falling in line, and to take a stance of "why would I tip for something so simple?" really bucks the system.

On the other hand, travel the world a bit, and visit places where people in the service industry are paid a reasonable salary by their employer, and the tips are literally just a bonus. Guess what - the service (on the whole) pales in comparison to what we in America would actually consider "bad service". So is "assumed tipping" really a bad thing?

That said, when I get table service at a brew pub, I always settle the dining bill, and on my way out, swing by the bar for my growler. Watch someone fill that thing, and you will see what a PITA it is. I always get the impression that the bartender really appreciates me doing it this way, because the tip goes right into their bucket, rather than just getting a back end % from the servers sales. Sure, they already poured pints that were delivered to my table and settled as part of the dining bill, but again, that few seconds of work will go back to them when the wait staff has to "tip-out" for the night. In the case of a growler, it is several minutes of work, and I really think should be tipped directly.

So again, at least a $2 tip on a growler, and at least $1 for every drink across the bar. A little off topic, but I found tipping every time you get served a drink will get you better service throughout the night because it eliminates the mystery of you snubbing the bar after running a big tab. You won't get ignored if you run a tab, but you certainly won't get serviced before the guy who tips each time he got handed a drink.

Joe

I realize it is easy to get sympathy points from those who don't know how the tip credit system works, but no one gets less than federal minimum wage to serve. A good server in the simplest of restaurants makes at least $10/hour in tips alone. Add that to the minimum the employer is required to pay and thats a pretty good wage for a non skilled job. Serve in Washington and you make about $25/hr and still stand in the window bitching about the table that stiffed you in front of the guys in the back who make a whole lot less to work many times harder than you. Even having been one, I have Zero sympathy for servers.
Tipping is not mandatory anywhere, it has become expected by the server regardless of their performance. This is why it is such a heated issue.
A server should get 15% which is $1.50 on a $10 bill, but a bartender should get $1 for every $5 drink he pours? NIMBY.

 

[rycov]

I realize it is easy to get sympathy points from those who don't know how the tip credit system works, but no one gets less than federal minimum wage to serve. A good server in the simplest of restaurants makes at least $10/hour in tips alone.

not true

 

[edb23]

Serve in Washington and you make about $25/hr and still stand in the window bitching about the table that stiffed you in front of the guys in the back who make a whole lot less to work many times harder than you.

This is the one thing. I tip because i am aware how hard the servers work and that its a big part of what they make, but i tip more because i feel for the bussers. However, when i'm working i am one hundred percent of the time working at least twice as hard as every server in that place and making less money to do it, especially if it's a busy shift. Anytime a server comes into the back (even the ones i'm friends with) complaining about their tips, i politely remind them that i find this infuriating, and i'm the dude with the knives

 

[rycov]

i've cooked and bussed before too. i'll have to say that while they are both hard jobs, they are not harder than serving (or easier). they are different. have you waited or bussed?

 

[edb23]

yeah waited and bussed all through highschool, started cooking three years ago. The thing that makes me say cooking is harder then bussing or waiting is that when you wait you get a few minutes here and their to collect your thoughts and figure out what you need to do, which tables you need to check on and so forth. as a cook, once you're busy you're busy. stop and take a minute to re check your tickets and something burns or your tickets get behind. waiting is football, cooking is rugby

 

[edb23]

like to add that's not to take anything away from waiters. i've been saying the whole time they work incredibly hard, but going from a waiter to a cook pretty quickly (i was waiting one week and a week later was cooking) i've always thought cooking especially in a high volume place is much harder

 

[rycov]

waiting is football, cooking is rugby

Touche.
not to mention how hot it gets in kitchens. i definately don't **** with the cooks. busy and hot? that's a recipe for disaster.

 

[edb23]

hahaha my kitchen hit 125 yesterday, no exaggeration. and we had an all day rush kind of day on top of it.

 

[rycov]

did any one die? i can see an over worked, over heated cook shanking the **** out of a impatient waiter or mouthy bus boy.

 

[edb23]

somebody threw a hotel pan at a waiter. Tip your wait staff damnit!

edit: to add to this whole thing, i just wanna say i've noticed that some people have been talking about tipping cooks. it would be nice, but cooks do what they do mostly because they love what they do. if you don't love the atmosphere as a cook, you're going to quit. lots of waiters don't love what they do, and are not the type of insane person like myself who thrive off the fast pace and verbal abuse

 

[jd3]

+1

so what if you were doing your best to save somebody and they died anyway, then the family was pissed so you didn't get paid and still had to pay taxes on what you should have gotten paid and you had to give money to the other people you work with? you'd be pissed to. don't get me wrong, i'm sure what you do is more important than bringing people food. but as a server you get bitched at, at least once a day, sometimes more. that's from cooks, for doing a special order for somebody, and from customers when anything is wrong. i don't work in a restaurant anymore, but i loved doing it. 99% of the customers loved having me as a server, but that doesn't mean that 1% should steal from me because they didn't like what they ordered. if i ever screwed something up, i apologized and fixed it. the times i didn't get tipped it was because cheap, unhappy ******** didn't feel like me doing them a service warranted anything from them. if you can't afford to tip, or if you can do a better job at serving your own food. then stay at home and service your self.... cocksuckers

There are two scenarios:
1) I DID MY JOB AND still failed.
2) I DIDN'T do my job, and caused someone to die.

If I do my job and someone dies, it sucks. But it happens more often than not. If I am negligent, then not only will I not be paid, but I'll probably be sued and or prosecuted. I have to carry malpractice insurance to make 12 bucks an hour, do you have to carry any sort of liability insurance to serve me dinner?

If you read what I said, I pretty clearly said that if a server does there job, apologizes for mistakes(theirs or not, the customer doesn't care about excuses), doesn't make excuses(again, no one cares why it took me 22 minutes to drive through traffic 15 miles to their emergency, so no one cares why the food was late. Just say, I'm sorry, that is all people want to hear) That and provide good SERVICE(you're a server, after all) then I'll tip.

But if you can't do YOUR job, maybe YOU should stay home. If a server provides crappy service(it has nothing to do with the quality of the food or my personal taste) then they get a tip. Sure, if I like what I got I'll prob tip BETTER, but I'll gladly tip 15-25% for GOOD SERVICE.

I WILL NOT tip someone to provide me service worse than what I get at McDonalds.

 

[the_trout]

I realize it is easy to get sympathy points from those who don't know how the tip credit system works, but no one gets less than federal minimum wage to serve.

Minimum wage for tipped employees varies from state to state. In NY its $2.13/hr

http://www.dol.gov/whd/state/tipped.htm

 

[rycov]

somebody threw a hotel pan at a waiter. Tip your wait staff damnit!

edit: to add to this whole thing, i just wanna say i've noticed that some people have been talking about tipping cooks. it would be nice, but cooks do what they do mostly because they love what they do. if you don't love the atmosphere as a cook, you're going to quit. lots of waiters don't love what they do, and are not the type of insane person like myself who thrive off the fast pace and verbal abuse

i would kick someones ass if they threw a pan at me. i loved my job, but would have lost it for that.

also i'm one of those people who loves the fast pace and yelling.

 

[edb23]

But if you can't do YOUR job, maybe YOU should stay home. If a server provides crappy service(it has nothing to do with the quality of the food or my personal taste) then they get a tip. Sure, if I like what I got I'll prob tip BETTER, but I'll gladly tip 15-25% for GOOD SERVICE.

I WILL NOT tip someone to provide me service worse than what I get at McDonalds.

this. people should get tipped, i definitely disagree with you on the side that bad service in an establishment where tips are expected deserves absolutely no tip, since the way i look at it when you go into a restaurant you pay your bill to pay the cooks and the business for providing service and tip because you essentially "rented" a server for a while. however, there's no excuse for someone (no matter what their job is) not doing their job to the best of their ability.

and yeah there was a lot of yelling and cursing and a visit from the manager about the pan, but the guilty guy apologized to the waiter and cooked him something nice out of the walk in after service was over so no hard feelings at the end of the night

 

[jd3]

Minimum wage for tipped employees varies from state to state. In NY its $2.13/hr

http://www.dol.gov/whd/state/tipped.htm

I think what they were implying is that even if you are a crappy server, they should make that much with tips(because according to this logic, we tip people for not doing their jobs, now).

I get the logic of the argument, but I have seen servers that I expect don't make the federal minimum wage....

 

[rycov]

Minimum wage for tipped employees varies from state to state. In NY its $2.13/hr

http://www.dol.gov/whd/state/tipped.htm

its something like that in SC too. its also seasonal. summer time i make bank. winter time i starve. so i have to get fat in the summer to make it through the winter. and people think its ok not to tip. i miss waiting, but i'm glad i don't have to deal with any ********.

 

[rycov]

most servers deserve their money. i will say that i have known a few ****ty ones. but honestly how many times do you go out to eat and get ****ty service? if its often at all, then maybe its you being a dick.

 

[the_trout]

I WILL NOT tip someone to provide me service worse than what I get at McDonalds.

That's definitley your right. Just keep in mind that in most states the McDonalds employee makes 3X+ the hourly wage as your avg. server.

In all but 7 states tipped employees are not paid federal minimum wage.

I don't have a whole lot of sympathy for the avg server tho. Most people tip and most servers make on average with tip more than $10/hr while only claiming a fraction of thier tips.

Getting stiffed is part of the job. Yes, it sucks but every job has a sucky part. If your consistantly not getting tipped you are either a really bad server or your in a really bad resturant. Either way a change is in order.

 

[Qhrumphf]

worth noting that (and I believe this is federal law) that regardless of what tipped minimum wage is, if tips plus wages don't meet or exceed the federal minimum wage the employer has to cover the difference. Even then, minimum wage sucks. Tip em something even if it's small.

 

[edb23]

minimum wage does suck. i make 10 an hour and really struggle to make ends meet. a lot of arguing has started about the numbers, but no matter what the waiters are making unless they live with their parents they are likely struggling financially.

 

[wildwest450]

But how about at a sporting event when you order a beer from a beer cart or the "snack bar."

You are paying $8+ for a BMC crappy beer, do you still tip?

If you can afford $8 for a beer, you can afford $9. Those are the most ripped off servers in the entire industry.

_

 

[wildwest450]

I don't have a whole lot of sympathy for the avg server tho. Most people tip and most servers make on average with tip more than $10/hr while only claiming a fraction of thier tips.

Yeah, because you can have a great quality of life making $10 an hour.


_

 

[rycov]

minimum wage does suck. i make 10 an hour and really struggle to make ends meet. a lot of arguing has started about the numbers, but no matter what the waiters are making unless they live with their parents they are likely struggling financially.

yeah i had to have three jobs when i was waiting tables. my wife wasn't working then and i didn't make nearly what i deserved to make.

 

[ChshreCat]

I have no problem with not tipping if someone really provides bad service. It's the "I'm not tipping at all unless they do something amazing" attitude that just makes me think "cheap *********".

 

[rycov]

it would have to be them ****ing up and not caring, or being really really rude to me, before i would give no tip.

 

[the_trout]

Yeah, because you can have a great quality of life making $10 an hour.


_

roll your eyes if you want... I was a server for over 10 years so I lived it.

Yes, it was mostly living hand to mouth and I stuggled to make ends meet many times. You know what tho, serving is not a destination job. Its not skilled labor, requires no degree or special training and is the type of thing you do while your young and generally dont have a ton of responsibilties. Obviously, there are many people who do it thier whole lives but that is their choice and they have to live with it.

I left resturant many years ago, taking a massive paycut, back to minimum wage, because I realized I didnt want to spend the rest of my life living hand to mouth. I had to sacrifice many things and learn a new skill set from the ground up but now I make more than I ever would be able to in resturant work. I do miss the atmosphere tho, resturant work, with a good crew around you, is a ton of fun, both on the job and after hours.

 

[ktillman1]

I work very hard in a very busy bar. It used to bother me when people didn't tip. Especially when I went over and beyond to give them a good experience. Now I just feel sorry for them. This type of person most likely has a pretty sad life. I would bet they have pretty superficial relationships and the friends they think they have talk s&-! Behind their back. So ask yourself what's a few bucks? I know I feel good when I tip well. It's just money it's going to be worthless in a few years anyway..... . End rant...