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Bar Etiquette:

post #1 of 62
3/19/10 at 7:22pm
Thread Starter 
So, you find a girl who takes you to meet her best friend who tends bar. You order a bottle of wine and pay with a £50 note. Do you tip?!

Ordinarily I would say keep the change, but how can you hand over extra cash to her best friend, essentially saying "You earn minimum wage so probably need a tip."

I feel bad for not tipping, but you're standing there chatting as friends, and its like pointing out that she's there to serve you, rather than because we wanted her company.

Advice from older, more suave SF-ers? etiquette
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post #2 of 62
3/19/10 at 7:33pm
you always tip. bartenders make less than minimum wage as the government assumes they'll get tips. so when you don't tip they don't get paid.

don't be mr. pink or you will screw up your heist
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post #3 of 62
3/19/10 at 7:44pm
I've dated many women in the restauraunt/bar biz so I've been in this situation countless times. I usually tell my date that I'd like to tip their friend - but I won't if they'd prefer I not or have some sort of arrangement. Most often they say, "Go for it!" But sometimes they say, "No, we're all friends here, please don't." I'd then tip very well - 20+%. If you received any sort of discount/hookup ... tip on 25+% on the original price. Tipping on a bottle of wine is a controversy in itself. If the bottles less than $100, I tip full price on the bottle. But you're not expected to tip 20% on a $400 bottle of wine.
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post #4 of 62
3/19/10 at 7:50pm
Thread Starter 
Worth noting that I'm in the UK and tipping anything other than a full meal is unusual in its self. I often tip service staff simply becuase I like to think I'm a generous guy, but its not a social norm by any means. I like your aproach caz, though its quite difficult to achieve without a bit of planning and forethought. Usually I'm to stupid to anticipate the situation arising untill about 30 seconds before I start to pay the bill!
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post #5 of 62
3/19/10 at 8:14pm
brits don't tip?
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post #6 of 62
3/19/10 at 8:36pm
Thread Starter 
Nope. If you have a meal then you leave about 15% but there really is no tipping culture. I personally believe it has something to do with the painfully English way of hiding any allusion to class. The mere suggestion that one person, especially one who is serving you food, is anything less than an equal and a friend is simply too painful to bare! Its the same reason that we apologise for profusely; it would be horrible for someone to think that if you bumped into them it was because they are less important than you are.
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post #7 of 62
3/20/10 at 1:58pm
Australians don't tip either, but the service staff are quite well paid (esp when compared to the US). For reference, I was bar tending before I moved to the US at ~US$15 per hour in 1994. I moved to the US and was hearing that bartenders made like $5 per hour plus tips back then - of course it was all kinda academic cos I went from being an 18 yo bar tender to being too young to drink in the space of a 14 hr flight.
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post #8 of 62
3/20/10 at 2:11pm
Knowing what countries to tip in, and which ones not to, is probably pretty good knowledge.

To the OP, if you're in a place that tips, tip.
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post #9 of 62
3/20/10 at 10:35pm
They usually earn a bit over minimum wage here so it's not like in the us where they're underpaid.

Usually at a restaurant or nice bar, the standard 12.5% "optional" service charge is added to your bill and most people are embarrassed not to pay it or the total won't add up. It's accepted as being a part of the price of a meal etc. A tip on top of that is quite rare depending on the customer.

At pubs and most bars, one doesn't tip the bartender. If there's table service, there will be a service charge and you will likely tip as well.
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post #10 of 62
3/21/10 at 9:56pm
if its not the custom of the the country you are in then dont do it. i find tipping in a non-tipping country just as rude as the opposite.

as an Australian i find the concept of tipping extremely hard to navigate while travelling. there should be a handbook of world wide tipping rules.
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post #11 of 62
3/21/10 at 10:00pm
I went to a bar with a friend who knew the girl behind the bar. She hooked us up with free drinks the entire night and got a tip at the end of the night that probably would have equaled what we would have payed for the drinks anyways. We just felt it was right.
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post #12 of 62
3/21/10 at 10:34pm
Your an asshole if you do not tip.
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post #13 of 62
3/21/10 at 10:42pm
^ WTF is with idiots who dont read the thread and make generic statements?

You can always offer to "buy her a drink". She prob wont actually drink it then and there, but may take the cash out of the till for it later. Gets around the class issue as you arent giving her cash.

Or if she hooks you up you can ask her to sit down with you & your date (or roll to the next bar with you) where you buy her a drink.

K
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post #14 of 62
3/21/10 at 11:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by VKK3450 View Post
^ WTF is with idiots who dont read the thread and make generic statements?

You can always offer to "buy her a drink". She prob wont actually drink it then and there, but may take the cash out of the till for it later. Gets around the class issue as you arent giving her cash.

Or if she hooks you up you can ask her to sit down with you & your date (or roll to the next bar with you) where you buy her a drink.

K

Why is a squirrel drinking beer?
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post #15 of 62
3/22/10 at 1:53am
Quote:
Originally Posted by visionology View Post
I went to a bar with a friend who knew the girl behind the bar. She hooked us up with free drinks the entire night and got a tip at the end of the night that probably would have equaled what we would have payed for the drinks anyways. We just felt it was right.

so she stole from the bar to earn a big tip, good work

Quote:
Originally Posted by rzarector36 View Post
Your an asshole if you do not tip.

unless you live in a country which in which bar tenders earn enough to live off.
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