OT: Anything Goes 33: What'cha Drinking?

[BK]

Yeah, the Anova. It was an impulse buy around a year and a half ago, and it took me a while to take it out of the box, but we've been loving it ever since. Cooks everything perfectly.

Highly recommend cooking Sea Bass with just salt and pepper.

 

[Easy E]

The most amazing thing was that the chicken shredded when I was trying to pick it up. I like grilled better but this was quick .

 

[x Tame Impala]

Got breakfast at Panera today for the first time in a long time, paid with a card and saw this on the screen...

"How much do you want to tip your Panera team member? no tip, $.50, $1.50, $2.00, other?"

 

[Malagahawks]

Got breakfast at Panera today for the first time in a long time, paid with a card and saw this on the screen...

"How much do you want to tip your Panera team member? no tip, $.50, $1.50, $2.00, other?"

So how bad are restaurant staff in the US with tipping? Here you can leave an average of 5-10% of the bill and most are cool with it, actually very appreciative.

 

[ColdSteel2]

I’ve never been a server but I always tip 15-20% at restaurants, $4-5 for a delivery person. Occasionally I’ll give a dollar to a cashier or oil change person if they seem miserable.

 

[Rick C137]

I was a bartender for a few years when I was a little younger so I generally always tip really well for good service because I know the struggle. However if I don’t have a server at a restaurant, you’re not getting a tip. It’s ridiclous that restaurants where you order at the counter have prompts to illicit tips.

 

[ChiHawks10]

So how bad are restaurant staff in the US with tipping? Here you can leave an average of 5-10% of the bill and most are cool with it, actually very appreciative.

Standard tip for good service is anywhere from 15-20% of the bill. Depending on service, I'll tip up to 35% or so, and I've tipped as low as 5%. Bartenders usually get more from me as they have to deal with all sorts of ass clowns trying to get free drinks and other BS. Also, if you take care of your bartender, you tend to get better pours on mixed drinks, or freebies from time to time(shots, free beers, etc.)

This whole tipping the person sticking your quarter pounder and fries in a bag at McDonalds trend is stupid. I don't tip unless it's delivery, or I'm sitting down at a restaurant/bar. Sorry, fast food joint workers don't need tips for putting food on a tray or in a bag... that's part of your job description.

Otherwise, should I expect tips for fixing someone's issue when they stop in my office with a broken laptop?

 

[Rick C137]

Standard tip for good service is anywhere from 15-20% of the bill. Depending on service, I'll tip up to 35% or so, and I've tipped as low as 5%. Bartenders usually get more from me as they have to deal with all sorts of ass clowns trying to get free drinks and other BS. Also, if you take care of your bartender, you tend to get better pours on mixed drinks, or freebies from time to time.

A nice tip off top to your bartender goes a LONG way.

 

[ChiHawks10]

A nice tip off top to your bartender goes a LONG way.

The only bar I regularly drink at is the one at MB Arena after men's league games at night. I'm rarely at a bar otherwise. $55 bill last friday and she got a $20 tip. I always take care of the bartenders here, for multiple reasons. One, I'm here weekly... Two... on more than one occasion, I've gotten free beers at last call from them and my pours are always outstanding. Order a glass of whiskey on the rocks, and it's basically a full glass with a couple cubes in it.

I always wonder how people don't realize if you take care of your bartender, they take care of you.

 

[b1e9a8r5s]

Being a regular at a bar is awesome. In my early to mid 20's we went to the same bar all the time, several times a week. Always tipped well and every bartender knew me. I'd get thrown a free drink all the time, they'd always be looking out for you to fill you up. If the bar was busy they'd get you first. Stayed after hours and drank with the staff a lot. Good times.

 

[ChiHawks10]

Being a regular at a bar is awesome. In my early 20's we went to the same bar all the time, several times a week. Always tipped well and every bartender knew me. I'd get thrown a free drink all the time, they'd always be looking out for you to fill you up. If the bar was busy they'd get you first. Stayed after hours and drank with the staff a lot. Good times.

Yep. Good tips always get you the same perks, but being a regular is always fun.

 

[Blue Liner]

The only bar I regularly drink at is the one at MB Arena after men's league games at night. I'm rarely at a bar otherwise. $55 bill last friday and she got a $20 tip. I always take care of the bartenders here, for multiple reasons. One, I'm here weekly... Two... on more than one occasion, I've gotten free beers at last call from them and my pours are always outstanding. Order a glass of whiskey on the rocks, and it's basically a full glass with a couple cubes in it.

I always wonder how people don't realize if you take care of your bartender, they take care of you.

It's so simple. They very, very rarely are not going to repay that in some way. Shit, even if you're in a really crowded place with tons of people, they remember who takes care of them or not. That's always been my experience, anyway.

 

[x Tame Impala]

So how bad are restaurant staff in the US with tipping? Here you can leave an average of 5-10% of the bill and most are cool with it, actually very appreciative.

Our expectation is a tip of 20% if we're doing our job correctly. 15% kind of sucks but it's understandable, 10% is a joke, 5% or lower is not even worth our time and it almost costs us money to serve you.

I'm a waiter and a bartender so i'll give you the rundown. For starters, most of us (at least in Illinois) get paid anywhere from $4ish/hour to $8.25 (Illinois Minimum Wage), however that hourly wage goes directly to our taxes and we only ever see any of it on a paycheck if we do not make over that amount in our shift. It's a little convoluted with minimum wage, tip credits, and a few other things, but unless we don't make enough in tips on that shift to match our hourly wage, we don't see that $4.85/hr. So for all intents and purposes, we don't get paid hourly. We'll see how much we made hourly on our W-2 tax forms but since our tips our usually given to us in cash at the end of the shift, we don't pay taxes immediately on what's earned that shift.

I believe it's different in Europe where they do actually get a decent hourly wage so it's much more acceptable to tip a lower amount, even considered as a courtesy. To be honest most servers don't like waiting on European guests because generally it means a 10-12% tip, which is fine under the Euro-pay structure but not here. What's more, servers will tip out bartenders, food runners, bus boys, a flat % of their sales. Some restaurants do it differently, mine uses a flat 4% rate of our total sales for the night. 2% to the bar, 1.25% to bussers, and .75% to the food runners. So if I have $1000 in sales, regardless of what my tips are I am automatically tipping out an additional $40. So if I was tipped 20% by all of my tables and received $200 in tips, i'm only making $160. But if all of my tables tipped me 10% i'm only making $60.

In Chicago this unfortunately happens too often where people will come in and spend something like $294 on dinner and drinks, put $300 in the check presenter, and then leave. So not only do we get 1/10th of our expected tip from that table, we still have to tip out 4% of the total sales form that check ($12) it actually costs us $6 to wait on them.

 

[x Tame Impala]

Depending on service, I'll tip up to 35% or so

Come to my bar then!

 

[ChiHawks10]

Come to my bar then!

I'm 34. The only bar I regularly attend is the one where all I have to do is walk out of the locker room.

Go bartend at MB arena.

 

[x Tame Impala]

Bartenders love nice/cool people at their bar as much as people love nice/cool bartenders. We have comp tabs for a reason and we love using them. Bartending is so much fun it almost (not really ) makes me not want to finish school. Chicks dig you, people in general like you, making drinks is fun, and the money is awesome if you're lucky

 

[Rick C137]

Bartenders love nice/cool people at their bar as much as people love nice/cool bartenders. We have comp tabs for a reason and we love using them. Bartending is so much fun it almost (not really ) makes me not want to finish school. Chicks dig you, people in general like you, making drinks is fun, and the money is awesome if you're lucky

If you have an outgoing personality, you can make a lot of money bartending

 

[x Tame Impala]

If you have an outgoing personality, you can make a lot of money bartending

Lots of people I know are making $80-100k+ a year. It's insane.

 

[b1e9a8r5s]

I think bartending would be a lot of fun for a few years when you are young, but it's not something I'd want to do long term. It's a whole different lifestyle.

 

[ColdSteel2]

I almost always get served immediately and get a kick out of the guys that tell the bartender “I was standing here for 10 min. and he just got here!” That’s a $2 tip in cash if I have it on me just for the comment.

 

[x Tame Impala]

I think bartending would be a lot of fun for a few years when you are young, but it's not something I'd want to do long term. It's a whole different lifestyle.

It's an unhealthy lifestyle in a lot of ways. The fast cash is dangerous, late nights, excessive drinking and partying (if you know what I mean). It's a great way to make a lot of money until your 40 and then you're pretty much screwed.

 

[b1e9a8r5s]

It's an unhealthy lifestyle in a lot of ways. The fast cash is dangerous, late nights, excessive drinking and partying (if you know what I mean). It's a great way to make a lot of money until your 40 and then you're pretty much screwed.

Yeah. There were a few times I'd go out with the bartenders to someone's house after the bar closed. They'd be up drinking til 6 in the morning, sleep all day, go to work and do it all over again. That can be fun in the short term, but there were also a couple of guys that were like 45-50 doing it and you realize this has been their life for like the past 25 years. At a certain point it gets depressing. I know just speaking personally, I'd be worried about being able to pull myself out of that short of cycle.

 

[hawksrule]

You should give at least 20% to waiters unless they're egregiously bad, although the obligation to tip accordingly on a nice bottle of wine has always irked me. Same with the counter tips. F that.

The most productive tips are when you're checking into a hotel. Be courteous, ask the person behind the desk if there are nicer rooms than what you booked, show a $100 bill (which doesn't come out to much if you're staying somewhere 4-5 nights), and if they have availability they'll almost always give an upgrade.

 

[Malagahawks]

Lots of people I know are making $80-100k+ a year. It's insane.

No way bartenders make 60-70K Euros here. Maybe at the poshest bars but you gotta remember in Socialist countries we may earn half of that income. They are trying to make it mandatory that tips are reportable income. I think that is total BS.

 

[b1e9a8r5s]

No way bartenders make 60-70K Euros here. Maybe at the poshest bars but you gotta remember in Socialist countries we may earn half of that income. They are trying to make it mandatory that tips are reportable income. I think that is total BS.

Tips are taxable here. You have to report them legally speaking. But obviously not everyone does. I'd be curious to know the actual percentage of tips that are reported.