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Eric
I've found that working in bars that BARTENDERS can be your best friends or your worst enemy when it comes to gigs. I see no problem in making the tip announcement a few times during a 4 hour shift. I've heard these annoucements for years in every club from here to timbuctwo

There are many ways to make them sound UNLAME and that all depends on the KJ the BARTENDER and the venue ...you have to pick your flavor and go with it

some times I plug the bartender other times i don't. Ive been known to even say "dont be a cheapazz tip your bartender." depending on the room and the crowd.

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the voices arent real, but they have some good ideas

But you're close to Milwaukee, Supercharged! Everyone's cheap here.

To prove the cheapness of Milwaukeeans... My granma and I went to a restaurant once some years back on my treat. after eating and getting up to leave, I left a tip on the table for the waitress. Back in the car, my granma hands me some cash and I sez "What's that for?". Granma sez, "You left this on the table, and I grabbed it for you". I explained the process of tipping to her (and she should know better having owned a diner), she still thinks I shouldn't do it. After dropping her at home, I drove back and gave the waitress her tip...and then some. I don't need waitstaff thinking I'm cheap. I related the story to the waitress and she thought it was funny. A lot of oldsters have that attitude around here.

Lonman

Absolutely' I'm with you. Another excellent idea to add to Pirate, Ollie, Bill's and others input. I fully intend to follow everyone of this superb ideas.

Jam is absolutely correct about wanting the staff "on your side". I would never do anything, anything to alienate them. If they want a cordless to sing with at the bar; they got it. If they want to sing whenever they can "breakaway" without regard to the rotation; they got it. If they have a special request; they got it. And.... I give them whatever tips I collect; they got it!

Thank you all. As usual, great ideas!

nicely put, and a third reason is that its tacky and lacks class...announcing it over and over again...not being tipped

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"Be who you are and say what you feel... Because those that matter... Don't mind...And those that mind... Don't matter."

So, if you don't receive good service, one would expect you would move on to another place that does provide good service. I for one will not be held to ransom on the whims of a server who attempts to blackmail me into paying extra for service which is less than the standard I would expect.

On the other hand, if I were a server in the US and did not receive the kind of tip I was expecting, I would endeavour to improve the service I was giving so that maybe the next customer would recognise the effort and reward me with a better tip.

As Vicki has stated, tipping is not customary in New Zealand. However, in my experience, good service is usually rewarded with a good tip. While in the US, I do recognise that tipping is customary and have been aware of the taxing of individuals on the tips they are expected to make. Therefore, I will usually tip at least 15%. On a couple of rare occasions, I have tipped 10% due to the service being rather lacking. But I have, on more occasions tipped more due to service that is above the average.



No, Vicki. My understanding was pretty much as the situation is, although I did believe that 10% was "the norm", not 15% as seems to be normal. Yes, there are some restaurants that announce on their menus (or some other place obscure and not readily visible) that they automatically add a 15% (or some other value) for parties of "number" or more.



Diafel, I do believe the question was directed at myself in response to an earlier post I made. I find the tone of your comment to be quite unjustifiably condescending toward Vicki. However, as I have recently become engaged to a wonderful Canadian woman, and will be flying from New York to join her in a few hours, I thank you for sharing your insight.

Murray I hope you and your wonderful lady from Alberta have a lovely halloween
xxx

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"Be who you are and say what you feel... Because those that matter... Don't mind...And those that mind... Don't matter."

All I have to say is I tip well, and it only takes a short time to reap the benefits of being known as a good tipper. The drinks are stronger and if the bar is crowded you get served faster then others.

I always say "And don't forget to tip the bartenders. Remember the better the tip, the better the drink and the faster the service."

These people have to serve people a substance that can make them unable to be served. Imagine having to pay attention how someone sings and have to determine whether or not the sang somewhere before they sang with you, if there voice is getting worse, and if by singing one more song they might not be able to use their voice in a safe manner when they leave. HAHA I crack me up. You get my point. They deserve a tip and a lot of people don't tip at all.

Make friends with the bartender. Talk to them before every show. The customers bring in the money but the Bartenders have the managers ear.

Tipping is different all over the world and I suppose it is hard to understand other cultures. For instance: In eastern countries sometimes it seems more like a bribe than a tip. I had a friend that went to India and they told her her luggage was missing. She didn't understand all they wanted was money and it would magically appear.

I usually always tip 20% unless the service is bad. I would not consider 15% an insult, but 10% is in my area. Now I'm talking about servers. When it comes to karaoke I don't ever expect a tip, but am very greatful for them.

The other night someone left a half eaten piece of burnt pizza by my tip jar. I annouced a thank you to the person who left me the half eaten tip. I was just trying to make fun of the situation and ended up having a big tip night because of it. It was my intention just to make a joke, but it did work in my advantage.

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Actually now the stockers make more than the cashiers or customer assistance. And I guarantee you he makes more than a waitress.

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Caution!!!!!!!

While I may be a "sheeple' when it comes to tipping servers and bartenders, I am not fooled into tipping people in "fast food" and other places who are paid a regular wage; just as I wouldn't routinely tip a stock person in a supermarket, since he/she is paid a regular wage.

And those who starting tipping those "kids" with their "tip jars" out at ice cream parlors, Dunkin Donuts, and the like, have started a really bad practice. I guess they didn't realize that restaurants and bars pay differently than do establishments where the help simple passes food, snacks and desserts over a counter, while earning a regular wage in the process?

But who's to say if we keep tipping those people as seems to have become the practive, that the owners of those places won't start a lobby for having their employees paid no differently that the servers at restaurants and bars?

So, the employees will get paid less. The owner will make more profit. And the consumer will become responsible for having greater costs when going to Baskin Robbins, or Dunkin Donuts or Subway!

Here the wage is the same.
However we don't generally tip fast food servers because their "service" is minimal at best. It's just not customary.

What about coffee houses. Most will tip a buck per coffee - when I owned mine i'd walk out with an avg 50 bucks avg in tips in a 5 hour shift. And this wasn't even a busy place for coffee. The drive through stands, the gals can make $100 or better in tips alone.

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Im not, but then when the wife and I go to applebees we usually have 2 to 3 servers stop to chat , often the manager also. we always sit in smoking (bar area) where it is less crowded. I don't leave a huge tip, but try to be close to 20% they have told us that the tips in smoking are really bad..my service is always exelent, our waiter of choice remembers what we order and how we like it. to me a guy who remembers that when he probably serves a hundred tables a week is great service. In talking to him he has told me that he ends up with a negative pay check after taxes and insurance and has to pay in from his tips to cover it! Im happy to tip fairly, if i go someplace and the service sucks I leave a penny , where it is easly seen so that they realise i know they expect a tip, But they did not earn one. when I took the family to Wisconsin dells last winter I found the service there as a rule to suck! tourist traps are used to people just tipping cause its expected. I was fine with leaving a penny at some of those places.

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the voices arent real, but they have some good ideas

Well, I forgot about coffee shops. Yeah, don't tip those employees either.

I don't know how tips became part of anyone's EXPECTED compensation package, but let's not add to it!

And, as Supercharged noted as well, even where the staff relies upon tips, service is often lousy; the servers just expect that they'll be tipped while few do much if anything to earn one.

I like it when I walk into a bar, particularly one I haven't been in for a while, and the bartender (whose name I can't remember) says, "Hi, Eric. Jim Beam"? Bingo! He/she got my attention and I likely to tip as high as I go! If nothing else, I know my prior tipping made me someone who will not be forgotten.

While I know Starbucks "shoots" for the same time of acknowledgement of customers by their staff, I just can't get excited about tipping someone who is already earning a living and is doing nothing more than their job!

I have a friend whose daughter is a Starbucks barista. She doesn't make a living doing it - they pay pretty well minimum wage and the tips are pooled to be split evenly. She might get $50 a week from the tips generated at her location. I always tip baristas - usually even up to the next buck so if I'm getting coffee that is $3.25, I leave $4, sometimes more. We're saturated in the PNW with espresso stands - even in rural areas you don't have to drive more than a mile to find one. In the urban areas there might be 3-4 in a block. Don't see them folding up and going away, either. Mostly young females working these joints and now there is a war going on with bikini versus fully clothed baristas, fighting for the custies. The girls in bikinis or negligees (YES! THEY WEAR UNDERGARMENTS WHILE PREPARING STEAMING HOT COFFEE!) really rake in the tips, needless to say! (Sorry for the hijack)

There are a couple of sites where you can look up to see if it is customary to tip and how much. When I'm not sure if I should tip or not for a service I usually use one of them. Baristas are listed as - Do Not Tip.

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Karen

Ah, did you bring back a wonderful memory. When I arrived in Florida, scantilly clad maidens "manned" roadside hot dog stands all over the place. Eventually, they were shut down for being a distraction to drivers. I think the "law" (excuse) they sited was - no lavatory facilities!

If you've been to Manhattan, you know hot dog stands and the similar stands have been around for years without lavatories!

PS I can't get over the use of "barista" for a person who does less than what was required of me as a "soda jerk" when I grew up. And as I soda jerk I had to have a lot more skill than that required by a barista. Of course, "barista" sounds so much more distinguished than "soda jerk".

Ain't that the truth. I just read an article on yahoo the other day that addressed tipping. It stated that 15% is now considered to be cheap, that you should top 20% minimum for decent service.

The most ridiculous tip jar I've ever seen was at the drive through window of Starbucks. I don't see making a cup of coffee, no matter how many pretentious demands are going into it, as any more tipworthy than someone making me a burger and fries. But people will do it because we're conditioned to have our guilt kick in when we see a tip jar - "oh, these poor people are only making minimum wage, let me give them an extra buck". My attitude is "get a better job if you're not making enough money to live on".