re: Tipping a Bartender

How much I tip for drinks is dependent on how much effort is made. If I'm just stopping by the bar for a beer every once in a while, where all they have to do is grab the beer and ring me up, I'll tip a buck for the first one and then no tip for the beers after that.

If I'm ordering a more complicated drink, then the tip increases.

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If you want good service tip 5 10 20 bucks right up front then a little bit each order.

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This. I learned on my 40th birthday in MX. Baw I knew saw the "towel guy," gave him $100 the first time we showed up, and our chairs and our beer was in place and ready to rumble every day we were there.

This principle especially applies in airport lounges and the like, where you're probably never going to see them again. $20 up front and they know you won't be a cheapskate a-hole and assume because the booze is free you don't have to tip. I was running late to leave South Africa, and had 15 minutes to get as hammered as possible before getting on a 12 hour flight. I shoved all the Rand I had left at the bartender and said, "give me as much vodka as you can, I have to board in 13 minutes." 90 seconds after I took my first drink to my seat, he showed up with another drink, and said, "Sir, you have 9 minutes until you leave."

But if it's a place where you are going to tip after, being polite goes a long way to build trust with someone that you've never seen before will prioritize you before the guy snapping his fingers that doesn't even have any money out.

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Did the bartender do anything different for your $4 PBR than she did for the $9 Tropicalia? Then why pay them double the tip…

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I mean I get that but you could make that argument about anything in terms of tipping. The server doesn't do anything different in terms of bringing you a burger vs a steak

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Yeah I usually give $1-2 a drink.

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When your lady friend orders a $14 espresso martini, and you order a Busch Light, yeah, it makes total sense the tips are nearly the same.

Can we just consider bottled beer to be off limits to the actual bartender tipping discussion? It's a waste of time and keeps dragging the conversation into the non-productive zone.

Give what you want but don't go below the $1 standard per beer.

People who plug up the bar ordering weird shite that takes forever should have to tip $20 per drink. Shits aggravating.

Saloons should serve been and whiskey. Women can have that or gtfo

Outside of single airport travel and extremely rare circumstances, who is going to a bars alone? I just find this scenario strange. In the these scenarios, it’s a minimum of $2 if paying for each separately but if you’re just grabbing a single beer, throw the bartender a $5 spot and move on.

Seriously though, every adult trip to a bar or similar establishment that involves drinking alcohol outside of a meal is usually with fellow friends or colleagues and requires buying rounds as a group. If not on a group tab, a member of the group offers and covers each round as needed. The tip is based on the overall round or tab and is easily able to be determined by most reasonable adults as necessary.

Also…if you’re going somewhere and know you’ll be getting multiple drinks and paying for each separately, plan ahead and hit the ATM and use cash. Nothing worse than the guy using a CC for every single beer.

Tip $1 a beer.

Maybe $2 if you get a cocktail.

Anything more and you’re an idiot.

Bartended 26 years. I remember when longnecks were 1.75 and the quarter was usually the tip. Amazing how much prices and tip expectations have gone up.