consumer tipping #1

Consumer tipping is innately flawed. This is a huge issue with so many facets to it that I cannot express them all, much less list them off the top of my head at the moment. So this will be a work in progress, or at least several posts on the same topic, whenever I feel like ranting.

Issue #1.
Tipping is based on a person's spending habits, and the level of service only changes the amount of tipping minimally, and even then only for a small percentage of customers. Therefore, there is no incentive for a server/bartender to give great service as opposed to moderate service. More on this later!

the working hands of a bartender

I can never get my nails done because bartending ruins them. Cuts and nicks, chipped nail polish and dry hands -- ugh. The worst is having a cut on my hand, knowing that I have to cut limes and lemons at work.

Oh, the sting.

I had a pretty deep cut on my finger so I wound the band-aid tightly around it for the night, but liquid/water/lime juice still gets in. Well, that night someone asked for a drink with Grey Goose and I held two glasses in my left hand, and with my other hand, accidentally reached for the Belvedere bottle. As I suddenly realized that the drink called for Grey Goose and not Belvedere, I immediately jerked the bottle up before any vodka could come out, but as I did so, a splash of Belvedere dripped onto my left hand, right on my cut.

Good god, I wasn't expecting this sting like no other!

But the vodka immediately cleaned it out and the cut started healing the day after. Good ol vodka, the ultimate cure-all.

arrogant old guy

This old guy came in with a girl he met about 2 months earlier. They were talking to me about how they were getting married and how she's the love of his life, yada yada. We were talking about stuff and somehow got on the topic of Seattle and Spokane. I pronounced it Spok-Anne and he said, "No, it's Spok-Ayne." I didn't argue with him even though he was clearly ignorant and wrong, because I figure old arrogant men have to keep their dignity somehow. Besides, he apparently owned his own business and was a bigshot and so I thought, well maybe he'll tip well if I let him keep his ignorant views.

The best part though, was when I looked at his credit card receipt later and he left me $10 tip on a $66.40 bill. On the back of the slip he had written 3.32 + 6.64 = 9.96 to calculate exactly 15% tip. It was sad, because I didn't really have to go through the agony of talking to his arrogant man, and getting wrongfully based lectures from him just to get the 15%. I'm not that desperate, but apparently he is either that stingy or 15% is that much for him. And I gave him GREAT service, not just mediocre stuff that normal people would tip 15% for.

damn managers

One of the managers is a really big flirt with all the servers/bartenders, except me of course. So this ex-server who always comes into the bar always flirts with him and stuff. She never pays for her drinks, or at least never full price. I don't know how much she pays though (if at all) because I've never served her. So she orders two shots from me, right where the manager is (cuz she's flirting with him). I make her the two shots, she throws down a $10 bill, and turns away before I can stop her. The total should have been $14. The manager SEES the $10 bill. He didn't stop her and ask her to put down more money. So I assume (yes, making an ass out of myself) that he condoned that the drinks were on the house and that the $10 was tip. Of course, I probably should have asked him, but being the dumbass I am, I didn't. So I just put the $10 in the tip jar. Then he comes over and yells at me and asked why I didn't charge her for the drinks. It was busy so I didn't have time to explain, but I said that she gave me $10 and I assumed that was tip. He just gave me a mean look and took the $10 from the jar and put it in the cash register, aka leaving me with zero tip. First of all she was an ex-server and she always leaves a lot of tip, so my reasoning wasn't completely off the wall. Secondly, she always gets free drinks from the managers so I assumed this was the case again, since this whole thing happened RIGHT in front of the manager -- it's not like I'm blatantly trying to steal money from the bar RIGHT in front of his eyes!

The next day I come into work, the head manager confronts me about this. I explain to him my situation and he lectures me about giving drinks away and blah blah, then he says he doesn't want me handling money for the rest of the night and wants me to do the service bar. First of all the other 2 bartenders can't handle the crowd and they are definitely not good enough at multitasking (aka serving drinks AND clearing the bar, since we have no barbacks). Secondly, the customers know me and they order drinks from me whether I am serving or not. Thirdly, the servers don't tip us out for making drinks for them, which is the policy here at the bar, so fuck that. Anyway, to make a long story short, I get completely pissed off but instead of expressing it, I decide to be more patient and talk with the manager again and explain my situation more clearly. Whatever, him and the other manager probably don't trust me, but it's because their management sucks and it's not my fault they're greedy little bitches trying to pin the blame on me and make me look like the bad guy. Look, if he REALLY cared about the money he could have stopped the girl and made her pay the right price for it. But obviously he didn't care about it enough to make himself look like a bad guy in front of her, so he wanted ME to be the bad guy, and wanted me to take the blame for it. Zzzzzz. Again, what can you do.

drama in the workforce

Had a busy Friday at the bar this week. Apparently though, the servers didn't do as well as they thought they did, and drama is revealed among them.

One of the servers got a great table that was out for someone'e birthday and spent well over $1000 - $2000 on Dom Perignon bottles and drinks. That server got a high total of tips over the whole night, quite high in fact. However, all servers pool tips as do the bartenders. When all the tips were counted up, the leftover total minus that one server's tips was sort of low among the other 2 servers, since the bar was really busy that night.

Here the servers have to give their receipts/tips to one of the managers who then puts the receipts into a pool. Now if the tip count was low, the servers would naturally suspect the manager for not putting all the receipts. So this whole drama was going on, as the servers thought they made more. What can one do? Take it or leave it.

Then later this other server was talking to one of the other bartenders and complaining about how one of the other servers owed her $9 but only gave her $4 or something. That was pretty sad. There is one thing I would never do, and that is cheat my co-workers. Sure, sometimes I feel like I do most of the work, but they pull their weight too and work honestly and I would never want to see them treated unfairly. That's why it sucked so much to overhear this conversation. I mean, while I know that other server earned a lot in tips, she just got lucky and got a good table. It's sort of different with servers because they get specific tables which can be good or bad, whereas with bartenders, at least in my bar, we share the bar and sales and the system doesn't record how much each person sold. So it's harder to justify saying that one bartender worked harder than the other except by how we see things being done. Anyway, lots of blabbing from me here, but this is one of the issues that comes up in the service industry that could be changed, but is hard to find a solution for as well as change/transition out of in the first place.

no tip, bad service

Hey guys, it's been a while! Sorry to keep y'all waiting :) I had spring break and took two weeks off. But also, the thing is, so many things happen at the bar that I just don't remember them or they don't surprise me anymore. But I'll still try to keep this interesting, because I know you don't get the BENEFIT of dealing with stupid people everyday!

So the other bartender said to me, "I'd serve her a drink if she actually tipped." I said, "Who?" and she nodded at the blond chick. This blond lady flagged me down a short while later and asked me for a drink. I thought she was nice and thought that well, maybe she'll tip this time. So I give her the drink, yada yada, and she leaves zero tip. I'm like, well guess the other bartender was right. So after that, the lady had to ask each of the bartenders like 3 times before any of us would serve her a drink. Sorry lady, but your beautiful expensive blond locks couldn't get you out of this one!

Yes, I may sound greedy. But there are things that can be changed in the service industry (aka tips/wages) that I may not see changed in my lifetime. And while these things aren't changed, I will do my job as logically and passionately as I can while keeping a fine balance of both. Sure, I gave her the benefit of the doubt and served her the drink even after my co-worker warned me. But I can serve other customers in the same time and earn more for myself, my co-workers, and probably the bar since more generous patrons would probably buy more drinks in the long run anyway. Sorry blond lady (not really).