tipping

part of the reason I stopped working in restaurant industry is that I was barely scraping by and so I had to appease a bunch of entitled little shits nightly to ensure I could pay for my car that month.

well that and the fact that they laid me off

Going back to the tweet that started this revival.

Yes, it's crazy that the youngest drinkers are closing out each round. Keep in mind that they were quarantined for 12+ months. Do they know that they can safely leave their credit card in the secure hands of the bartender? It's crazy to assume that they'd think (1.) that's a thing to do and (2.) that the bartender would actually prefer to keep their card for them.

I'm trying hard to remember the first time I was asked if I wanted to "start a tab." I was likely using cash exclusively, so it was more a matter of trust on the bartender's part than me having to leave anything valuable with him/her as collateral. By the time I paid my first tab with a credit card, I was familiar with the process.

Imagine the look I'd get from someone born in the 21st Century if I told them that I used to keep my first bank debit card in good standing by making 10 individual purchases each month with it, sometimes by "catching up" at the end of the month with four separate purchases of gum or Lifesavers. Now tell them that they should leave their credit cards, secret three-pinnned security code on the back and everything, with that complete stranger on the other side of the bar.

the last time I was a restaurant employee, the receipts didn't even X out the full credit card number like 99.9% do today. the entire number sitting there on credit card receipts, copies of which were usually left about the restaurant as the customer didn't always take their copy.

at least one co-worker bragged about 'getting revenge' on a bad customer by keeping a receipt and using guy's credit card to send terrible crap to his house, but the probability that any of the shit that guy said being true is less than 1%.

also...my current company, when I started in 2005, was still having customers use their SSN as user IDs, which included saying it over the phone. and sending forms requiring you to write the whole thing on a form.

let me ask any bartenders in here - do you prefer the "keep your card and give back after closing out" method, or the "scan card and give back" method that many bars are gravitating towards? wasn't sure which was easier for bartenders.

I was gonna say, most bars don't hold on to your card these days.

I usually open a tab but I'm also a lightweight and will often close it out without ordering more. Is that considered bad form?

the number of times that i forgot to close out my tab because i was too drunk, and had to go back to the bar the next afternoon to get my card..,,, well one's too many but reader it happened quite a bit

Many bars these days print a copy of the receipt with what you've ordered up to that moment and put it in an empty glass.

yeah a lot around me do that

Scan and hand back is best for all concerned. And extra points if - upon settling up - you get the pleasant exchange of "leave it on the card?" "Yep!"

Not because I ever have reason to change payment methods. But because it just feels kinda nice that they ask.

Maybe there are people who use one card to open a tab but a different one to pay. Maybe some folks like to use a card to open a tab but then settle in cash. I am not one of the but it's nice of servers to provide options.

I take it like the same thing as a hotel asking you for a card but letting you pay with a different one at checkout - the initial card is to verify the person can pay for the goods, but probably legally have tp verify that they also want to use that card to settle up

the number of times that i forgot to close out my tab because i was too drunk, and had to go back to the bar the next afternoon to get my card..,,, well one's too many but reader it happened quite a bit

― Tracer Hand, Monday, July 17, 2023 11:45 AM (thirty-two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I did this at least a handful of times in law school and never before or since.

Going into that bar at 10:30 in the morning, not recognizing anyone. Taking that little plastic recipe box and thumbing through the cards for mine. "ah, look. Pete left his behind too!"

I don’t drink much, so (on the rare occasions I’m in a bar) my tendency is to pay for one drink and tip decently without starting a tab.

But this thread has me thinking if I’m ever in a more than one drink situation - or if somehow I’m buying drinks for other people - a tab is kinda the humane way to go.

a lot of the card conveniences or inconveniences depend on the POS system. we use Square at the bar where I work, and the system for getting the card info saved in the system and having a name associated with it and finding it later is, frankly, super time-consuming and irritating.

most of the young people who come to the bar either pay with Apple Pay or CashApp, which i think is fine. these conveniences don’t have anything to do with how much they tip, ime.

I was just at a bar playing music for several hours. I had a hamburger and there were, I think, four glasses of wine (two for me and two for someone else).

The tab was $1.09. I have no idea how they came up with that - typically I don't have detailed conversations about band tabs. I am glad to get anything comped, of course. But I also wouldn't mind paying full price for food/beverages while also getting paid in normal money for music.

It would certainly make tipping way easier. Sometimes I end up tipping nearly random amounts because I simply don't know what the charges should have been. This time I added $10 because it seemed about right (I am assuming it would have been a $50ish check).

the phrase "NO EGG NO TIP" has popped into my mind a few times since reading it and it always makes me feel slightly delirious, thank you LL :)

haha!! you are very welcome. i feel the same way about it. NO EGG NO TIP will be with me for the long haul.

When my sister was waitressing, if she got massively shorted on a tip by stingy diners, she occasionally followed the worst offenders out the door and told them ‘you forgot your change!’

Is the thing about people writing ‘Jesus loves you’ on the check in lieu of a tip a real thing?

no egg no tip

i strictly roots

guy strictly rude, more like

I’m sure someone wrote Jesus Loves You when I was working in NC but it hasn’t happened elsewhere that I can recall.

Then again I’ve also noticed that my brain erases a lot of these experiences bc 1) not helpful to hold onto them and 2) actively hurtful to dwell on how poorly I’ve been treated.

When my sister was waitressing, if she got massively shorted on a tip by stingy diners, she occasionally followed the worst offenders out the door and told them ‘you forgot your change!’

A waitressing friend of mine once received a one-dollar tip from a particularly obnoxious table. One of the diners accidentally forgot an expensive camera* in the booth.

(* = This was in the 80s. I am speaking of a film camera.)

There were a few pictures left on the roll of film, so my friend used them to take pictures of that precisely one-dollar tip being flushed down the toilet.

When I worked at Applebee's, I had a colleague who received a tip of pennies on a $70 meal (2001 money). She followed the diners out to the parking lot and threw the pennies at their car. She was promptly fired, of course, but the TGIFridays down the street scooped her up the next day.

A wise career move

I am not sure whether my sister hurled pennies at stingy customers in retreat (all signs point to yes) but she upbraided bad customers in the knowledge that her job was totally safe. The owners hated people like that and knew she was an excellent server. This was a neighbourhood place where regulars tipped nearer 25 per cent, with the occasional huge tip from someone affiliated with the Minnesota Vikings.