Hey, Leah!
Can you be straight with me? I always leave the bartender something, but I feel like I’ve caught a few unpleasant looks. What do bartenders expect to be tipped?
—Jose, Ridgewood, New Jersey
Hi Jose,
I’d be thrilled to offer advice on this one. I wish more folks were thoughtful enough to ask! Here’s the thing, Jose. If you’ve never worked in the service industry, you might not realize that the tip you leave your bartender is going into a pool, meaning that bartender is likely tipping out a busser, runner, and barback. So the sawbuck you plopped down converts to pennies. And if you tip on a card, it’s getting taxed (ahem, not that we don’t report every last cent).
Furthermore, your bartender is likely making a server’s minimum wage without that tip, so when we say tips are our livelihood, we mean it. Tipping 20% to any bartender or server is the expectation, and if we go above and beyond, so should you. Anything less is insulting. Our job is often thankless, and we work incredibly hard to make your night special, so do the right thing and take care of the people who give up their nights and weekends to take care of you. You will always receive better service if you treat your bartenders with the respect they deserve, and if you want to be in our good graces, we appreciate the hell out of cash tippers. And don’t worry about looking like a fool by pulling up that calculator on your phone; the quickest way to figure out a 20% tip is to take the total of the check, move the decimal point one place to the left, and multiply by two. For example, a $40.00 check would call for an $8.00 tip. Voila! Stick with me, kid, and you’ll never get a nasty look again.
Hey, Leah!Can you be straight with me? I always leave the bartender something, but I feel like I’ve caught a few unpleasant looks. What do bartenders expect to be tipped?
— Jose, Ridgewood, New Jersey
Hi Jose. I’d be thrilled to offer advice on this one. I wish more folks were thoughtful enough to ask! Here’s the thing, Jose. If you’ve never worked in the service industry, you might not realize that the tip you leave your bartender is going into a pool, meaning that bartender is likely tipping out a busser, runner, and barback. So the sawbuck you plopped down converts to pennies. And if you tip on a card, it’s getting taxed (ahem, not that we don’t report every last cent).
Furthermore, your bartender is likely making a server’s minimum wage without that tip, so when we say tips are our livelihood, we mean it. Tipping 20% to any bartender or server is the expectation, and if we go above and beyond, so should you. Anything less is insulting. Our job is often thankless, and we work incredibly hard to make your night special, so do the right thing and take care of the people who give up their nights and weekends to take care of you. You will always receive better service if you treat your bartenders with the respect they deserve, and if you want to be in our good graces, we appreciate the hell out of cash tippers. And don’t worry about looking like a fool by pulling up that calculator on your phone; the quickest way to figure out a 20% tip is to take the total of the check, move the decimal point one place to the left, and multiply by two. For example, a $40.00 check would call for an $8.00 tip. Voila! Stick with me, kid, and you’ll never get a nasty look again.
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Leah Pupkin has been a craft cocktail bartender and consultant for the past ten years. She has worked in countless bars and curated cocktail programs all over New York and Australia. She now resides in Portland, Oregon, where she is currently the bar director at G-Love. Leah produces sponsored content for various liquor brands and runs a blog featuring movie reviews accompanied by craft cocktail pairings when not behind the bar. You can find the blog at thebardirector.com and follow all her work on Instagram @thebardirector.
