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Basic tip etiquette
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Always leave a good tip!
Tipping your bartender is extremely important. Typically, bartenders make minimum wage. Washington State's minimum wage is high at $8.55 an hour, but that is definitely not enough to survive. Thus, we bartenders rely on those tips to make a decent living.
There is a "One dollar per drink" unwritten rule. However, tipping based on percentage is more appropriate, especially since drinks can be in the double digits. It's always best for a bartender to make about twenty percent of their sales from that day off tips. So, if you have a martini that's thirteen dollars, tipping at least two or three is ideal.
There is the factor of service. If you have received adequate service, it's best to leave about eighteen percent of your total bill for a tip. If you have received excellent service, go for about twenty-five or thirty percent so the bartender knows how well they did. If you have received poor or substandard service, still leave at least ten to fifteen percent. There are many factors to why service wasn't perfect and most of the time it's not the bartender's fault. Or, people have bad days. We're all human, after all, so don't jip on the tip. If you do, don't expect to ever get great service at that establishment again. And word gets around fast amongst all bartenders and we all look out for one another, so you could get black listed from a plethora of bars from one bad tip.
Never tip change. It's insulting and bartenders almost never use change. The only acceptable time to leave change as a tip is when tax is included and makes an odd coin amount when you are paying with cash. Therefore, you should leave whatever tip you would have then an extra dollar for that change. It's best to see the coin amount as a dollar, even if it's only a few cents. Always go over than under, so the bartender doesn't have to compensate their tip. When it comes to credit card transactions, never round your tab to the dollar with tips for all the same reasons. We bartenders fear change, so please, leave it at home!
The gift of gratuity allows you to say "Thanks" for your bartender providing the service of company and a good drink. Always remember to tip your bartender and all will be good!
