Drinks come with 18% twist

[moshquerade]

What is your opinion of a mandatory tip on drinks at the bar? Would it equal what you'd tip anyway? Or would it piss you off enough to decrease your bar time?

Drinks come with 18% twist
Posted: 1:03 AM, October 31, 2010

Big tips are no longer a "thank you" for good service -- they're now mandatory at many of Manhattan's poshest bars.

At the trendy Gansevoort Hotel in the Meatpacking District, bartenders slap a compulsory 20 percent tip on all beer, wine and cocktails ordered at the bar.

That adds $7 to each $35 glass of Veuve Cliquot champagne.

At the Tribeca Grand Hotel, where a double Beefeater gin on the rocks costs a whopping $26, the bartender also includes an extra $4.68 tip -- that's an obligatory 18 percent gratuity -- on your tab.
"It's a hotel policy, because we have a lot of European tourists who don't tip," a bartender said.

The Standard Hotel on the West Side and the Lobby Bar at the Ace Hotel in Midtown also charge revelers a mandatory 18 percent gratuity on drinks, rather than leave the tip to the patron's discretion. Both cite foreign tourists who don't know it's customary to tip your bartender as motive for the policy.

"New York City is now a tourist-based economy," said nightlife impresario Steve Lewis. "The French and the Italians and the Spanish don't tip, so it's becoming a necessity at any place that's dealing with a Euro crowd and wants to maintain its staff."

But barflies accustomed to tipping their bartenders $1 a pour said they're outraged by the sky-high mandatory tips.

"I was really surprised when the bill came," said Kelli Avila, 25, who rang up a tab of about $70 on champagne and cocktails at the Ace Hotel Lobby Bar. "It's pretty presumptuous."

Breanne Schaap, 25, who was visiting the Ace Hotel, said the policy "only bugs me if I have bad service. Then I get really, really upset."

The State Liquor Authority has no rules against mandatory tipping, according to a spokesman. But cash-strapped revelers who don't want to pay up for bad service are not obligated to, said Warren County District Attorney Kate Hogan, who is well-versed in New York case law on the matter.

"Case law said a gratuity is within the discretion of the customers," said Hogan, who dropped charges against a man who refused to pay a "required" 18 percent gratuity on a group dinner at Soprano's Italian and American Grill in Lake George, NY. "The discretion to refuse payment is an essential element of a tip or gratuity," Hogan told the Post about the 2004 incident.

The Post put this to the test yesterday, having a reporter order a $12 cocktail with vodka, lemon hibiscus syrup and Prosecco at the Ace Hotel bar. The check included a red stamp stating that an 18 percent tip was required, and when the reporter demanded that she pay whatever gratuity she wished, the bartended scratched it off without a fuss.​

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http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/drinks_come_with_twist_DTf68Zvdn8qX6HA7GflQ4J

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[Gibson486]

Everyone has this sense of, "Oh, I deserve it" when it should be "Oh, if I work hard for, then I will deserve it". Low tippers? Guess what, it's part of being in that industry.

 

[Alone]

Don't work for it, don't get it.

I was cut off at a bar once for not tipping enough on drinks (I tipped $1 on a $8 bottle).

All I was getting was beer.

 

[moshquerade]

Don't work for it, don't get it.

I was cut off at a bar once for not tipping enough on drinks (I tipped $1 on a $8 bottle).

All I was getting was beer.

Did you go back to that bar after that?

 

[meltdown75]

tipping thread

 

[Anubis]

lol you can but a bottle of beefeater for 26$

 

[GuitarDaddy]

I don't know whats more ridiculous, those prices or the mandatory gratuity. I wouldn't spend a cent in any of those establishments. Thanks for the headsup

 

[fatpat268]

Meh. Who cares.

I've always said that if you're expecting a standard 15% tip (or whatever), just automatically hike up the prices and give that amount to your waiters/bartenders. If you get exceptionally good service, feel free to tip more.

Don't make me feel like an asshole because I didn't tip you well because you offered shitty service. Just automatically add it into the cost of doing things.

But at the same time, I don't frequent places where tipping is the custom.

 

[lxskllr]

Don't work for it, don't get it.

I was cut off at a bar once for not tipping enough on drinks (I tipped $1 on a $8 bottle).

All I was getting was beer.

That's asinine. A mediocre bartender can easily serve 4 beers a minute. At $1 per beer, that's $240 per hour, not including the small salary. Do they REALLY think they're worth that much?!

Edit:
math fail

 

[Anubis]

That's asinine. A mediocre bartender can easily serve 4 beers a minute. At $1 per beer, that's $120 per hour, not including the small salary. Do they REALLY think they're worth that much?!

im assuming he figured everyone should be leaving him a 10 and not asking for change.

1$ per beer is pretty standard. def a dick bartender

 

[911paramedic]

Unless good service is also mandatory they can pound sand.

 

[PlasmaBomb]

20% tip for what? opening the bottle?

:thumbsdown:

"It's a hotel policy, because we have a lot of European tourists who don't tip," a bartender said.

Guess what... Europeans don't tip you for doing your job to a satisfactory level... suck it up.

 

[kranky]

A buck a drink is usually a decent tip at a bar, even if they charge $26 for a gin and tonic. Some tipping occasions don't lend themselves to a straight percentage, and to me drinking at a bar is one of them.

If you are with a group that's drinking at a good pace, a buck a drink is going to be pretty darn good. If you are sitting at the bar on a busy night and you manage to nurse a beer for two hours, then a buck a drink is probably not enough.

I don't claim that tending bar is a cake job, and tipping is appropriate. But when your establishment is charging double digits for even a cheap drink, expecting an 18-20% tip is pretty greedy.

 

[lxskllr]

A buck a drink is usually a decent tip at a bar, even if they charge $26 for a gin and tonic. Some tipping occasions don't lend themselves to a straight percentage, and to me drinking at a bar is one of them.

If you are with a group that's drinking at a good pace, a buck a drink is going to be pretty darn good. If you are sitting at the bar on a busy night and you manage to nurse a beer for two hours, then a buck a drink is probably not enough.

I don't claim that tending bar is a cake job, and tipping is appropriate. But when your establishment is charging double digits for even a cheap drink, expecting an 18-20% tip is pretty greedy.

Going by straight numbers, pouring a glass of Macallan 25yr straight should bring a higher tip than a girly blender drink with all the fruit and crap. You can't go by numbers alone.

 

[trmiv]

A fucking double Beefeater on the rocks costs $26????? Are these rocks diamonds? Does an actual Beefeater come out and hold the drink for you?

 

[MrX8503]

If I open a tab, its 15% tip.

If not....

$1 for every two beers
$1 for every mix drink

Honestly, I think tipping for beer should be very low, it takes mere seconds to open a bottle or pour a draft beer.

 

[rivan]

I wouldn't go back to a bar that had mandatory gratuity.

The whole concept pisses me off.

 

[Anubis]

Going by straight numbers, pouring a glass of Macallan 25yr straight should bring a higher tip than a girly blender drink with all the fruit and crap. You can't go by numbers alone.

no you got it backwards, fruity drink takes more work to make

 

[lxskllr]

no you got it backwards, fruity drink takes more work to make

That's what I'm saying. Last time I bought Macallan 25yr, it was $25 a glass, but no effort on the part of the bartender. I've never bought a blender drink, but I'm sure it's no more than $10 per glass, but it takes a shitload of effort. Going by numbers though, the whisky will command the higher tip.

 

[Deeko]

Mandatory gratuity is stupid. If I know a place does it, I won't go. Also, I usually tip better than the mandatory tip - and if I go somewhere that does add it automatically, I will not tip any more than that. So at least in my case, they're hurting themselves by enforcing this policy.

Like someone else in the thread said - if you want tipping to be mandatory, add it to the actual price of the drinks/food, and raise salaries. This whole concept of "mandatory gratuity" is absurd.

 

[alkemyst]

I always tip a buck a drink. The problem is is many tip nothing or just the change left.

For the poshiest bars that this is talking about, it's about supply and demand. They are putting on a tip system that will keep the 'meant to rent'/groundling types out of these places taking up bar real estate to milk their well drinks and be seen with people that matter.

 

[dawp]

if it's mandatory, it isn't a tip.

 

[Alone]

im assuming he figured everyone should be leaving him a 10 and not asking for change.

1$ per beer is pretty standard. def a dick bartender

He gave me the change every time anyway, but apparently got pissed when I only left $1.

Whatever.

No, Mosh, I never went back. I can get drunk at many different places that don't charge so damn much.

 

[moshquerade]

He gave me the change every time anyway, but apparently got pissed when I only left $1.

Whatever.

No, Mosh, I never went back. I can get drunk at many different places that don't charge so damn much.

Well, that's the thing I was getting at. One comment made about the article in my op is that bars are a dime a dozen in Manhattan. So all you have to do is go in and ask if there is "mandatory tipping" there, and if "yes" just leave and move on to the next one.

 

[xanis]

My general rule is a $1 per drink, no more. I usually only drink beer and simple mixed drinks like Jack & Coke, so I don't feel the need to tip any more unless they're doing an exceptional job.

I'm also with Deeko on not going to places that enforce mandatory tips. I'm strongly against the idea, so I'm not going to support it, simple as that. If the establishment wants more money and its employees want higher wages, simply raise the prices of the products.