But the difference would be, staff would get a stable and fair wage without having to worry about getting tips and the consumer wouldn't feel compelled to tip unless the service was astronomically good.
Everybody wins. Or at least in my mind anyway.
Never going to happen though. Consumers don't care and many of them don't even understand how it works. Restaurant employees are powerless. And the restaurant owners like the system the way it is cause it makes them more money and they're able to game the system to save money on taxes.
OK... I'm fine tipping a bartender.
But bartending doesn't take much time or effort... and drinks are expensive, so tips are relatively high. A dollar on a 4 dollar beer seems excessive.
You're joking, right? If not, spoken like someone who's never set foot behind a bar.
There's a lot more the bartender does to serve you your beer besides grabbing a bottle out of the cooler, popping the cap, and giving it to you.
Who puts away the beer deliveries in the storage room when a delivery comes?
Who refills and stocks all the beer coolers when they run low so there is cold beer to serve you?
Who changes the kegs?
Who washes all the glassware, then puts it away in a cooler, so there's a clean, chilled pint glass to pour your beer in?
Who cleans the bar top so you have a clean bar to sit at while you drink your beer?
And that's just for a beer. What about for mixed drinks? Martinis, manhattans, frozen drinks?
When I used to tend bar, just to make a martini involves these steps: first you had to chill the martini glass, fill the shaker with ice & measure out ingredients, shake, pour in the glass, garnish, then serve the drink, cash out the customer, wash the shaker to get it ready for the next drink, and then wash, dry, and polish the glass once it comes back after the customer is done.
It doesn't sound too difficult, but try doing it when antsy, half-in-the-bag customers are 20+ deep at your bar and every customer has an order with a half dozen drinks with different recipes. Not to mention having to verify every customer getting a drink is of age and making sure they aren't over served.
Everyone thinks bartending is easy until they step behind a bar. It's muuuch more difficult than it sounds and looks, but it's a blast if you're in a good place and don't mind running for 6-10 hours non stop without even being able to take a piss break at many points.
A bartender could easily make way more than the $5.37 more the hostess is getting based on 25% tips.
Well duh, and they should. Bartenders have much more difficult job with more responsibility and liability.
Should I calculate the right bartender percentage based on the amount of work he's doing vs the $5 or $6 extra per hour (s)he needs to make up? A quarter on a $4 beer sounds more realistic in this case.
A dollar a beer is standard. Of course, if you get a beer, and it's $4.25, leaving $5 (so the tip is .75) is fine. Obviously, you can leave less, but if you leave the bartender a quarter, don't be surprised when you are the last guy served next time you're at the bar while the bartender takes care of customers who tip better.
