Agame,

I still don't understand why you hate what you described.

Maybe this is a better example.

In most casinos, free alcohol is provided if you're gambling. I think this is great. I order drinks, and tip $1, as I would for any drink if I were paying. Some of my friends tip $3-4, claiming "well it's still a lot cheaper than in some bar," and think I'm cheap for not doing so.

To me, tipping 3-4 bucks defeats the value of free alcohol while you play. The casino is offering you a service, which you are more than paying for in your losses/rake.

Well at least in this situation, the waitresses aren't incentivizing you to tip extra. IME, they're quite happy with a buck per. In the bar/restaurant situation, they're only charging you less so you tip more, and unless they really knock a lot off your bill, it just doesn't end up saving you much.

If you're gonna make a spectacle of hooking me up, then hook me up.

Agame,

I still don't get it. They do you a favor that saves you some money, you return the favor by throwing them a little extra tip. And sometimes there are other nice gestures like trying a new alcohol or a new cocktail they are working on or some new thing from the kitchen, etc.

Not sure what you mean by spectacle. At places where I'm a regular, nothing is even said or mentioned when stuff is comped. At a place where I have never been before, they'll often say "this round is on me" or "I got that last round for you" when presenting the bill, but that's it.

I have very rarely, maybe twice?, been at a new place where the dude mentions multiple times that he picked up that one round for us. I agree that is pretty annoying, but is super uncommon ime.

Meh, if I just had ten drinks, I'd just want to tip a flat % rather than have to figure out how much someone hooked me up for and whether it's customarily the right amount or w/e. You saving me $5 is you being self-serving at the expense of the owner, idgaf.

At places I'm a regular, I agree, nothing is usually said. But if a bartender or waitress goes out of their way to tell me "they hooked me up" or something like that, then it better be legit or else they're not really doing much for me. That's my only point I guess.

Are you accepting members into your social group?

I'm honestly curious why you tip 20% to a bartender, but only $1 if a cocktail waitress brings it to you.

z, A:

Like I said earlier, the calculations discussed in this thread are really just for discussion purposes, and in reality what happens is I just leave a few extra bucks or a little higher % tip and it all works out in the end.

I do agree that overly solicitous behavior from service staff can be annoying and come off like begging for tips, but that is a separate thing that can happen with or without comping.

20% of zero is zero.

What's a beer at a card room, $4? Sounds like she's doing fine.

Jesus, dude, I even bolded the relevant part. Guess the word "any" needs extra bold.

That was tongue-in-cheek; buy a sense of humor with those discounted drinks.

Minimalist,

I bet he tips more than $2 when getting two $15 cocktails at the bar and paying cash.

This also opens up the question of when should bartenders break bills down into singles for you when giving change...

Well, yes, he said that he tips 20% at the bar. But then he says it's only a dollar a drink to the cocktail waitress for any drink if he's paying. I'm assuming that any drink includes those $15 cocktails.

AGame,

Agreed, spending less money than you would normally is annoying.

Min,

I think you're taking it a bit too literally and I suspect he's talking about tipping $1 when someone brings him a bottle of beer, but probably more when someone makes him a $12 cocktail.

Having said that, it's def true that lots of people tip $1/drink as a standard when paying cash, but when it's a tab on a credit card they leave 20% which often comes out to much more than $1/drink.

If I have a tab open all night it's because I'm ordering a lot of drinks, often from the same bartender, and I leave at least 20%. If I am just paying as I go, I tip a dollar a drink, regardless of how expensive the drink is. Of course the former often comes out to much more, but I'm not leaving 8% on a cc tab and tipping more than a $1 per on individuals seems excessive. So that's always what I've done and won't change.

Obviously since waitresses in casinos are bringing them one at a time, I equate it to the latter situation and tip $1 per.

Where do you live?

A,

You realize how ******ed your explanation sounds, right?

You tip $1 on $15 cocktails if paying cash, but $3 if paying by credit card. Why is more than $1 per drink "excessive" in cash but totally fine on a credit card?

$15 cocktails are rare. However, if I do get one, it's going to be something like a glenlivet neat. It's as easy as cracking open a beer.

I don't order extravagant drinks. Regardless, yes, clearly I understand it is not equal. I believe my post makes that quite clear. But yes, to me, leaving $3 on an individual $15 drink does SEEM excessive.

And it's the individual vs. randoms factor. When I get a tab, the vast majority of the time I'm setting up shop in the same spot and ordering from the same bartender. Maybe they all split in the end or whatever but I'm tipping that person for the service he or she provided. If I felt he or she was were really awful (never happens), I would tip less than 20%. When I order drinks one a time, it's because I'm at a crowded place and ordering sporadically, not building any rapport with any particular bartender. It's usually a go to the bar, stand and wait until I can get someone's attention, and then walk away as soon as I get my drinks type situation.

Everyone in all of my social circles does what I do, and I consider everyone I consort with to be unnecessarily generous on tipping for the most part. It's just always been the norm to do it this way and it seems to work, so I have no reason to change.

A,

"wait until I can get someone's attention"

FWIW, you'll probably wait around less if you tip a couple bucks more than $4 for a $50 round of drinks.

No, not at the bars I'm going to. They're very crowded, and I'm paying cash. They don't recognize faces, and even if they did, they don't know how much you tip most of the time since you just leave it on the counter after they give you change and then they go off to make the next drink, waiting until there's a lot of money spread out on the bar before collecting.

A,

At bars where drinks cost $10-$15, they notice much more than you realize.

I disagree. But ok.

a buck a beer seems reasonable, especially if it dilutes the imbalance of servers from other bars/restaurants being able to be tipped more on the basis of having higher prices.

The benefits of tipping at bars at where a drink is $10-15 vary greatly in my experience.

At less crowded places, but still in more expensive areas of nyc, tipping will help you out a lot with regards to service and free rounds.

At crowded/clubbish places it's hard to gain any additional value from tipping more unless it's an excessive tip. $1-3 probably wouldn't make a difference at all so it's really just your choice how generous you feel that night. It's usually why I get most of my drinks for the night at a smaller place before moving on to a busier place. It's cheaper to get myself and my party drunk, the bartenders usually try to help you out, and it just seems like everybody wins!