Tip for bad service???

[tonytryout]

Originally posted by SJT
What about buying drinks for bartenders?

I've worked behind the bar quite a lot, and only occasionally got drinks bought for me.
In the UK, working behind a bar is hell come 10.30, and you get no thanks for it; it's all "get your drinks as quick as you can and then run" from the customers.
The only time you really get any sort of a tip is if someone orders 10 drinks and there's change out of £20 or something...when a friend of the family from Berlin came over to visit he was appalled at the way us bar staff were treated; he said that it's the other way around on the continent, be nice to the bar tender or you get nothing.

I'm not even talking about tips really, just generally the attitude to people providing you with a service is terrible in this country.

Agreed. I myself never worked behind bars but have noticed that it happened quite a lot here -- customers at the bar waving notes, etc. Especially when I was working as a security doorman back at uni, I have had to have one or two words with these gits who got on nerves of the bar staff -- I had better things to do than walking to the bar, trying to knock some sense into their thick heads.

[pissant]

Here in New Zealand it is not traditional to tip, you only do it if the service is exceptional...

But when I was in the UK, and USA the one thing I really hated was when the restaurant automatically added a 'service' charge...
I'll tip if I want to and it will not be on a credit card! There was a thing in England recently where some waiting staff took their boss to court over credit card tips which hadn't been getting to them...
sad!

The best service I have experienced on five continents was in New Zealand... the waiting staff here are informal, but hardworking and fun!

The thing that always bugs me about tipping is that since I come from a place where tipping is unusual it always strikes me as being EXTRA and that bugs me

[clifgriffin]

I try to tip at least 15%. If it is bad service...I won't tip at all.

Why do should we tip? Well...a large portion of these people's incomes come from tips. Not tipping for good service is just wrong, in my opinion.

Clif