Originally Posted by
netopia
I thought about posting this to the policy change thread, but it seems like its own topic.
On the first day of free drinks in the RCC, I had a long chat with an unnamed bartender about the policy and United in general. She and other bartenders are not United employees - this one was a Sodexo employee and she said she makes $9 an hour (which actually sounded like a high hourly wage for a bartender, since they can normally make quite a lot of money in tips). Anyway, just on that one Friday, her tips had dropped precipitously even though she was pouring a lot more drinks. Both in this club and in another on Sunday I witnessed many, many people stiffing the bartenders.
Apparently people do not feel obligated to tip because the drink is free, and I'm interested to hear others' opinions here. The bartender's getting paid the same either way. Personally, I believe I will tip less overall in this situation, but I certainly will not stiff the bartender either. I'd probably tip $1 for two free drinks instead of $1 for 1 drink I would normally tip in an average city bar. Depends on the drink, too - draft beer vs. cocktails, for example.
This sounds a bit odd to me. The implication is that customers would tip when they "paid" using a chit, but do not tip now the drink does not require a chit. Either way, the drink is free, so why do they not tip now? Does not make sense to me but I am just musing.....
From the perspective of a Brit trying to comply with country cultural norms, when in the RCCs I always tip whether it is for a chit drink or a paid one (not that other customers did the same). But I don't tip per drink unless the drinks are very different ones - a $1 tip per bottle for taking the top off 3 bottles of beer does not seem merited.