Tipping at your coffee house?

**GarageBoy** · 08-11-2010, 08:34 PM

Do you tip at your coffee house/cafe?
I figure, if a bartender gets a tip for pouring a beer, the barista deserves a tip for a well timed and poured shot. Plus pour over or french press.

**Walker** · 08-11-2010, 08:50 PM

Why is there so many threads about tipping all of a sudden?

**GarageBoy** · 08-11-2010, 11:03 PM

Oops, just saw the big one..

**thanks** · 08-11-2010, 11:22 PM

Originally Posted by GarageBoy

Do you tip at your coffee house/cafe?
I figure, if a bartender gets a tip for pouring a beer, the barista deserves a tip for a well timed and poured shot. Plus pour over or french press.

I agree with this part of your paragraph the most. Pour over more so than French press if they apply a proper technique depending on the device. For instance, if they're using Hario equipment, and they make a really nice cup, then they obviously deserve a nice tip!

**ouch** · 08-12-2010, 02:51 AM

I think the notion of tipping for a cuppa joe is ridiculous. These days, a fairly calculated tip amounts to more than the beverage itself cost just a few years ago.

Tipping for a perfect pour? Sorry, but a barista should be able to deliver a perfect pour every time. When I say deliver, I don't mean "achieve a perfect pour', I mean "hand over a perfectly made drink in exchange for money".

**Jasonian** · 08-12-2010, 06:22 AM

Originally Posted by ouch

I think the notion of tipping for a cuppa joe is ridiculous. These days, a fairly calculated tip amounts to more than the beverage itself cost just a few years ago.

Tipping for a perfect pour? Sorry, but a barista should be able to deliver a perfect pour every time. When I say deliver, I don't mean "achieve a perfect pour', I mean "hand over a perfectly made drink in exchange for money".

On that note, I think that tipping a waiter for good service is a load of crap. It's his job to provide good service, to know his menu, and to be able to make recommendations.

Never mind that his pay is low and that tips make his job possible. Never mind that McDonald's will serve your food on a tray without the expectation of a tip. Tipping someone for doing the job that they were hired to do is absurd.

**ChrisS86** · 08-12-2010, 10:23 AM

Originally Posted by Jasonian

On that note, I think that tipping a waiter for good service is a load of crap. It's his job to provide good service, to know his menu, and to be able to make recommendations.

Never mind that his pay is low and that tips make his job possible. Never mind that McDonald's will serve your food on a tray without the expectation of a tip. Tipping someone for doing the job that they were hired to do is absurd.

**Telecaster52** · 08-12-2010, 11:15 AM

Originally Posted by Walker

Why is there so many threads about tipping all of a sudden?

I think it has to do with the new "springs1" user title

from "How Many Post Count Titles Are There?"

Originally Posted by drewmac

+1. Although some of the low post guys are probably looking at their titles going, "who's Stan...I'm his wingman! Cool!"

My theory is that the new titles are causing newcomers (or those unaware of the connection) to google them and find themselves directed towards this

**DFrancis** · 08-12-2010, 12:31 PM

If I have a bit of spare change then I will tip for a well made cappuccino, though I never feel obliged to.

**Shavely Manden** · 08-12-2010, 01:32 PM

Originally Posted by Jasonian

Tipping someone for doing the job that they were hired to do is absurd.

I dunno...on the one hand, it seems bizarre that you'd be expected to directly pay part of a worker's salary rather than paying his employer and compensating him indirectly. On the other hand, you can think of that less as paying a portion of his salary than *controlling* part of his salary.

To whit: let's say that tipping was banned all of the sudden. What'd probably happen would be that restaurants would start charging 15-20% more (because they still have to pay their workers enough to live, and now they couldn't rely on tips to make up the slack). However, that money would now be guaranteed to the waiter--so if, say, a waiter does a bad job and his boss doesn't care, he would get off scot-free. However, if you're expected to pay a 15-20% gratuity, you're actually one of the waiter's bosses--you have control over whether that money actually gets left. So the waiter has an interest in giving good service, because he's risking a portion of his compensation if he doesn't. It's also an indirect payment on commission, if you think commission is a good idea.

Compare this to countries where the gratuity is included in the price of the food. One of the reasons French waiters have a reputation of being unfriendly and aloof is that there isn't a custom of regularly tipping--tipping is extra for unusually good service. Thus, French customers don't have the same recourse to withholding a tip that Americans do, so they lose their edge when it comes to demanding service.

**Jasonian** · 08-12-2010, 05:36 PM

There are a number of factors that go into it, but being on the barista side of the counter more often than not (philosophically speaking), I am inclined to think from the business's perspective.

The American demographic is not ready to pay $1 more for specialty coffee menu items, especially when our culture sucks in the first place because price is the determining factor for so much of our consumption. (read: not value, but price.. therefore skewing our ability to see and understand value vs. cost in every day retail scenarios)

The business owner is left with two choices.

Pay the barista fairly and risk going under, or hope that the business's patrons will tip.. thus boosting the barista's hourly wage without affecting the price on the menu.

The way our culture in the US sees the service industry is pathetic. Only here will you perceive service professionals as students, or illegal immigrants... and not as professionals.

Our expectations have drastically changed over the decades.

I do not tip when the drink sucks. I tip every single time when the drink is good. I've been there. I understand the concept. A well made drink is a rarity in the coffee world. If you can drink it and enjoy it, count yourself lucky and spare a tip for the skilled hand who created it for you. (emphasis: created it for you) You'd tip a bartender for pouring a beer, which takes far less skill to do well. Something just doesn't add up.

Just my $.02

**Telecaster52** · 08-12-2010, 09:19 PM

Originally Posted by Jasonian

Tipping someone for doing the job that they were hired to do is absurd.

Like tipping the proctologist for an exceptionally thorough exam?

**GarageBoy** · 08-12-2010, 09:33 PM

On a side note, I never tip at the few times I'm @ Starbucks, but always at Stumptown and Gimme!

**Venom** · 08-12-2010, 10:04 PM

Tipping is always the gentlemanly thing to do, it shows appreciation for another's time and service.

**Will P.C.** · 08-12-2010, 10:22 PM

When I was 18, I worked as a bag boy at Publix. I do not think I made but 7/hr, but I would consistently make at least 20 dollars in tips.

I respect when someone does a good job and caters to me. If I feel they deserved it, I will tip them.

**Mako72** · 08-13-2010, 06:24 AM

I do, just like a bartender. And as I said in the other thread....

If you are against tipping and you recieve a Qtr/Yrly bonus or Profit sharing I expect you to walk back to your boss and hand him/her that check! After all you don't believe in tipping for someone doing their job right. And yeah its the same, whether you negotiate a compensation or the barista(et al) is told they average $X.00 a week to split. Just my belief, and no I am not a barista.

Jay

**dpm802** · 08-13-2010, 06:32 AM

I get most of my coffee at Starbucks, where I have one of their pre-paid Gold Cards. There is no cash involved, so there is no spare change. Since I got on the pre-paid card system at Starbucks, I don't tip anymore, but I do feel guilty about it. I used to be a pretty generous tipper, back in the day. Then again, by virtue of the card's reloading system, Starbucks (the corporation, not the baristas) holds an eternal $10 of mine. Kind of llike a permanent tip.

At other establishments, I tip about 15% for acceptable service at a restaurant I've never been to before, and probably won't see again. 25% at places I go to all the time and they know me. I've even gone as high as 35% ~ 40% tips for times that were really outstanding.

**ouch** · 08-13-2010, 09:52 AM

When does the "should I tip the guy who hands me a slice of pizza?" thread start?

**BrianL** · 08-13-2010, 10:15 AM

I find the prices at coffee houses to be on the high side anyway so I avoid them. Is there a way that I can send the Barista some of my tax dollars? I feel that they may need some sort of a government bailout.