Tipping on expensive bottles? 20 percent?!?

I don't think a 20% tip is warranted on him simply opening and possibly pouring a bottle. If there was food involved and more server/bartender involvement then I could see 20%. Then again maybe im just a cheap asshole also.

 

I'm sure someone will chime in and say if you can afford a $100 bottle of beer, you can afford a $20/20% tip.

I think the $12 tip is fine. If you had ordered 2x$10 bottles, you probably would have been there for a longer period of time and the server would have to do a little more work but the tip would have been significantly less, ~$4 if using 20%.

 

That's insane.

 

I am not trying to make a negative generalization of San Francisco, but the social dynamics in that city are very hard to decipher as an outsider.

 

People that go out to eat should expect to tip 20+% on the bill. Tax included. That said, people that serve $100 bottles of beer, or more expensive wine, should know about the product and understand "bottle service" and hospitality. Though unless there are major flaws in the service, that 20% tip should still be the norm.

 

As a San Franciscan, I say eff La Trappe Cafe

 

A $12 tip for probably five minutes worth of actual work seems completely fair.

 

No, you're fine. I really don't see the point in paying someone for their service in addition to the already 2 to 6 time mark-up on a beer. Why can't that additional mark up pay them for their service? That 2 to 6 mark-up is what I've found over what retail stores charge, and they mark it up from wholesale! Not to say I don't tip. I just think it needs to be earned. I wouldn't enter a sale with a client expecting an unspoken 20% gift at the end of the transaction. A waiter shouldn't expect it either.

In addition, if the waiter got that short with you for not tipping the "expected" 20%, then he didn't deserve close to 20%.

 

How many people in this thread go out to eat and then itemize the percentage tip for each item they buy off the menu based upon how much prep time and labor was involved? If you don't do it on the time it takes to mix, bake and serve the rolls, fix the mussels, the number of times your water glass is refilled, or the amount of time it takes to fix and serve your desert, why worry about doing it on being served a bottle of beer?

 

Why give someone $20 for performing a "service" that takes 30 seconds and requires no particular skill? I think your $12 tip was more than enough.

 

Because being served a bottle of beer takes 2 minutes tops, and requires zero follow up. Whereas a typical visit to a restaurant can tie up a waiter/waitress for an hour or more, and requires that they return to your table to periodically check on many different aspects of the visit.

So what you're saying is that "Waiter A" who spends an hour of their time serving food, refilling water, checking in, etc, on a $100 food bill deserves the same exact tip as "Waiter B" who spent 2 minutes opening a $100 bottle of alcohol?

 

No, what I'm saying is it is part of a package deal that someone agrees to in going to that restaurant and placing an order for a meal, etc. If someone is going to itemize time/labor on one thing they should itemize on everything, no matter how many people are involved or what they do. Either tip or don't tip, but tip on the entire bill or itemize everything that goes into prepping the meal for your consumption.

 

I see the point you are trying to get at, but why are we itemizing everything? The person who baked the bread already got paid. The cooks are already getting paid. I think you're taking it a bit too far to try and prove your point.

Tip should be based on service, and service alone. This 20% idea is a decent starting point, but too many people (both those in and outside of the service industry) hold it as the gold standard. To think that someone who opens a $100 bottle of beer in two minutes, deserves the same as someone who worked for an hour on a $100 food bill, or deserves more than someone who waited for an hour and a half for a $75 bill, is silly.

 

Sooo I suppose my $1/beer method of tipping would not work here...?

 

How long were you there? I am not saying that is it only if you should/shouldn't leave 20%; however that sometimes there are other things that can factor in for me.
If we are taking up seats at a packed bar for well over an hour I probably leave a little more of a tip than if I am in and out reasonably quickly.

 

This is tough. I agree with the general sentiment that 20% is not necessarily warranted for roughly 60 seconds of service. The problem is, if the mindset is that the server didn't "earn" that much of a tip, you've already sort of belayed that concern by committing to purchase a bottle at an incredibly ridiculous markup, functionally rewarding the owner financially for doing absolutely nothing more than acquiring the bottle and putting it in the cellar.

I'm not sure what a 2015 Cantillon Vigneronne was going for at wholesale in San Francisco, but you likely gave the owner somewhere in the neighborhood of a 300% "tip" above traditional markup just for having the wherewithal to stock Cantillon - not a particularly insightful skill in the United States beer business scene these days, particularly the Bay Area.

 

At the bar or table? So, with a meal, you would tip less for a $100.00 bottle of wine? Cheap comes to mind.

 

This is what drives me nuts about tipping for everything in the USA. There are huge, huge mark-ups on stocked items in the service industry resulting in huge financial gains for the owner, and yet their employees aren't paid a living wage - instead the consumer has to cover it in a separate expense.

I'm all for making owners pay wait staff a livable wage if only to do away with this horrible "tipping" thing we've started that has become the norm.

My feelings towards tips could best be described by Mr. Bean's reaction to the hotel butler's coughing and holding out his hand for the preferred tip.