Went to this bar to get a drink with a friend. The atmosphere was nice, the place looked like a dive bar if it got a renovation recently. It wasn't too crowded but it had people in there, overall I figured we were in for a good time. Though the drink was tiny and kind of expensive, that's NYC so whatever. My main issue, and why I will never go back to this bar, was the awful bartender. I am curious as to whether this was her first night on the job, or if she has ever worked a customer service job before.
After I ordered and paid for my drink, my friend and I started to walk towards the other side of the bar to find a place to sit. The bartender called me back, and then demanded I tip her in a very rude and demeaning tone. She said things like "this is just how it works." I was completely shocked at this behavior and really thought she was kidding at first, so I told her that I would tip on the next drink, which was true. I figured we were going to stay there for at least 2 or 3 drinks, and normally when I go out to bars I will usually tip $1 or $2 every drink or two, it just so happens I did not tip on my first drink at this bar. If I am there for a bit of time and the service is good then I'll probably tip more.
This woman was not having it. She kept pressuring me for a tip and told me that she was "doing me a favor teaching me how it works." My friend was not drinking, and she was adamant about how she deserves a tip because we came in here with two people but only one of us was drinking. I don't know where that logic was coming from, as we weren't taking up room from other paying customers in her precious business. I ended up giving her a dollar because quite honestly I was not about to start something with this woman who clearly had pine cones up her bottom and was channeling her pain and discomfort at us.
I don't really think she cares if I never come back to this bar, because if someone's acting like that they have to know that they are going to turn away customers. And I am sure that she may have thought I was lying about tipping at the next drink which may have led her to be more aggressive about getting a tip immediately, but demanding a tip is extremely unprofessional. I tip because it's the nice thing to do, sure, but tips are not automatic for me. This woman spent 30 seconds mixing a drink (a rum and coke, nothing fancy) and she deserves 1/7th of the overall cost of it as a tip? Get real. The unfortunate part for her is that she would have gotten more tip money if she had just let us spend time at the bar and not said anything. And even after she berated me for not tipping I was still about to give her a lot of tip money the next drink (well, by "a lot" I mean $3-4 instead of the usual $1-2), but she continued to push the issue and demanded a tip right then and there.
Afterwards my friend and I were joking around about how I should have just given her a penny I had in my pocket. If only we had thought about that at the moment!!
I hear stories all of the time about really bad service workers, but have not experienced one myself. Well I am finally glad I did! It was quite the topic of conversation for a while and it was a pretty funny experience overall. However this woman was not nice and I do not want to go back to that bar. read more