h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The section RE: pubs/bars in the United States is extremely inaccurate. Having worked as a bartender in various parts of the USA, I would be giving extremely poor service/attentiveness to an individual tipping in the fashion you've described.

American bartenders make the same types of wages as American waiters and waitresses; which is to say, far below minimum wage. Like waiters, bartenders make their entire living from tips. (As point of fact, most bartenders in America recieve a weekly or bi-weekly check for under one dollar. This is because the federal and state income taxes eat away almost all of their salary-based pay.)

In America it is customary to tip a full dollar on every individual drink you order. Yes, even if the drink is only a dollar itself. Yes, you would tip four dollars if you order four drinks at once for you and your mates. This ie ESPECIALLY true if you are ordering during the day time, when pubs are the leaat busy. If you happen to "run a tab," it is customary to tip 20% of your total bill. And I'm not sure why this article claims that MOST American bars allow you to pay at the end; most American bars do NOT allow this, and the ones that do usually make you present a credit card beforehand. They then make an "open check" by scanning and retaining your card until you are ready to pay.

Imagine if what you suggested were true and the majority of clients at pubs were tipping only 1 or 2 dollars for their entire evening of eervice. Most bartenders would be lucky to pull in fifty dollars by the end of the evening. This section REALLY should be changed.

As a customer a bars in the US (Calafornia to be specific) I make it a point of tipping the bar folks well. First of all I know that they don't make very much money from their base pay, and live off of their tips.

I can only imagine what the bar folks at my regular bar would do if I only tiped them $1-2 for the night. 15-20% is a bare minimum that I would stick with. If paying for each drink, $1-2 per drink sounds about right. For 2 $6 drinks, I'll usually put $15 on the bar and have them keep the rest.

Usually I'll get rewarded for this by getting top shelf instead of the regular stuff.

I agree. At a local bar & grill I go to now and then, I asked my bartender why I never got a free drink now and then, but my friend always did. He explained that she usually buys three drinks, and the house rule is that the fourth one is "on the house." He also stated that I never tip enough--I would always tip based on my food bill (not the bar bill). The problem was usually that the bar bill was always paid "up front," so I'd have no idea that the bill at the end of my meal would have a total which would GUARANTEE that I'd be undertipping. I was so embarrased, that just before Christmas, I slipped in an extra $20 to make up for my gaffe.

In the future, I always paid a buck (sometimes two) per drink, or simply had the bar tab added into the meal--that way I'd always pay the right amount (and my bartender was happy). A rule to the wise: always keep your bartender happy, and he'll keep you happy.

Tip stands for "to insure promtness". As a former bartender, I was much more likely to deliver fast and attentive service to one who tips on thier first drink order. If the individual continues to reciprocate, the odd free drink shall magically apear in front of him.

At the risk of contributing irrelevantly (because what I'm about to say isn't about tipping practices as such), "tip" does NOT stand for "To Insure Promptness" - that's an urban myth. It doesn't "stand" for anything, but shares common origins with "tip", where it's used in such constructions as "stock tip" or "racing tip" (consult your OED for more information). And that's my two cents' worth...

I have heard of constuctions like this referred to as 'backronyms'. Sortof like saying that the 'f-word' stands for 'Fornication Under Consent of the King'. I have to agree that 'To Insure Promptness' is very probably one of these.

Of course, "TIP" can't stand for "To Insure Promptness", because in this context, the middle word would be spelt "Ensure".