# NO FREE REFILLS (you cheap ba\*sta\*ds) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 15, 2003, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-free-refills-you-cheap-ba-sta-ds/195467 "2003-08-15T22:01:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Beryl\_Mooncalf\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9f8e36/32.png) [@Beryl\_Mooncalf\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beryl_Mooncalf_1)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2003, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-free-refills-you-cheap-ba-sta-ds/195467/61 "2003-08-17T08:08:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*CrazyCatLady offered…\*The waitstaff makes $2.13/hour most places, Hi CCL, I’ve got to ask, where is it that they make $2.13/hr? . ---
**Author:** ![keturah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e95f7d/32.png) [@keturah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/keturah)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2003, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-free-refills-you-cheap-ba-sta-ds/195467/62 "2003-08-17T10:04:19Z")
Just about everywhere. I wait tables and my check is under $20 each two week period. Usually it is $0 because the $2.13 per hour does not cover the taxes. ---
**Author:** ![LolaCocaCola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7cd45c/32.png) [@LolaCocaCola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LolaCocaCola)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2003, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-free-refills-you-cheap-ba-sta-ds/195467/63 "2003-08-17T10:45:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by friedo \* > \*\*You must be living in a different NYC than I. I’ve eaten all over this fair town, and I have never been charged for a soda refill anywhere, except for fast food joints. \*\* Well, I dunno, Friedo - are you talking about Queens? Cuz I was referring to Manhattan. I eat out at restaurants twice a week on average, have lived here for years, and have ALWAYS been charged for each soda I have ordered - even at diners. If you are referring to chain restaurants, like Applebees, Friday’s, or whatever, I really can’t comment on that, since I don’t go to those places. I find it absolutely hard to believe that you have never been charged for a refill anywhere in NYC - I would love to know where it is you go. ---
**Author:** ![Krisfer\_the\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Krisfer\_the\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krisfer_the_Cat)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2003, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-free-refills-you-cheap-ba-sta-ds/195467/64 "2003-08-17T14:51:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by keturah \* > \*\*Just about everywhere. I wait tables and my check is under $20 each two week period. Usually it is $0 because the $2.13 per hour does not cover the taxes. \*\* This is why I deliver pizza. $6.05 an hour and all the tips I can wrangle… came up to about 18 bucks an hour Friday night.😉 ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2003, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-free-refills-you-cheap-ba-sta-ds/195467/65 "2003-08-17T16:01:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by A Monkey With a Gun \* > If you order a mid-shelf liquor neat - $5. On the rocks - $5.25. WTF? We charge for fucking _ice_?! The Inventory manager in me just had a good chuckle. So which is more commonly served? Rocks or neat? If its rocks, I bet your bar owner is playing games with the averages to boost revenue. If its neat, maybe hes giving a break for volume. Either way ice costs money too even to make it yourself. Remember product cost for almost any functional business is around 20%. If the owner can charge another $.25 for rocks and have an advertised cheap special later to attract new customers, it all balances out. This type of financial jerrymandering is pretty common throughout the retail/restaraunt world. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2003, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-free-refills-you-cheap-ba-sta-ds/195467/66 "2003-08-17T16:05:20Z")
You guys get free refills? No wonder you’re all fat \ really really fast ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2003, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-free-refills-you-cheap-ba-sta-ds/195467/67 "2003-08-17T19:22:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Beryl\_Mooncalf \* > \*\*Hi CCL, I’ve got to ask, where is it that they make $2.13/hr? > > . \*\* That’s the federal minimum wage for tipped employees. Some states have passed _state_ minimum tipped wages that are higher than that, but the majority haven’t. Places where the cost of living is typically way high (California and New York spring immediately to mind) tend to have such laws, where states with lower median costs of living don’t. It was nothing for me to work 55 hours a week, and get a paycheck that was under $20. ---
**Author:** ![Sauron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Sauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sauron)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2003, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-free-refills-you-cheap-ba-sta-ds/195467/68 "2003-08-18T13:18:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by LolaCocaCola \* > By the way, did you know a Diet Coke at Scores costs $8? Heh. I’m remembering Eddie Murphy as Axel Foley in the first “Beverly Hills Cop” movie (after being told the price of a Coke in a strip club): “Seven dollars? For a _Coke_? I can get _blown_ for seven dollars.” ---
**Author:** ![missbunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/76d3ee/32.png) [@missbunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missbunny)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2003, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-free-refills-you-cheap-ba-sta-ds/195467/69 "2003-08-18T17:14:34Z")
I think this refill thing is both regional and recent. I’m in the Northeast and I worked for 10 years in restaurants and never once worked anywhere that gave free refills on soda as policy. (I’d often give them to nice people or good tippers but I was _supposed_ to charge them.) I never even heard of such a thing until 1994, when I went to live in SC for 3 months. Nowadays it seems to be much more common, at least in chains. I still have never gone to a nice restaurant (i.e., not inexpensive and not a chain) in Boston and gotten free refills, except on coffee, all night long. It’s practically unheard of. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2003, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-free-refills-you-cheap-ba-sta-ds/195467/70 "2003-08-18T23:04:57Z")
> [@](#): > > **(you cheap ba_sta_ds)** I get the second, but what’s the first asterisk for? ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2003, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-free-refills-you-cheap-ba-sta-ds/195467/71 "2003-08-19T04:47:08Z")
You know, there’ll come a point where restaurants will just charge you by the hour for however long you decide to sit at the table, just to keep things moving and to make more money. Maybe that’ll reduce or do away with all these charges people are talking about. Or maybe not. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2003, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-free-refills-you-cheap-ba-sta-ds/195467/72 "2003-08-19T05:14:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Cervaise \* > \*\*I get the second, but what’s the first asterisk for? \*\* Basstard. Two profanities for the price of one! ---
**Author:** ![Audrey\_Levins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Audrey\_Levins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Audrey_Levins)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2003, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-free-refills-you-cheap-ba-sta-ds/195467/73 "2003-08-19T11:24:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by drachillix \* > \*\*The Inventory manager in me just had a good chuckle. > > So which is more commonly served? Rocks or neat? > > If its rocks, I bet your bar owner is playing games with the averages to boost revenue. If its neat, maybe hes giving a break for volume.\*\* You may have a point, **drachillix,** but in bars I’ve worked at–such as TGIFriday’s–there is actually a real reason behind the “rocks upcharge.” You get more booze, b/c a rocks glass with only the liquor and no modifier (Coke, juice, etc.) looks half empty…so for presentation purposes, they elected to fill up the rocks glass with a 2 oz pour. It just looks better. A shot of the same liquor neat or up, OTOH, is the traditional 1 1/4 oz to 1 1/2 oz pour. (Nobody expects a full shot glass.) Thus the upcharge for the full rocks glass. (At Friday’s, if I recall correctly, it was an extra fifty cents.) I don’t know if this is the case at **A Monkey With A Gun’s** bar, but it is a frequent scenario. And people do, believe it or not, bitch sometimes when you give them a scotch on the rocks, for instance, and the glass isn’t full. I wish more bars charged more for rocks b/c then I could fill it up and not have to hear it anymore. (As it is currently, only the really good tippers get a full glass of iced straight booze. ;)) As far as the OP goes…I feel so much wiser now! I never knew that it was the custom in some other places to charge for soda refills; in Texas it’s virtually unheard of, but I work at a tourist bar and I’m constantly getting requests for iced freakin’ tea at the bar…I never knew why, but now I know. They think only iced tea gets them free refills, whereas I would charge for soda refills. FTR, I don’t. I should spread the news. (I hate getting iced tea, b/c I don’t have any behind the bar; it’s in the back of the restaurant and I cannot stand going all the way back there to get it. I’d much rather serve ten billion sodas, which I have on a soda gun right at my fingertips!) Of course, if they tip me a buck chances are excellent that I won’t charge them at all for any nonalcoholic beverage. I should make that clear, too. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Q.N.Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/3da27b/32.png) [@Q.N.Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.N.Jones)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2003, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-free-refills-you-cheap-ba-sta-ds/195467/74 "2003-08-19T21:00:30Z")
I have to chime in to say that waiters and waitresses who serve me profit big time from free refills. I drink a ton of liquid with meals (and rarely in between), so if they keep on top of refilling my Diet Coke or iced tea, that is the most important thing to me. I will regularly drink 3-4 glasses at a sitting, plus a couple of water. If I never have to ask for a refill, my server is definitely getting 20%. The other things that will make me tip 20% or more are much harder to come by, especially in a run-of-the-mill lunch joint (like, knowing the menu exceptionally well, recommending a good wine, etc.). Giving me free refills also gets me to make return visits to a restaurant. I have deliberately avoided restaurants I know do not provide refills on many occasions, because I know I’m going to leave almost as thirsty as I walked in. If it’s their policy not to give refills, fine, but I just don’t think it’s good business practice these days. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-free-refills-you-cheap-ba-sta-ds/195467.md?page=3)