# Signifigance of bell-ringing at bars?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/signifigance-of-bell-ringing-at-bars/25944>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 18, 2000, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/signifigance-of-bell-ringing-at-bars/25944 "2000-07-18T04:12:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![occ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8c91f0/32.png) [@occ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/occ)\
**Post date:** [July 18, 2000, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/signifigance-of-bell-ringing-at-bars/25944/1 "2000-07-18T04:12:17Z")

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Why do bartenders ring bells occasionally in bars?  
Is it true its done when they receive an especially  
generous tip? Or, as some claim, does it mean someone has  
bought a round for the house?

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**Author:** ![Tark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@Tark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tark)\
**Post date:** [July 18, 2000, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/signifigance-of-bell-ringing-at-bars/25944/2 "2000-07-18T04:38:51Z")

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They are usually calling a waitress to come pick up their order.

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**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\
**Post date:** [July 18, 2000, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/signifigance-of-bell-ringing-at-bars/25944/3 "2000-07-18T05:15:22Z")

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Depends on the bar. In a lot of bars, if it’s a big ol’ brass bell, it does indeed mean that somebody has tipped the bartender generously. In my bartending days, a dollar was enough to ring the bell. Then again, that was close to 20 years ago, so the ante may have gone up. It’s a gimmick that bartenders like to use to increase the cashflow…people get buzzed, they want to hear the bell go _clang!_, so they lay a big time on the bartender. The ones for calling the waitresses tend to be the little ‘hotel-clerk-calling-a-bellboy’ type bell.

If you really want to know what it means where YOU go, tho, ask the bartender.

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**Author:** ![CnoteChris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/278dde/32.png) [@CnoteChris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CnoteChris)\
**Post date:** [July 18, 2000, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/signifigance-of-bell-ringing-at-bars/25944/4 "2000-07-18T05:23:36Z")

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It also makes the customer feel like a big shot, in a subliminal way.

In my bartending days we would knock on the bar as we collected the tip. It gave us a easy way to grab the money and also made the customer feel like he/she was getting ‘special’ attention. Anything simple to do and strokes the customer means more money for me in the long run.

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**Author:** ![CnoteChris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/278dde/32.png) [@CnoteChris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CnoteChris)\
**Post date:** [July 18, 2000, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/signifigance-of-bell-ringing-at-bars/25944/5 "2000-07-18T05:29:19Z")

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I thought I’d seen this earlier… This thread discussed the same topic.

[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=15882](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=15882)