# Tipping at coffee houses **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 18, 2006, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-at-coffee-houses/384569 "2006-12-18T01:13:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Smooth\_Jack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@Smooth\_Jack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smooth_Jack)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2006, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-at-coffee-houses/384569/21 "2006-12-18T21:10:58Z")
[QUOTE=Antinor01] I almost never tip anywhere that I go up to a counter, order and then carry my own items either out with me or to a table. [/QUOTE] Ditto. Unless I was a regular customer. I’d imagine it would be a nice way to develope a nice relationship with your barista. My wife orders incredibly complicated coffee drinks, goes to the same place every time, and she never fails to tip. She even gets mad at me for not tipping when the drinks I order are straight off the menu with nothing extra. Becasue she tips, she is also eager to be point it out if her drink isn’t how she likes it. I think we have it about right. If you are very particular about your drink, and will bitch up a storm if it’s wrong, be sure to be a nice tipper. If you politely stick to the menu, and take what you get, don’t worry about the tip. Right now, I’m more confused about tipping the curbside service at Outback. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2006, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-at-coffee-houses/384569/22 "2006-12-18T22:35:04Z")
> [@Lissa](#): > > I give big tips around the holidays. It tickles me to think of someone being delighted at finding a twenty in their tip jar. :eek: That would make my year. > [@kanicbird](#): > > Well if that drink took all of 60 seconds to make, you are ‘hiring’ their services for $60/h, seems a bit excessive to me, but that’s just me. More like two minutes, and if I were on call making mochas for you for an hour straight you’d better believe you’re paying me $60. BTW, I don’t know what this $2-3/hour stuff is, but I generally make under $1.50 a day in tips. > [@Wee Bairn](#): > > My problem is, I will tip and am glad to tip, but do think the tip jar is kind of presumptuous. Someone should come up with a solution that allows people to tip without using the dreaded tip jar. What, the jar shape offends you? Any substitute would just be a tip jar by another name, and you’d probably call for a new solution. Get over it. > [@GUinastasia](#): > > Perhaps because such little “extra perks” can be grounds for firing, at the very least, or even in some cases, perhaps arrest? (Giving someone with severe allergies milk, or what have you?) Ah, yes. Milk allergies. Hence why they’re ordering drinks with milk in them. Good thinking. > [@pulykamell](#): > > Thing is, I would never serve a substandard product, whether the person be a good tipper or not. I couldn’t see myself intentionally serving a substandard product, either. Then again, I’m just not that passive-aggressive. Of course, I can see the appeal if someone comes in every day and orders complicated drinks for the entire office without tipping. We do have a regular who buys for the office and doesn’t tip, but she makes conversation with us (a big help at a place without much business) and the drinks are simple. > [@pulykamell](#): > > Instead, I may offer good tippers free refills on coffee and that sort of stuff We do little things like that for regulars who tip well, or just random people if we’re having a good day and the boss isn’t looking. Our manager just approved a regular customer appreciation program, too, where we give coupons and free bagged candies and such to regulars. > [@Smooth Jack](#): > > If you politely stick to the menu, and take what you get, don’t worry about the tip. Fair enough. If I made a bad drink, I’d rather hear about it whether or not you tipped–but it sounds like you’re voluntarily giving up part of the standard service agreement in exchange for not tipping, which is more than fair IMO. ---
**Author:** ![tashabot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tashabot/32/6250_2.png) [@tashabot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tashabot)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2006, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-at-coffee-houses/384569/23 "2006-12-18T22:56:05Z")
I’ve lived off tips before, so I always give tips - I don’t go out unless I know I can afford it, and I don’t order in unless I know I can afford it. I know that most McDonalds-style fast food restaurants don’t allow their employees to accept tips, but if I’m at a coffee house, a restaurant, or really any place that allows tips, I tip. I know that the tips brighten people’s days at a horrible job and I feel that if I can do that much, it’s money well spent. However, I tend to not tip at all if I get horrible service. Not “we-can’t-pay-tons-of-attention to every customer because we’re in the middle of a rush” service - I understand that kind of service. Bad service, where the waitress/barista is snarky and mean, or totally screws up my order and refuses to fix it. Doesn’t happen often, but it has. Those people don’t deserve a tip - they’re not mandatory for a reason. ~Tasha ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2006, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-at-coffee-houses/384569/24 "2006-12-18T22:59:56Z")
[QUOTE=fetus] Ah, yes. Milk allergies. Hence why they’re ordering drinks with milk in them. Good thinking. [/QUOTE] :rolleyes: You see, there’s this little thing called _soy milk_. Perhaps you should look it up. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2006, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-at-coffee-houses/384569/25 "2006-12-18T23:18:07Z")
[QUOTE=fetus] BTW, I don’t know what this $2-3/hour stuff is, but I generally make under $1.50 a day in tips./QUOTE] $1.50 a day? Yipes. How many people are on your shift? How many customers come through your doors? Where I worked, a typical “keep the change” tip was a quarter or so, and a “good job!” tip was a buck or even two. (I’ve been tipped as much as five dollars on a normal non-holiday shift for a good espresso). We had two or three baristas working, it’s impossible for me to conceive $1.50 in tips for a whole shift, unless only two or three people tipped the entire shift. Apparently, either your coffee shop isn’t getting a lot of business or, I’m guessing, tipping culture isn’t extended to cafes where you live. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2006, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-at-coffee-houses/384569/26 "2006-12-18T23:18:10Z")
[QUOTE=fetus] More like two minutes, and if I were on call making mochas for you for an hour straight you’d better believe you’re paying me $60. [/QUOTE] Better believe this? I don’t think so. Who do you think you are kidding, you are already on call for more then a hour straight making assumingly much less then $60/hr, or even $30/hour. [QUOTE=Smooth Jack] Right now, I’m more confused about tipping the curbside service at Outback. [/QUOTE] I would be much more likely to tip for takeout then a counter worker, now the question is how much, as the standard percentage just doesn’t apply in terms of the service you get, but it usually takes a tipped worker away from their normal eat-in ‘full tipping’ customers, and that time is worth something, even though that time is a fraction of the eat-in customers. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-at-coffee-houses/384569/27 "2006-12-19T02:09:05Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > Better believe this? I don’t think so. Who do you think you are kidding, you are already on call for more then a hour straight making assumingly much less then $60/hr, or even $30/hour. I make a small handful of drinks per hour. Even if we were slammed with an unending line for an hour, we would rotate so that I’d spend some of that time at the cash register or washing dishes in the back. And a significant percentage of those people would just buy plain coffee or a slice of cake or something. > [@Guinastasia](#): > > You see, there’s this little thing called soy milk. Perhaps you should look it up. I’m familiar with the concept. My question is this: where did your example of substituting cow milk for soy milk come from? You were the first one to bring it up. > [@pulykamell](#): > > $1.50 a day? Yipes. How many people are on your shift? Usually 2, sometimes three, rarely four if the boss is around getting his hands dirty and/or we’re training someone. But the ones who are training don’t get tips unless a customer specifically asks for them to keep a tip–which doesn’t really happen since they don’t interface with very many customers. > [@pulykamell](#): > > Where I worked, a typical “keep the change” tip was a quarter or so I’ve only ever been told to keep the change on a small cup of black coffee or something similar, where the customer was in a hurry. > [@pulykamell](#): > > and a “good job!” tip was a buck or even two. Every once in a while someone drops a buck in the tip jar. > [@pulykamell](#): > > Apparently, either your coffee shop isn’t getting a lot of business or, I’m guessing, tipping culture isn’t extended to cafes where you live. Both. Most people I know don’t tip anyone, ever. I always tip (even with awful service, although in that case it’s a 7-cent tip or something of that nature) if I can afford to. Speaking of which, I work in a relatively low-income area; a lot of our customers are students or lower- to lower-middle class families. Some days during the Christmas rush I pull just under $3 in tips on the day. That’s happened twice IIRC. Yesterday, though, I didn’t make any tips on a 6-hour closing shift. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-at-coffee-houses/384569/28 "2006-12-19T02:14:17Z")
It was just something I pulled out of my ass as an example of what someone MIGHT do to mess with someone’s drink. I believe actually that was one of the examples **VCO3** mentioned in his original Pit thread. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-at-coffee-houses/384569/29 "2006-12-19T02:19:22Z")
[QUOTE=Guinastasia] It was just something I pulled out of my ass as an example of what someone MIGHT do to mess with someone’s drink. I believe actually that was one of the examples **VCO3** mentioned in his original Pit thread. [/QUOTE] [Yep, I was right](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=6858790): > [@](#): > > You made it extra clear, using that scolding teacher tone, that you’re lactose intolerant and insisted that I make your beverage with soy instead of a dairy product. No problem! I’ll just substitute the dairy bomb that is half-and-half for in your extra-large drink. Don’t worry - I’ll splash just a little soy in there to trick your tastebuds into thinking that nothing’s amiss. Hope you didn’t plan on going anywhere today! ---
**Author:** ![xbuckeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9e8a1a/32.png) [@xbuckeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xbuckeye)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-at-coffee-houses/384569/30 "2006-12-19T02:21:14Z")
I don’t tip at coffeeshops, but I always order plain, black coffee, or iced coffee. These always come out of carafes in the back of the prep. area, so I don’t feel particularly guilty. If it were like the gas station where I could push the button and hold the cup myself, I would. Not that I don’t like the people that serve coffee, just that I don’t think that my cup of coffee is very hard to make. I’m also not a ‘regular’ anywhere and rarely buy more than 10 cups of coffee at coffeehouses a year. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-at-coffee-houses/384569/31 "2006-12-19T02:54:51Z")
**Guinastasia** , while **VCO3** ’s quoted behavior is beyond reproach, I don’t see the connection to this thread. ---
**Author:** ![TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/51bf81/32.png) [@TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-at-coffee-houses/384569/32 "2006-12-19T02:57:40Z")
[QUOTE=Guinastasia] [Yep, I was right](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=6858790): [/QUOTE] Just for the record, the “revenges” in that thread were a joke, which I admitted to and which is why I was suspended for a month. The worst I’ve ever done is decaf a customer who was a real asshole. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-at-coffee-houses/384569/33 "2006-12-19T03:17:50Z")
[QUOTE=fetus] **Guinastasia** , while **VCO3** ’s quoted behavior is beyond reproach, I don’t see the connection to this thread. [/QUOTE] _sigh_ I was responding to this: > [@](#): > > There are million ways a barista can and will get revenge on a customer who misbehaves, but that’s another thread (and one I got a month’s suspension for about a year ago). Just as serial tippers get extra little perks, a serial non-tipper with an irritating or complicated regular order will find themselves getting the old milk, getting randomly “decaffed,” and so on. Now, can we PLEASE just drop the whole thing? Jesus. ---
**Author:** ![look\_ninjas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b2d939/32.png) [@look\_ninjas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/look_ninjas)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-at-coffee-houses/384569/34 "2006-12-19T03:27:27Z")
[QUOTE=pulykamell] Thing is, I would never serve a substandard product, whether the person be a good tipper or not. If the milk isn’t steaming up properly and working up the proper stiffness of foam, I’ll start with a new batch of milk. If the espresso doesn’t have any crema, well, we’re redoing the espresso. I would never dream of serving an espresso without crema to anyone. Never ever. Instead, I may offer good tippers free refills on coffee and that sort of stuff (which we were allowed to do within reason). Taking “revenge” on a customer is juvenille behavior. [/QUOTE] Amen. I know I’m not an espresso master, because I’ve only been doing it about a month, but I try hard to make a good cup of coffee, no matter whether I’m tipped or not. But a regular or a really nice customer will get comped for some of those little extra charges, like for soy milk or extra syrup or whatever it is. Not everyone’s going to tip, and that’s just the way it is, but it seems to me that if you’re friendly and do a good job, you’re more likely to get tips from the fence-sitters. I’ll also agree with **fetus** that if you don’t like your drink, you should tell me. Otherwise, I’ll never learn to make it to your tastes. And things like that are important for establishing a good base of happy customers who will come back, who’ll tell their friends to visit me, all of that. Even if none of you tip, at least I’ll still have a job. ---
**Author:** ![cherry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cherry)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-at-coffee-houses/384569/35 "2006-12-19T15:31:54Z")
I tip about $1 or the change I have because I am a regular at my coffee house and my drink request is not standard in making it. I actually ask for less expresso in my drink and so it should be cheaper. But it is more to remember. If someone puts too much expresso in my drink I let them know they made it wrong and they remake it. Around here, I’ve heard of some really complicated drink requests so I don’t feel that bad because mine is fairly easy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-at-coffee-houses/384569.md?page=1)