I don’t tip because society says I have to. All right, if someone deserves a tip, if they really put forth an effort, I’ll give them something a little something extra. But this tipping automatically, it’s for the birds. As far as I’m concerned, they’re just doing their job.
One of Modern Drunkard Magazine’s 86 Rules of Boozing:
“28. If you can’t afford to tip, you can’t afford to drink in a bar. Go to the liquor store.”
I tip for every drink, including spacers.
Oh boy, are you in for it! I’ll just stand over here with my fingers in my ears…
If the bartender is just handing me beers, I don’t necessarily feel obligated to tip for every beer, but I’ll at least tip about a dollar for the first and every other beer thereafter.
I believe you are being whooshed. ([sub]Reservoir Dogs[/sub])
Hey, our girl was nice.
Damn you, Dooku!
Some places don’t like running a tab with strangers (I’m no longer a regular at any bar) unless they have a credit card to run it on.
I tip even when I get a Coke at a bar. Usually ends up in free Cokes down the line - which get you double tips. Heck, even if I drink a bunch of water, and it’s free, I’ll throw the bar tender a good chunk of change at the end of the night.
Makes drinking Cokes at the bar very expensive but being a good tipper is where it’s at.
I don’t know if this is accurate either. I’m sure you tip even if you’re just getting 1 drink at a bar that you’d never come back to. We tip because that’s how bartenders make their livings (in the US, anyway).
Incidently, I was once at a bar in Leicester, England where they wouldn’t take tips. They would pour some of the strongest mixed drinks I’ve ever had (like 75% Bacardi and 25% Coke) and refuse the tips. Even when I tried to explain to them that I was leaving the cash on the table for them, they simply refused. Oh well, I tried.
I haven’t drank at many bars because I’m not 21 yet but I always tipped at least a buck a beer. It helps to be a good tipper when the bar gets busy. There are some things you just tip for - the batender, the waitress, the pizza guy, etc. If you don’t like to tip, stay home. Or at least never ever bitch when you don’t get good service.
The funny thing about the Reservoir Dogs scene is that an 80 year old man can look at a crumpled up wad of bills on a table and within half a second realize that there are only seven instead of eight 
I tip the bartenders on a regular basis. Not for each beer, but regular enough that they all seem to remember me and like me.
From a non-US Irish POV
We do pubs. We do them, on the whole, very well IMO. We have a much larger drinking culture than my experience of the US.
Then the owner should pay you a living wage. Do you tip at MacDonalds?
They are paid to do a job. Why would you not get another beer?
When I was in the States I added a dollar to every order or when I was running a tab gave a nice tip $15-50 depending on how much we ordered. “When in Rome” and all that.
I always ask Americans who bang on about how expensive beer is over here about their tipping policy. A pint of beer to most Americans seems like it’s ~$1 more than the actual price. A bit like not showing the price +sales tax on your labels 
Here, barmen don’t expect it and aren’t as a rule tipped. If there is a lounge girl/boy(generally a young[15-18] person who works the floor cleaning tables and taking orders and delivering them to your table) you tip them but behind the bar staff get paid living wages.
If a barman is caught giving you small measures they are breaking the law. We have legal minimum amounts that pubs have to serve as a single or double/triple etc.
That said, if your mate was American then he was being silly IMO as everyone I meet seemed to do the $1 a drink thing which is why I did it. Irish barmen LOVE American tourists though as they tip very well indeed. Probably one of the reason a lot of you seem to think that we’re very nice to you 
$1, no doubt. The only exception is when I get three fivers back for a $4.25 drink and don’t have any ones, and I’m feeling lazy at the moment. In this case, I’ll make sure I get proper change on the next round and leave at least $2, usually $3, to let him/her know I’m not stiffing them.
If I’m at a place I’m going to be at for a while that day/night, or a place I expect to frequent on future days/nights, I’ll tip $2 on the first drink. Sometimes this pays off, sometimes it doesn’t. I went to Cafe du Nord one night and tipped $2 on the first drink, and got the second one on the house (which I also tipped for).
The only time I can remember not tipping was actually last week. I was at the Rockit Room (RIP Last Day Saloon), and I stood at the bar for twenty-five (25) minutes, twenty in hand. No one in front of me. And I was wearing this. One bartender made eye contact a few times but didn’t so much as grunt to me, and the other one took about three shots of Jager in the time I was there. I didn’t leave a tip then, and I won’t be back to drink.
I wonder how many times me and Dooku have been at the same bar together.
I wonder that myself sometimes. Although I did move to Portland a year ago, but I’m in SF a few days per week. (Last Day no more? Bah. Guess it’s the Bitter End exclusively next time I’m in the Richmond).
There’s still the one in Santa Rosa, but it’s a way different feel than the old SF one.
Might I suggest the 540 Club when in the area?
I think I’ve been in there - $1 beers? All red? Or am I thinking of O’Rourke’s?
Or maybe we should stop hijacking this thread?
Absolutely - tip for beer. And as a sign says in one of my favorite bars, “If you can hear you tip when it hits the bar, it probably isn’t enough.”
Yes, the owner should. But that’s never going to happen around here, I’m afraid (see any of the other tipping-related threads)
If they have a group of customers waiting, it’s easy to ignore the guy that’s not tipping and give good service to the guy that is tipping. Even if there aren’t many people, they always have something to do at the far end of the bar - like cleaning glasses or whatever.
Jeez, I was so happy to get good beer over there that I have no idea how much I was paying for it. Guinness that doesn’t taste burnt, Smithwicks and Killarney… Just take my money and keep 'em coming!
A good tipper will get a full measure and then some vs. exactly the minimum. The bartender will hold the shot glass over your glass and keep pouring until it overflows, 2-3 times the minimum.
It’s bribery, and highly annoying sometimes, but we’re used to it (except for the OP’s friend, apparently)
They do have a $1 or $2 Monday. It is red. Same block as Green Apple.
Yep - I remember it now. In my defense I started at Ireland’s 32 that night. 