I didn’t want to hijack this thread, but I had a question that I wanted to throw out to the teeming thousands:
Do you tip your barista?
I’ve waivered on this issue for some time now. At this point, my answer is no. Here are my reasons.
They’re getting at or above minimum wage already.
When I order coffee they’re oftentimes just handing me a cup. I fill it myself. That’s not really tipworthy, IMO.
I’m not going to tip someone just because they have a jar set out there. They need to do something of a personalized nature, like helping me select a good kind of bean for home brewing, to get a tip.
They’re not just the waitstaff. By making the coffee, they become the “chef.” To tip when I receive the drink, before I’ve even tasted it, is to tip before the meal is even over. It’s to tip before I determine if they’ve done their job correctly.
Finally on a purely selfish note:
half the time they don’t see me put money in the jar and the other half of the time they don’t thank me afterwards for doing so.
So am I wrong? Do you agree with me? Speak now or forever hold your biscotti.
If it’s a shop I normally hit, and I like the people. Then yes. I’ll put a $1 in the jar (or the change from my drink if it’s over .50)
I almost NEVER tip at Starbucks. 90% of the people who work there are rude and nasty to me and I’m pretty much ignored except to correct my order in the PROPER ORDER (quad mocha grande, mocha quad grande, grande quad mocha? I dunno)
You know, come to think of it, I also never go to Starbucks.
Being the coffee troglodyte that I am, I thought that “barista” was a fancy new way of spelling “barrister”. And I thought: :eek: You Americans really do take your tipping seriously!
Um, no, but then I’ve lived abroad for many years. I don’t get it, why should people get tips when they are getting paid for their job. And yes, I have worked minimum and sub-minimum wage jobs for many years.
You best be giving me an espresso as good as if not better than what I’ve had in Rome before even thinking that a tip might be in the cards.
It depends. Usually I tip part to all of the change.
I used to go to one place, nearly every day, and order the same thing (it was my 10 minute escape from the office), it got to the point where by the time I reached the counter, my drink was already made, and they were handing it to me while I was paying them.
They got tipped very well.
That, I can understand, amarinth. They’re providing you individualized service above the duties to their job. But if I order a drink and they make that drink they are, as China Guy said, just doing their job.
Another thing. Watch the next time you pay for something. I’d lay odds on the fact that, when they give you your change, they will do so by reaching directly over the tip jar to hand you your money. It took a little while for me to notice this, but it happens every single time.
I don’t tip them, their drinks are too expensive and I could go in there every day and they’d never give me anything extra or special or extraspecial. And at least half the time their pastries and cookies are stale.
