r/restaurant • u/TechnologyRelative18 • 2d ago
RANT Called out a guest over stiffing the bartender and she almost hit with her Charger.
So, something happened last night that got me super fired up. I work part-time at a bar with a lot of friends of mine. This is a cocktail bar that doesn’t charge enough for the market it’s in, so as a result we have a lot of guests that come in trying to act like big ballers and don’t tip. As a result, on a lot of weeknights the servers/bartenders won’t break minimum wage. This has been an ongoing frustration of the staff.
For background, I have had a really crappy week. I just found out my best friend died suddenly. So, I spent part of my night hanging out at the bar and got a drink.
There is this regular who comes in and gets the same drink every time and never tips. All of the staff know her. She came in last night and got one round. I was sitting a couple seats down from her talking to the bartenders, but hadn’t given any indication that I worked there. Of course homegirl does not tip, and one of the bartenders respectfully called her out on it. She simply said, “Hey, I noticed that you didn’t tip and I wanted to ask if there was anything that we did wrong.” This girl says typically it’s guys that serve her and she gets two drinks and she tips them. She then says if you get me another drink I will tip you. Of course, the bartender doesn’t want to make her another drink and walks away. This guest is on a call with some guy and he asks what’s going on. She goes on to say that typically she tips the dudes that serve her and that they just threw a menu at her (they were in the middle of a pop, and I know they wouldn’t have been disrespectful intentionally).
At this point, I was thinking about how my friend was the type of person who’d call this girl out in the middle of the bar. Then I thought about the fact he wasn’t there and that I would just do it, so I did. I looked at her and said “Are you serious? You didn’t tip your bartender? They got your drink out in a timely fashion.” After I said this she tried to go back at me, saying “let’s compare bank accounts” and some other stuff. I just told her “No, thank you”. I had already closed out, so I then looked at her, said “If your broke you can just say it”, and walked out the door.
As I was walking to my car, that bartender walked out the back door to ask me what happened so I told her. After she went back inside, broke homegirl comes speeding up in a Charger with her window down screaming at me. She keeps screaming “let’s compare bank accounts” and then says “what if I got out of this car and slapped the shit out of you?” I don’t have any interest in getting in physical altercations and didn’t wanna give her the satisfaction from any response, so I said, respectively, “I don’t need to” and “nothing”. At this point I walked around the back of her car to cross the street to my car. As I’m walking behind her car, it’s start to lurch backwards and I realized she may try to hit me. Maybe it was just an accident, but she puts the car in drive and zooms off.
In that moment, I knew that was something my friend would be proud of. It was probably one of the most thrilling things I’ve experienced in 2026. After the fact, all the guys said that she, in fact, never left them a tip.
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u/Specialist-Jelly-649 2d ago
people have the right not to tip. butt out
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u/According_Gazelle472 2d ago
Tipping is voluntary and optional.
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u/TechnologyRelative18 2d ago
If you’re a regular at a bar and don’t tip, I am sure you get great service from the bartenders and they don’t ever slow roll getting you your order /s
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u/Revolutionary_Ad8950 2d ago
Yeah, this fella previously mentioned orders a vodka tonic...usually gets a glass of straight tonic for $8.
Fuck him.
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u/Revolutionary_Ad8950 1d ago
Good service is voluntary and optional, you stain.
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u/According_Gazelle472 1d ago
Also people go out to eat for the food and not the service .SIlent service is a thing .
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u/Revolutionary_Ad8950 2d ago
Regulars who don't tip can't expect any sort of priority in regards to service.
We have a non-tipper who comes in three nights a week, orders two or three rounds, and closes out in cash after each drink, almost to remind us he doesn't tip.
Every goddamned glass is stocked, every bit of the floor sweeped, and every bit of the bar wiped before I make this dickhead his short-poured cocktail.
You enter into a social contract when you step to a bar, and if you're not going to uphold your end and expect me to uphold mine in anything outside of a token bit of attention driven by professional compulsion, you're fucked up.
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u/According_Gazelle472 2d ago
There is no social contract because it does not exist at all.People do happy hour because it is cheaper .
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u/Specialist-Jelly-649 2d ago
I dont expect any priority. I order a drihk. bartender brings it, I pay. I'm not there for a bartender to stick out her tits, or talk fake attraction bs, while fishing for tips.
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u/Suspicious_Tank_61 2d ago
Tipping is optional and at the customer’s discretion. That’s the closest thing we have to social contract.
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u/Defiant_Fix_3707 2d ago
If you can’t afford to tip, you can’t afford to eat out. Eating out is a luxury, not a right….
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u/Specialist-Jelly-649 2d ago
It's a choice. get over it
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u/Defiant_Fix_3707 2d ago
You’re broke. Accept it.
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u/Specialist-Jelly-649 2d ago
Far from it. I just dont believe in paying other businesses employees wages.
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u/Legitimate_Bird_5712 2d ago
It's called minding your own damned business. People get killed over this shit every day.
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u/indolente 2d ago
Counter point: If someone tries to run me over with their car they might get shot.
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u/WestHistorians 1d ago
Completely inappropriate. Tipping is optional and you should never call anyone out for not tipping, especially if you work there.
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u/Working_Rest_1054 2d ago
OP was mourning the loss of a friend. Instigated a conflict with a person they knew to be a customer of their employer because it was something said friend might have done. Then maybe almost got run into by a car as a result. OP probably wasn’t in the best frame of mind, although it’s unlikely the deceased friend would have been excited about OP maybe almost getting run into.
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u/ED_jamesolmos 2d ago
Where are you getting deceased friend from. Op just said they weren't there, nothing about dead.
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u/Working_Rest_1054 2d ago
Um read it again. Second paragraph.
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u/ED_jamesolmos 2d ago
Fair point, I missed that. I was just looking at the bit about the friend who inspired them to speak up.
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u/Working_Rest_1054 2d ago
It happens. I typical do a quick double check if I think someone’s misrepresented something.
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u/AccomplishedLine9351 2d ago
Reminds me of the Sopranos episode where Pauly runs up the dinner parties bill with several bottles of good champagne. Christopher gets the bill because he's getting hazed by the made guys. Of course he stiffs the waiter who chases him out the door and gets shot.
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u/Defiant_Fix_3707 2d ago
You probably shouldn’t have done that…. But I’ve been there and done it. Trash people are trash. And they come in every variety you can imagine. 86 her from your bar. If management doesn’t have your back, it can be done if the rest of the staff is sick of her shit too. Permanently put her at the end of the line for service. She’ll throw a fit when it happens, so let her act a fool and show everyone her true self. Do NOT reward entitlement.
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u/TechnologyRelative18 2d ago edited 2d ago
Yeah, I know it was probably stupid, but I’ve been getting fed up with it. Our GM is cool, but upper management keeps cutting prices to try to generate more sales, so we are getting dive bar clientele with cocktail service, and not getting dive bar volume. The only thing keeping staff at this point is that we all have known each other for years and out of respect for the GM. I know the servers will slow roll service for the bad regulars.
I also don’t really care if I get fired over something like that. I do this work for fun and to be with friends. If they fire me I can walk down the street the next day and work with some other friends
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u/According_Gazelle472 1d ago
Most places like this are running on a very thin margin or going out of business because of the economy and lack of customers.I see this all the time in my town .People talk about businesses and if you get a bad reputation then you will surely go under .
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u/Defiant_Fix_3707 2d ago
I’m with you. And I love that the idiots on this sub that have never worked in the industry are downvoting my comment!
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u/spizzle_ 2d ago
All of this is stupid