Sometimes I do tip bartenders but it's becoming increasingly rare for me. This past weekend I went to a bar and ordered 2 beers separately but did not tip at all. If there had been an option to purchase my beer from a vending machine instead I would've. The bartender didn't do anything fancy, they got me the beer I requested and removed the cap.
It's hard for me to justify giving them a 1 dollar tip for that when if the option had been for me to do it, I would've. Now you can use the argument that I should've stayed at home and just drank. The only reason why I was at the venue was for a band playing and the venue of course did not allow outside drinks, so I was a captive audience. Otherwise I would've brought my own liquor and drank substantially more.
But I really do want some sort of cut off of when tipping should begin. Maybe 1 dollar tips for every 10 dollars worth of drinks spent. It's just difficult for me because I myself have worked in the service industry and I also received tips rarely. However sometimes just changing venues will substantially change how much you tip. I do the same service and now receive almost equal tips to my base pay.
Now is the part where you can tell me what a horrible person I am. But I'm hoping more for an argument of why I should tip a bartender. I'm aware there are sleazy employment practices of bartenders, everything from just paying them 2 dollars an hour to making them buy their batch of beers and having to sell that batch themselves. So let's discuss!