Tipping Etiquette Question

If I'm going to stay in the club, it's the club's rules. I'll tip on the drink. Not a huge tip, but something average / fair. I don't punish bartenders for club rules.

Though I think drink minimums are more about club greediness than anything else, I also think it's done to discourage guys who don't intend on spending any money at all and just take up space.

I don't spend thousands of dollars in a club, but I spend enough that it's not worthwhile to get anxious over the price of a drink. Even if it's an overpriced drink.

Yes. Bartenders works for tips. They don’t make the club rules.

Yeah - the drink prices in many clubs can be considered price-gouging but like CMI mentioned the staff doesn't set the prices nor do they get a cut of the drink sales.

Strip clubs are what they are and there are certain "implied rules" - I'm just a fair tipper although the less I SC the better I usually tip since I'm not spending as much SCing - I tip the cover-charge girl, waitress/bartender, and the bathroom troll bc it's sorta what's expected and fighting those battles or dirty-looks is not worth it to me when it's only a few bucks compared to a couple-hundred I may spend on the entertainment - I also choose not to fight the "I'm not gonna buy any drinks battle" - I'll usually purchase one and nurse it and leave it at that - again not worth the potential side-effects of going-against-the-grain and potentially ruining my mood.

I always tip the bartender/waitress unless service is bad. How much I tip depends on the situation, average service from a guy gets $1 per drink, great service from a hot woman can be $5 per drink.

I see no reason to not tip just because there is a 1 or 2 drink minimum at the club. The only exception would be a small dive bar where I know that the owner of the club is the one working the bar. He makes enough off the overpriced markup on the drink that he doesn't need the tip. Otherwise, I know bartenders/waitresses typically make less than minimum wage before tips so as long as they are at least making an effort I feel like they deserve a decent tip.

Point well made, the bartender and waitresses (who benefit from the top) do not make the rules or prices regarding drink minimum.

I used to go to one club where there was a one drink minimum (they served alcohol) and the doorman/bouncer gave you the drink. I always gave him a buck or two since I think it is a good idea to stay on the good side of the bouncers.

The drink minimum usually (IME) only occurs when admission is free. It's to offset the cost of entry usually. Any other time, it's to sell drinks. A large portion of their money comes not from strippers (ok, yes it does, I'm exaggerating), but from drink sales. Strippers only generally pay a set fee for the night depending on the individual club rules. That's part of the reason why girls always want you to buy a drink for them.

Also the reason why night clubs let girls in for free. Because many men or pathetic around women

Personally I pre-game because I'm frugal and my money is meant for the ladies, not for liquid courage. I dont tip on a minimum. Thus I also go to the bank ahead of time and get plenty of singles. The problem arises when I decide to bring over a K! How do you fit it all in your pocket.

My question is, why is beer cheaper than water? That's friggin nuts

I tip for any drinks served. I tip the bathroom guy if I have a dollar around. I'll usually tip if someone makes change. To me it's the cost of doing business.

You punish the club by not getting drinks; don't punish the waitress if you intend to follow the rules of the club. Plus, it's only a buck and she can probably do a lot of damage to your reputation if you don't tip on drinks.

What Ishmael said. Shorting the staff because of club rules is a good way to get shitty service. I was going to buy a drink anyway whether there’s a cover or a minimum or not.

I’m sure not the highest roller in a club and I’m not going to spend more than I have to buy you guys beefing about a dollar maybe should find another hobby.

@prevert

I know it sounds pretty to complain about $1 tips when I spend at least $100 per club visit.

I was just dumb ranting.

Tipping helps the people who provide the service.

Cow tipping is my close second favorite to hippo tipping

===> Shorting the staff because of club rules is a good way to get shitty service.

Yup, especially in a club that you visit frequently. When you spread a little love around, you often get it in return. Such as with the bartender who eagerly checks on you often and pours your drink up to the tippity top, or the door girl who lets you back in with cover because you throw her a couple of bucks each time, or the bathroom troll who points you to a clean stall when urgently needed or has something on hand for the stain/glitter on your shirt, etc.

And sometimes even the managers have their hands out. This can suck too, but "penny conscious, pound foolish" can take on great meaning in a strip club. Ask shadow what happened when he took a girl to VIP in one club and refused to pay the manager his $20 "skip fee" for the girl, which he split with the DJ. It completely made his much larger investment a complete waste of money. I OTOH paid the toll in the same club and had a blast with complete privacy, so the $20 was basically insurance for the $250 I spent on the girl for everything else.

Net-net you have to know where you are and, when in doubt, spreading a few bucks around costs you little, but can have a lot of upside.

that should have been "lets you back in without cover..."

@rickduggan

I agree, tipping is a small price yo pay to get the services you want, especially at the club.

Not tipping can be considered "penny wise, dollar foolish"

This advice only be considered by those he is going to regularly require the service of the bartender. I am not big on drinking (out) and if you can buy water to fulfill the mandatory drink rule AND its cheaper than beer (friggin nuts), I don't see a reason to tip on bringing a bottled beverage from the fridge to the reluctant customer.

@Rickdugun what door person is forcing you to repay entry fee if you step outside for a quick smoke or something? That just sounds like highway robbery. I never had that problem before.

Also, while your reputation with the bartender is shot, strippers talk and if you spend enough on one, many others will flock and your only problem is how to split your time. Strippers are the meat and potatoes of the business after all (followed by drinks)

@esta, no, I'm talking about when I disappear for two hours. In one club I don't get charged at all on nights when a certain door guy is there.

I am pretty much going to have at least one drink anyway, so my resentment at a mandatory drink is only theoretical, I would have bought it anyway. If it's the mandatory drinks are way marked up that it really irritates me.

In any case, I'm tipping the bartender. Partially, it's because, as others have said, that gets me continued better service in the future. And partly, it's because I just tip people like bartenders and waitresses, don't see any reason that club rules should impact that.

How is a drink minimum an issue?

I've been to tons of clubs, I've been hassled about a drink minimum zero times. Some of them have had posted signs for drink minimums or whatever, but I've never actually had it come up. Are some clubs dicks about it and instead of asking what they can get me to drink come up on initial approach and just start spouting about drink minimums? Like Subra said, I'm buying a drink of some sort if I walk into a strip club. So I can't see why I'd be annoyed with having to buy a drink.

Tipping is part of the US system (unlike many other countries; AFAIK).

And shaking-down custies for $$$ (usually implicitly but sometimes explicitly) is part of the strip club ethos (analogous to living in an area w/ high taxes; if you wanna live there what can you do) - the club is their turf and they set the rules - basically the only choice one has is to not go and not play that game.

Yeah I’ll tip a dollar every time regardless

I usually tip a dollar per drink/transaction at an sc, mandatory or not. Might do two if its a more pricey mixed drink to stay around 20%. Might do 3-5 if hot bartender lets me place tip in her cleavage. you gotta take care of the staff to get good service and intel.
To paraphrase a classic gangster flick: you can get a lot further with a kind word and a dollar than you can with just a kind word

LOL

Estafador, don't you mean the meat of the business and the drinks are the potatoes?

I've never clubbed at a place that has a drink minimum as club policy. Only time I've been confronted with a drink minimum was recently, I was at entry of club, door guy said there's only a few girls in here so you have to buy 2 drinks and tip the girls. There was also a $15 cover. I always drink (at TL clubs) and always tip, so the door guy's stated minimum was not a barrier. I said to him let me poke my head inside and see the girls on shift. I did and the girls were 5s so I bounced to another club nearby that had hotter and higher stripper population

Meant to say: "Estafador, don't you mean strippers are the meat of the business and the drinks are the potatoes?"

DTS: I'd read that at least some clubs make similar or even more on drinks... they sell a LOT of alcohol at some of these big clubs, and the markups are both outrageous and pure profit. Think about $400 for bottle service for some shit vodka like Ketel1, of which they split none of it with the strippers.

^Ya, I’d like me some of that pure profit as a business model, especially in a cash heavy business like SC where us PLs don’t use credit cards (course, if SCs didn’t commit so much credit card fraud or didn’t have such high upcharge for credit card use, maybe we would.

BTW, my drink minimum experience was at your fave dayshift club. It was a slow weekend afternoon and so I wasn’t shocked at the drink minimum, which I’d never experienced there.

i'll tip her a buck. (and maybe more if she's sexy hot...)

I would tip on a drink minimum. $1 per drink is pretty standard. Even though strip clubs like to nickel and dime one to poverty and those little expenses do add up, if you are concerned about tipping a less than minimum wage worker a buck, perhaps you should consider alternate entertainment with fixed costs.

The tip is for the service performed by the bartender; of course you still tip. It is many times also directly proportionate to the speed you get your next drink and the amount of booze in it...😜