Streetalk: Are bar patrons getting stingier with tips?
Tips might be getting smaller — but there’s more reason to drink!
Pam: The bar tips are dwindling, but more people are coming out to drink. So what we might lack in quality we make up for in volume. Things are getting so bad with the economy, it literally drives people to drink. They cant afford to tip as they normally would, but regular customers tip the same. I have to give the biggest props to the Emory kids. They come in droves and still dont know how to tip — but what they lack in substance they make up for in sheer numbers. It kind of all works out.
Phillip: My customers love me. Theyre not going to let me down. They wouldnt come in if they couldnt tip. I take care of them, they take care of me. If youre strange and we dont know you, we kind of really dont care. Well, we care, but we dont know you. People are drinking. People want to forget about what theyre going through. So they have a few extra martinis and next thing you know they got a $40 check. And theyre like, “Oh this is Phillip, tack on an extra $10.” I listen to a lot of stories.
Tammy: If someone is laid off, youre not going to get as much. Folks are being good, but its tough. But Im up because of football. Football has definitely saved us. I love those tight ends, baby. You do a little extra now, be extra nice and work a little bit harder. You do what you got to do. You have to stay above it. Folks are getting laid off left and right, my family too. But thank god for football. If it wasnt for football, we would be devastated.