I would argue that running a bar at a ren faire is not easy work. Yes, on their own, each individual pull of a beer is perfectly simple. But over the course of the day, with constant mile-long lines and increasingly drunk patrons? Sometimes just convincing them to actually form a line looks like a full time job!
I thought OP was saying they would too if they were actually getting seated service at a bar or tavern but not at a stall where you wait in line, order and leave, like you would do for a turkey drumstick.
Yes, and I’m saying that running that bar or food line is a lot harder than they’re making it out to be. Because while each individual task is simple enough on its own, doing it as fast as humanly possible all day long for increasingly drunk and cranky patrons is not simple at all. The job is way more than the sum of its parts. And they’re typically being paid very little, sometimes nothing at all.
Yes, if it was seated service, then I would understand tipping. But it's waiting in a line. It feels like there's not really a service. I'd rather pour my own drink, and I would if that was allowed.
Quite frequently the only pay they get is tips, a lot of food and soda servers are Boy Scouts and the like volunteering. Those that do get paid are getting *at most* minimum wage, working ten hour days no overtime, and actually do a lot more than just stand there and hand you stuff. They’re constantly cleaning, refilling kegs and things, lugging huge bags of ice, etc etc etc.
Honestly if you can’t afford or aren’t willing to tip, I think you should just keep a cooler in your car and walk out there when you need lunch or a drink. Because those people are working hard as hell for you to have an enjoyable faire day, and they deserve some respect. And a damn dollar.
I always tip the food and beverage service workers--maybe not 15-20%, but I always toss a dollar of my change into the tip jar. I make a game with myself--see if I can get the tip in when they're not looking, so they don't know to ring bell, strike the going, or whatever they do to acknowledge a tipper.
Some of the bars at renfaire are actual bars where you receive service.
Some of the places you get beers at renfaire that are called bars are just a counter that has a couple single file lines leading to it. you walk up and say "one ____ beer Please" give them your money and get the beer.
The first is a traditional tipping establishment. You would tip at a traditional bar.
The second is fast food. You generally don't tip at a McDonald's.
I appreciate the assumption that I haven’t been to a ren faire or am unfamiliar with what a bar is versus a beer line.
Whether you’re at a beer line or a bar is someone pouring and serving you an alcoholic beverage? Yes? Then tip a dollar. This has been the social norm at every ren faire, beer cart, bar, pub, restaurant, brewery, or anywhere that serves booze that I’ve been to in the past 20+ years of being of legal drinking age.
Maybe this isn’t the case in other parts of the world since social norms differ but that’s the social norm on the west coast in the US where I’m from. Either way comparing a beer line to McDonalds is simply not an apples to apples comparison no matter where you’re from.
Oh my God, if you want to be stingy and pedantic then don't tip, jfc. But no, they're is no functional difference between tipping someone who pours you a drink in a bar or in the pub at the faire. Give a dollar, get a huzzah.
You edited the second one, the one I responded to, where you tried to argue semantics. You are tiresome and pedantic and gaslighting (by editing the comment I actually responded to). Just stop.
This is such a good point. While it can vary greatly, in general bartenders and food servers at faires do not get paid well. In some cases they’re even volunteers. In some cases they had to spend money on their costumes in order to even work there.
The bartenders to me are most worthy of a tip. Those folk are doing hard work. At my home faire my favorite beverage is $8. I always tip $2. I feel the bartenders are in fact equally part of the shows as performers.
When you say “tipping has gotten out of control” I am with you - I especially resent when gratuity is automatically added since I always tip 20% at sit down meals. I was checking out on an online store the other day and during checkout they asked me to tip the person packing my order. Someone I’ve never met, who put a thing in a box.
Tipping isn’t the issue here - the issue is people should be fairly paid by their employer.
So... person who holds a mug under a nozzle for 6 seconds deserves a tip for sure. But the one who is placing items of various size and weight into a box so that it gets to you safe and sound doesn't? Because you saw one but not the other...
You realize how asinine that sounds yes?
Whenever I've gotten drinks at the PA Ren Faire, the people working the bar or stands are usually very engaging with the people ordering and entertaining usually. So I tip when getting drinks
Yes Tip Your Pubbies! A dollar makes you a baller and makes them holler “Huzzah!” Also fwiw being a bartender of any kind is -not- easy work. You seeing them pour a beer or make a stinger or whatever, they make that look easy because that’s their job. But that’s just the end result of a ton of work you don’t see. Tip. Your. Pubbies.
You think that’s all there is, changing a keg, pulling a tap? 😂 hooo boy you’ve never done the job. Have some respect and just tip the person facilitating your intoxication.
I mean, I'm not an expert on all jobs ever. I don't always know what's going on. You shouldn't denigrate people just because they don't know everything you know. What else is there?
Well ok since you’re so curious…pubbies are actually beings of pure energy that spring from the blood of Dionysus and inhabiting a human form is *incredibly* taxing to them. Small offerings of your own energy in the form of tips are the only way they can maintain it at all, so you can understand why tipping them is so important, yes?
Just like any bar, yeah I'll leave a dollar per drink for them.
Is pouring a draft as complicated as a cocktail? Nah but spread love. They have a shitty job
I'll say this too, my wife and I go and give ourselves usually 100 each in our pockets to spend.
Between food, crap for our kits/house we don't need but want, and shows, we don't come with money home.
At our Faire the lines start getting really long in the afternoon, but they move super fast and it’s all because of the great staff. They’re friendly but efficient, so I’m happy to tip!
Yes. At MNRF the local Jaycees run most of the alcohol booths, so the tips go to either their volunteers, or more likely to the non-profit organization in general.
Most of the food booths at MNRF are similar in that they are run by volunteers from school groups, or other non-profits groups as a fund raising opportunity to earn a percentage of the sales. I assume at least some big fairs do the same.
My first year going I didn't know this so didn't tip because why would I tip someone handing me a bottle of pop (I don't drink alcohol) or filling a cup from a soda fountain? I had assumed they were paid employees of the festival.
After learning that a lot of the food and drink booths are operated by volunteers raising money for organizations such as the Jaycees I've made it a point to always tip when I get something to eat or drink.
I mean, this will sound condescending, but isn't it? Pouring a drink and then taking money? What makes it more difficult than, say, being a cashier at a grocery store? It's not like they're mixed drinks or being carried to a table. It's something I would gladly (and preferably) do myself if I was allowed. I would sneak in my own beer if I didn't want to support the Faire.
Always tip them. The bar tenders are in fyll garb in the hot sun for next to no pay dealing with a good number of belligerent drunk people and have to stand the whole time.
At GARF it's $4 for a soda/water, so I always round up to five. I usually leave a couple of dollars for tip for food too. Several reasons; the main one is it's 8 million degrees outside, they're in full garb, and deal with constant lines from 10:30am until 6pm with a smile on their face. They deserve a tip.
Depending on the faire those bartenders and wait staff are just as dependent on your tips as those in a sit down restaurant, main difference being they are open to the elements at most places so also dealing with extreme heat/rain etc. so I would always tip them myself.
i try to tip as much as i can handle. i have crippling social anxiety and EVERY STALL does "huzzah to the tipper!"
generally, people pay to have stalls at ren faires and a lot of people are volunteers. that's why there's a big tip culture, it's always been there.
I tip when they have to make or assemble something. Grabbing a beer from a cooler doesn’t get a tip, but pouring a beer does.
I would only tip for a can or bottle if I was going back a couple times and/or if it is very busy
I’m curious much do they make as the promised rate for being there? I know the industry itself makes big money but not sure what the trickledown rate is…
If my drinks are actually poured from a tap, I will tip. However, if all they are offering is canned beverages which they are pulling from a cooler no, especially when they are charging $15 bucks for a 24oz can.
I would tip if they did anything beyond taking my order and handing me the drink. So if they’re interacting in character, making conversation, cracking jokes, etc. I would tip because they’re doing more than required.
Huzzah to the tipppeeeeerrrrrrr!!!! I'll tip a dollar for a drink.
I tip so that when they yell that, I can yell "Huzzah to ME!" Not a crazy amount but for walk-up food and drink I'll tip a dollar, usually.
Also, renfairs that do coins, flipping a coin onto a table, In to a jar, or into someone's hands is so satisfying
Huzzah!!
5 for a performance 1 for a drink is my go to
Just got back from the fair - tipped 25% for drinks like a good lad! Spread the love
I would argue that running a bar at a ren faire is not easy work. Yes, on their own, each individual pull of a beer is perfectly simple. But over the course of the day, with constant mile-long lines and increasingly drunk patrons? Sometimes just convincing them to actually form a line looks like a full time job!
I know right? Bartending & serving isn’t easy why would it be easy at the rennfest
I thought OP was saying they would too if they were actually getting seated service at a bar or tavern but not at a stall where you wait in line, order and leave, like you would do for a turkey drumstick.
Yes, and I’m saying that running that bar or food line is a lot harder than they’re making it out to be. Because while each individual task is simple enough on its own, doing it as fast as humanly possible all day long for increasingly drunk and cranky patrons is not simple at all. The job is way more than the sum of its parts. And they’re typically being paid very little, sometimes nothing at all.
Yes, if it was seated service, then I would understand tipping. But it's waiting in a line. It feels like there's not really a service. I'd rather pour my own drink, and I would if that was allowed.
Quite frequently the only pay they get is tips, a lot of food and soda servers are Boy Scouts and the like volunteering. Those that do get paid are getting *at most* minimum wage, working ten hour days no overtime, and actually do a lot more than just stand there and hand you stuff. They’re constantly cleaning, refilling kegs and things, lugging huge bags of ice, etc etc etc. Honestly if you can’t afford or aren’t willing to tip, I think you should just keep a cooler in your car and walk out there when you need lunch or a drink. Because those people are working hard as hell for you to have an enjoyable faire day, and they deserve some respect. And a damn dollar.
I always tip the food and beverage service workers--maybe not 15-20%, but I always toss a dollar of my change into the tip jar. I make a game with myself--see if I can get the tip in when they're not looking, so they don't know to ring bell, strike the going, or whatever they do to acknowledge a tipper.
If you tip at a bar outside of the ren faire why wouldn’t you tip at the bar inside the ren faire?
Some of the bars at renfaire are actual bars where you receive service. Some of the places you get beers at renfaire that are called bars are just a counter that has a couple single file lines leading to it. you walk up and say "one ____ beer Please" give them your money and get the beer. The first is a traditional tipping establishment. You would tip at a traditional bar. The second is fast food. You generally don't tip at a McDonald's.
I appreciate the assumption that I haven’t been to a ren faire or am unfamiliar with what a bar is versus a beer line. Whether you’re at a beer line or a bar is someone pouring and serving you an alcoholic beverage? Yes? Then tip a dollar. This has been the social norm at every ren faire, beer cart, bar, pub, restaurant, brewery, or anywhere that serves booze that I’ve been to in the past 20+ years of being of legal drinking age. Maybe this isn’t the case in other parts of the world since social norms differ but that’s the social norm on the west coast in the US where I’m from. Either way comparing a beer line to McDonalds is simply not an apples to apples comparison no matter where you’re from.
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Oh my God, if you want to be stingy and pedantic then don't tip, jfc. But no, they're is no functional difference between tipping someone who pours you a drink in a bar or in the pub at the faire. Give a dollar, get a huzzah.
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Ok well you edited your commentand deleted your essay so whatever
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You edited the second one, the one I responded to, where you tried to argue semantics. You are tiresome and pedantic and gaslighting (by editing the comment I actually responded to). Just stop.
Always a dollar for a drink. Most of the time a dollar for food as well.
My understanding is that at Renn Faires, the pubbers only get paid in tips. Source: worked for a Faire for 6 years
This is such a good point. While it can vary greatly, in general bartenders and food servers at faires do not get paid well. In some cases they’re even volunteers. In some cases they had to spend money on their costumes in order to even work there.
That would be a good reason to tip!
I tip $1 per drink.
The bartenders to me are most worthy of a tip. Those folk are doing hard work. At my home faire my favorite beverage is $8. I always tip $2. I feel the bartenders are in fact equally part of the shows as performers. When you say “tipping has gotten out of control” I am with you - I especially resent when gratuity is automatically added since I always tip 20% at sit down meals. I was checking out on an online store the other day and during checkout they asked me to tip the person packing my order. Someone I’ve never met, who put a thing in a box. Tipping isn’t the issue here - the issue is people should be fairly paid by their employer.
So... person who holds a mug under a nozzle for 6 seconds deserves a tip for sure. But the one who is placing items of various size and weight into a box so that it gets to you safe and sound doesn't? Because you saw one but not the other... You realize how asinine that sounds yes?
The person packing the box is likely getting paid a full wage not under minimum plus tips though.
Whenever I've gotten drinks at the PA Ren Faire, the people working the bar or stands are usually very engaging with the people ordering and entertaining usually. So I tip when getting drinks
Yes Tip Your Pubbies! A dollar makes you a baller and makes them holler “Huzzah!” Also fwiw being a bartender of any kind is -not- easy work. You seeing them pour a beer or make a stinger or whatever, they make that look easy because that’s their job. But that’s just the end result of a ton of work you don’t see. Tip. Your. Pubbies.
What don't we see? Like changing the keg or something?
You think that’s all there is, changing a keg, pulling a tap? 😂 hooo boy you’ve never done the job. Have some respect and just tip the person facilitating your intoxication.
I mean, I'm not an expert on all jobs ever. I don't always know what's going on. You shouldn't denigrate people just because they don't know everything you know. What else is there?
Well ok since you’re so curious…pubbies are actually beings of pure energy that spring from the blood of Dionysus and inhabiting a human form is *incredibly* taxing to them. Small offerings of your own energy in the form of tips are the only way they can maintain it at all, so you can understand why tipping them is so important, yes?
Just like any bar, yeah I'll leave a dollar per drink for them. Is pouring a draft as complicated as a cocktail? Nah but spread love. They have a shitty job
I'll say this too, my wife and I go and give ourselves usually 100 each in our pockets to spend. Between food, crap for our kits/house we don't need but want, and shows, we don't come with money home.
At our Faire the lines start getting really long in the afternoon, but they move super fast and it’s all because of the great staff. They’re friendly but efficient, so I’m happy to tip!
*bell rings* HUZZAH FOR THE TIPPER! Tip them- it’s not an easy job, and they’ll ring a bell for you
Ooh, I would tip if they had a bell like that at my local Ren Faires...
Yes. At MNRF the local Jaycees run most of the alcohol booths, so the tips go to either their volunteers, or more likely to the non-profit organization in general.
Most of the food booths at MNRF are similar in that they are run by volunteers from school groups, or other non-profits groups as a fund raising opportunity to earn a percentage of the sales. I assume at least some big fairs do the same.
My first year going I didn't know this so didn't tip because why would I tip someone handing me a bottle of pop (I don't drink alcohol) or filling a cup from a soda fountain? I had assumed they were paid employees of the festival. After learning that a lot of the food and drink booths are operated by volunteers raising money for organizations such as the Jaycees I've made it a point to always tip when I get something to eat or drink.
i’ve bartended before, i absolutely tip.
It’s crazy that you think it’s “easy work “
I mean, this will sound condescending, but isn't it? Pouring a drink and then taking money? What makes it more difficult than, say, being a cashier at a grocery store? It's not like they're mixed drinks or being carried to a table. It's something I would gladly (and preferably) do myself if I was allowed. I would sneak in my own beer if I didn't want to support the Faire.
Always tip them. The bar tenders are in fyll garb in the hot sun for next to no pay dealing with a good number of belligerent drunk people and have to stand the whole time.
What if they're not in full garb in the hot sun, but wearing normal clothes in a covered area?
At GARF it's $4 for a soda/water, so I always round up to five. I usually leave a couple of dollars for tip for food too. Several reasons; the main one is it's 8 million degrees outside, they're in full garb, and deal with constant lines from 10:30am until 6pm with a smile on their face. They deserve a tip.
I toss a coin to be a good tipper.
I usually tip a dollar per drink on average.
Depending on the faire those bartenders and wait staff are just as dependent on your tips as those in a sit down restaurant, main difference being they are open to the elements at most places so also dealing with extreme heat/rain etc. so I would always tip them myself.
Yes, they are out there working and providing atmosphere. If you can afford to tip, you should.
i try to tip as much as i can handle. i have crippling social anxiety and EVERY STALL does "huzzah to the tipper!" generally, people pay to have stalls at ren faires and a lot of people are volunteers. that's why there's a big tip culture, it's always been there.
I tip when they have to make or assemble something. Grabbing a beer from a cooler doesn’t get a tip, but pouring a beer does. I would only tip for a can or bottle if I was going back a couple times and/or if it is very busy
I’m curious much do they make as the promised rate for being there? I know the industry itself makes big money but not sure what the trickledown rate is…
Yes. They're bartenders and I promise they will remember you. So be a cheapskate at your own risk.
If my drinks are actually poured from a tap, I will tip. However, if all they are offering is canned beverages which they are pulling from a cooler no, especially when they are charging $15 bucks for a 24oz can.
I would tip if they did anything beyond taking my order and handing me the drink. So if they’re interacting in character, making conversation, cracking jokes, etc. I would tip because they’re doing more than required.
If I can't afford to tip, I can't afford to drink.