Tipping question

gjoyg20

I have a question regarding tipping in Chicago.  My fiancee and I are getting married in a couple of weeks (in fact I think I might just be under her name right now because I'm not sure I ever made one), and tipping our catering staff and bar staff has been our biggest headache for the last several days.

I used to wait tables.  I have friends who tend bars.  I know the logic behind the customary tipping in US restaurants and bars: Waiters and bartenders in your average bar or restaurant make less than minimum wage, and tipping is the way they get paid.

But my bar staff is being paid between $25 and $35 an hour.  My waitstaff is being paid approximately $15 an hour.  I'm already paying their not insignificant wage in my bill.  

That said, it's not like I don't want to tip them.  I just want to tip them reasonably.  And I don't think 15-20% of the liquor bill when the bar tenders are already going to walk away with between $235 and $335 before a tip is exactly reasonable.  Same thing with food bill on waiters who are going to make more than $100 a night without having to take a food order.  

Am I being a jerk, or is tipping the bartenders an extra $100 per tender and the waitstaff and extra $25 per waiter reasonable?  Thanks.  

TNMurray

Are you hiring this staff from a cattering company or personally? If you are hiring them through a company then thier tip may already be included and you may want to ask who you hired.

danieliza1127

Check your contract because if it already has a "service charge" written in, that's typically the gratuity.  If you're not sure, ask the venue if it is and then you can decide from there whether to tip more or not.  Our venue charged 18% "service fee" or whatever they called it so we didn't tip on top of that.  You could, but we didn't.

gjoyg20

Their tip is not included in the bill.  However, with their hourly wage, they're making what a comparable person doing their job would do at a bar or restaurant or better.  That's where my confusion is coming in.

mushE

By your reference to their hourly wage, are you being charged something like $25/hr for their services?  That's how ours is working.  I wouldn't assume that the bartender/waiter is actually being paid the hourly rate that you are being charged.  My assumption is that the catering company pays them less than that.