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Wedding Etiquette Forum
Tipping question
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.
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Tipping question
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.
My Planning Bio
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.