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Or just pay as you go with your credit card as there really is no upside to opening a tab or paying in cash if you have a credit card. If the bar is so busy tha

Or just pay as you go with your credit card as there really is no upside to opening a tab or paying in cash if you have a credit card. If the bar is so busy that you think you're saving time by paying in cash, you're wasting that time else where by going to the ATM and making sure you have the right collection of bills to pay in exact change. If you're getting change even once then you're making the server spend even longer on the return trip to you by having to get the exact bills and change needed for you, instead of tapping your card. You also don't get the credit card rewards, which for someone with a good mix of cards is easily thousands of dollars at the end of the year added up over all the transactions. Bars and restaurants are established high reward categories. $20 to $50 in my wallet usually lasts me a month or more at this point. There are a few well established bars and restaurants that force the burden on the customer by not accepting cards, but they nearly always have an on-site ATM. Many of them that are not outright amazing and lived on by their reputation from their longevity have started taking cards. Nobody would even dream of opening a new place that was cash only.

hooverd 3y ago
I keep a good mix of ones, fives, and tens. I also use a credit card for most expenses.
- brewdad 3y ago
  I use cash so rarely that I end up at the bar (or wherever) with a stack of 20s.
- OkayPhysicist 3y ago
  I also use a CC for most expenses, but besides small bills, I like to have a handful of large bills (1 or 2 hundreds, a fifty, a handful of twenties) because large bills are a great way to ask for favors. Nobody's going to remember a 10 you hand them, but a 20 is going to stay in their head. A fifty or hundred is going to sit in their wallet, and be a recurring reminder. My rule of thumb is that asking someone to commit to doing something they probably would have done for free is a twenty, asking someone to bend the rules a bit through inaction is a fifty, and asking someone to act in my favor in exception to the rules is a hundred.
OkayPhysicist 3y ago
At bars, I'll open a tab with a card, then tip on the first round with cash. Then at the end of the night I'll tip for subsequent rounds on the card. I don't want to do a bunch of scribbling on a receipt after each order, and I want to establish that I'm willing to tip well early to get quicker service. It's definitely the ideal solution.

hooverd 3y ago

I keep a good mix of ones, fives, and tens. I also use a credit card for most expenses.

brewdad 3y ago
I use cash so rarely that I end up at the bar (or wherever) with a stack of 20s.
OkayPhysicist 3y ago
I also use a CC for most expenses, but besides small bills, I like to have a handful of large bills (1 or 2 hundreds, a fifty, a handful of twenties) because large bills are a great way to ask for favors. Nobody's going to remember a 10 you hand them, but a 20 is going to stay in their head. A fifty or hundred is going to sit in their wallet, and be a recurring reminder. My rule of thumb is that asking someone to commit to doing something they probably would have done for free is a twenty, asking someone to bend the rules a bit through inaction is a fifty, and asking someone to act in my favor in exception to the rules is a hundred.

OkayPhysicist 3y ago

At bars, I'll open a tab with a card, then tip on the first round with cash. Then at the end of the night I'll tip for subsequent rounds on the card. I don't want to do a bunch of scribbling on a receipt after each order, and I want to establish that I'm willing to tip well early to get quicker service. It's definitely the ideal solution.