5 ms·

We're supposed to tip at movie theaters?

mcphage 3y ago
Well, if the movie theater has bartenders, then yes—you tip bartenders, and other wait staff. If it's just someone selling snacks behind a counter, then I'd say no.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- njovin 3y ago
  Imagine that I go to a movie theater and order a soda and a beer. The cashier pours the soda into a cup from the fountain machine. The bartender pours the beer into a plastic pint from a tap. Why is the bartender deserving of a tip in this scenario?
  - woodruffw 3y ago
    The "stupid" answer is because it's customary in (much of) the US to tip a bartender, even if that bartender is just serving you a beer. Tipping is both economic and customary in nature; you'll find that most people agree that the economics that encourage it are dumb, but that the dumbness of those economics doesn't make changing customs easy.
    - smelendez 3y ago
      The scenario where you have a mix of customarily tipped and untipped food service workers in the same venue is especially weird, though.
  - jkestner 3y ago
    The tip is not for any particular effort. It's just an inefficient way to pay the bartender a living wage. The employer should do it, but while I vote for higher minimum wages, lower cost of living, and back the Alamo Drafthouse unionization efforts, I also tip because I recognize that's part of the true cost of the labor, and I can afford to.
pavel_lishin 3y ago
This is a theater that also serves dinner with the show; think of it less like a movie theater, and more like a restaurant that happens to show a movie.
- tomrod 3y ago
  Nope. I paid the movie ticket. Wage is in that $20-$30 dollar ticket price. I don't pay to enter restaurants either.
  - jrockway 3y ago
    I assume this is Alamo Draft House. You can definitely go to this movie theater and not buy any food and not tip anyone. The gimmick is that you can order from your seat and the food you want is brought to you during the movie. After the movie, you get a receipt to sign and add a tip to like at any restaurant. I find it completely normal to tip 20% in this situation. (Your ticket was bought prior to this receipt being made, so you aren't tipping on the ticket price.) As you read the menu, you add 20% to the listed prices, and just pay it. It's a weird convention that makes paying for things complicated (math to do, forms to fill out), but it's simply how paying for things at a restaurant is done in the US. Basically, this place is no different than any other sit-down restaurant except they happen to arrange the tables in a theater and show a movie. You're expected to tip. When you don't, it's a big "fuck you" to the people making your food and drinks and carrying them to you. The author of this article is mad because many people over the course of his career told him "fuck you". I would be mad too.
  - Tangurena2 3y ago
    Studios get 100% of that ticket price for the first 3 weeks that the movie is being shown. The way the contracts are written, a movie would have to be playing for months before theatres get to keep all of the ticket sales. The last movie where that happened was The Full Monty (in 1997).
tomrod 3y ago
Nope.
bnchrch 3y ago
Hard to see the forest from behind that tree.
- arolihas 3y ago
  When the author mentions that tree I can’t help but notice ;)

Well, if the movie theater has bartenders, then yes—you tip bartenders, and other wait staff. If it's just someone selling snacks behind a counter, then I'd say no.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
njovin 3y ago
Imagine that I go to a movie theater and order a soda and a beer. The cashier pours the soda into a cup from the fountain machine. The bartender pours the beer into a plastic pint from a tap. Why is the bartender deserving of a tip in this scenario?
- woodruffw 3y ago
  The "stupid" answer is because it's customary in (much of) the US to tip a bartender, even if that bartender is just serving you a beer. Tipping is both economic and customary in nature; you'll find that most people agree that the economics that encourage it are dumb, but that the dumbness of those economics doesn't make changing customs easy.
  - smelendez 3y ago
    The scenario where you have a mix of customarily tipped and untipped food service workers in the same venue is especially weird, though.
- jkestner 3y ago
  The tip is not for any particular effort. It's just an inefficient way to pay the bartender a living wage. The employer should do it, but while I vote for higher minimum wages, lower cost of living, and back the Alamo Drafthouse unionization efforts, I also tip because I recognize that's part of the true cost of the labor, and I can afford to.

pavel_lishin 3y ago

This is a theater that also serves dinner with the show; think of it less like a movie theater, and more like a restaurant that happens to show a movie.

tomrod 3y ago
Nope. I paid the movie ticket. Wage is in that $20-$30 dollar ticket price. I don't pay to enter restaurants either.
- jrockway 3y ago
  I assume this is Alamo Draft House. You can definitely go to this movie theater and not buy any food and not tip anyone. The gimmick is that you can order from your seat and the food you want is brought to you during the movie. After the movie, you get a receipt to sign and add a tip to like at any restaurant. I find it completely normal to tip 20% in this situation. (Your ticket was bought prior to this receipt being made, so you aren't tipping on the ticket price.) As you read the menu, you add 20% to the listed prices, and just pay it. It's a weird convention that makes paying for things complicated (math to do, forms to fill out), but it's simply how paying for things at a restaurant is done in the US. Basically, this place is no different than any other sit-down restaurant except they happen to arrange the tables in a theater and show a movie. You're expected to tip. When you don't, it's a big "fuck you" to the people making your food and drinks and carrying them to you. The author of this article is mad because many people over the course of his career told him "fuck you". I would be mad too.
- Tangurena2 3y ago
  Studios get 100% of that ticket price for the first 3 weeks that the movie is being shown. The way the contracts are written, a movie would have to be playing for months before theatres get to keep all of the ticket sales. The last movie where that happened was The Full Monty (in 1997).

tomrod 3y ago

Nope.

bnchrch 3y ago

Hard to see the forest from behind that tree.

arolihas 3y ago
When the author mentions that tree I can’t help but notice ;)