Tip Randomizing

Quote: RaspberryCheeseBlintz

You should get credit for some amount less than $2, since you are asking them to take higher than normal variance.

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I spend most of my time in the Poker room and it seems like 90% of the drinks delivered get toked a buck at least. In fact I usually have people at the table craning their necks to find a waitress that they'll happily give $1 or $2 for a drink. I've also never seen a waitress that couldn't break a $20. Are poker players better tippers?

When my wife and I play table games we ask the dealer how they'd like to be tipped...directly or with a bet. Seems pretty common for them to want you to make a bet... If I was a delaer I'd want the player to tip with a bet - if they hit a bonus I'm up a lot - if not it was their money not mine. Deal another winning hand and let them bet for me again.

Its really only fair if you offer them a $2 tip
OR a guess on the $20. If one in 10 get it
right, it works out the same for you anyway.

Here is the difference in my opinion: Dealers appreciate the wager because it shows thought, last night I had players betting 50 cents to a dollar on almost every hand for me last night and I made about $200 for the tip pool. The tip pool is the difference, since tips are pooled the tip itself is less personal to the dealer. For the drink people they go for their own so every tip they do not get costs them money because they are taxed on each drink they serve as an expected tip.

I voted for the $2 in expected value but then I am able to do basic probabilities in my head. I guess if I wasn't able to, then I might have voted differently.

Wiz, when they guess wrong do you show them the serial # so they know you aren't scamming them? If not, they may feel that you are a lowlife who doesn't tip

Why are you even ordering a beer at all if you know you have no dollars in your pocket? Why don't you just go to the bill changer first if you're so ill-prepared?

And how is it that you repeatedly have no dollar bills with you?

I hear where you are coming from, but I see two problems with your approach.

First, waitresses do not think in terms of "EV." Few people in casinos think like we do. See my George McGovern "but everyone I know voted for him" examples here on the board. The waitress sees herself getting $20 or nothing.

Second, as somone else said, you might be coming off as some kind of "cute" customer she sees 10 times a day and after she gets the first one then throws down some other challenge.

In your defense, I am sure this is not true, and a good waitress should have enough change to break down a $20. Only way she might not is if she just broke down others and the cashier at the bar would not give her change. (Here in PA at Rivers no employee may have even a personal penny on them at any time.)

At my first casino, it was not required but expected for the poker dealers to tip the cage at the end of the shift. The 'standard' tip was 3$

Well, I decided to start 'a game' like the Wizard did. I told the cage as I handed them my box they had two options:

1. I would tip 3$ right now
2. THEY picked EVEN or ODD on what my total amount of tokes would be. If they guessed right, I'd tip 5$. If they guessed wrong, they got zero.

My logic was they should pick correct 50% of the time.. so I'd end up essentially tipping 2.50$ per day.. therefore saving myself 50 cents per shift.
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As for the Wizard... if the cocktail waitress did not offer to make change before accepting the 20 or Nothing challenge, then she SHOULD NOT expect a tip. However, I am certain that over 50% will give some sort of attitude

I also voted Other... most of the reasons have been stated here, but now I'm going to add my 2 cents (pun intended)...

I kind of think the offer, while generous in the long-term, is really kind of bad in the short term. If a cocktail waitress is not willing to make change, they don't deserve a tip... they are in the SERVICE industry, and any reasonable request in the construct of the job is to be expected. If it involves her (or his, we REALLY need to be PC since more than ever I've seen male cocktail servers) tip, she should be MORE than willing to make change.

To be honest, if I don't have money (or correct change) to tip the waitress, I DON'T ORDER THE DRINK!! If I decide I want one, I haul my butt over to the change machine and make change for myself. Then I go back to my machine and order my drink then. I know it's easier in the Midwest, as Total Touch is now the norm in Caesars properties. Still, if I'm not ready to tip, then I don't get a drink.

It's the same with eating at restaurants on comps. I will always make change before going to a buffet or cafe so I can tip properly. I might actually undertip a bit for a buffet, but I always try to leave at least 15% where service is premium (i.e. sit-down restaurant).

As others pointed out, some people aren't gamblers. Not to derail the thread, but when a dealer is giving me a hard time about not betting bonuses, I will ask him/her, for their tip, if they want it on the higher paying, higher HE bet. Some say yes, some say no. But I always ask. Occasionally, if the dealer has explicitly said they don't gamble, then I ask if they even want to bet the tip. Some will drop it right then.

It's a very nice gesture, in the long-run. But cocktail servers don't live in the long run... or at least they don't see it that way.

Quote: Wizard

Keeping that in mind, sometimes when I'm playing slots and the cocktail waitress delivers me a drink I won't have proper change to tip her. Let's say my smallest bill is a 20. What I often do in these situations is make the following offer to the waitress, "I don't have any small bills, but if you can guess the last digit in this $20 bill you can have the whole thing."

So I think the next logical experiment here would be to for the Wiz
to have a dollar bill AND a 20 ready when the waitress comes by.

AND if it is a slow enough time where she can talk for a few
seconds, ask her which she would prefer. I think you might
have to give her 2 guesses before she takes you up on the
guessing offer. You could even tell her you are doing an
experiment on human behavior.