Tipping the Beer Cart girl

[NotPortlyNJ]

It's not tipping I believe in, it's overtipping.  I'm a big proponent of the idea that that extra dollar or 2 will do her more good than it will do me.

[Strandly]

where in the world do you people play golf that you have shoe shiners, club cleaners, caddies and vallets at your service when you play?!?!  LOL.  My home course is "That'll be $50 bucks, #1 is right over there, have fun".  I don't speak to anyone else from the time I walk out of the proshop after paying until I walk to my car, except who I'm playing with and the occasional interacting with other players on the course.

Even the high end courses in my areas don't have bagroom attendants and I'll be god damned if I saw a beer cart girl out driving around unless it was a captain and crew tournament.  lol.  The staff is typically high school kids making minimum wage whose job is to drive the carts from the garage to the pro shop or gather them from where YOU are supposed to park them after your round.  And of course the occasional 80 year old ranger driving around waving hello and not stopping his cart when you're hitting.

Haha, same here.  Most of the courses here seem to have a goodie cart though but I don't really consider it an amenity since the prices are always ridiculous.  I would easily prefer a course have a starter or ranger than a cart girl.

[Slice of Life]

I tip the cart girl $1 per item. Regardless of looks...you guys really think if you give her a $10 bill you're gonna get in her pants? That's dumb. If anything, you're better off tipping the ugly ones more because THEY are the ones who will remember you and treat you well when you're on the course. Every jackass overtips the hot ones...

With that said, I've never let anyone clean my clubs or even load them...I just turn down the service. I wipe my clubs after I use them, I don't need you to redo it.

[Ernest Jones]

No cart girl on my goat track. Hell, they barely have a clubhouse.

[Dave2512]

Not sure what changed but I've rarely seen the bev cart on any of the courses I play this season. My former home course provides coolers and ice in the clubhouse grill and my new home course has coolers mounted on the carts and they offer canned drinks in a bag full of ice at the bar. I've heard the carts run earlier in the day but I haven't seen any after 5PM when I usually play. I'm sure it's an overhead cutting move and I prefer it to the cart because it's cheaper. If you buy 6 beers it's .50 a pint less, you only have to tip once and its on your cart when you want it.

[bplewis24]

No cart girl on my goat track. Hell, they barely have a clubhouse.

Bollocks.  There are no goats in Canada.

[Ernest Jones]

Bollocks.  There are no goats in Canada.

I got proof.

And here's the starter's shack,

[sacm3bill]

I tip the cart girl $1 per item. Regardless of looks...you guys really think if you give her a $10 bill you're gonna get in her pants? That's dumb. If anything, you're better off tipping the ugly ones more because THEY are the ones who will remember you and treat you well when you're on the course. Every jackass overtips the hot ones...

QFT.

[pepsiplusconker]

I, like many other people in the UK and Europe, don't really do tipping but............ I never knew that some people in America earn a 'Service wage', being less than minimum wage, that changes everything. Saying this, tipping is becoming more popular in Europe, and I've seen plenty of tip jars at bars etc.  In Prague we had one barmaid who wouldn't actually serve us at the bar, because she wanted us to sit down so we could tip her after service.

If we had cart girls in the UK, no one would tip them, but we would know they were earning atleast minimum wage, if I was in the US I would obviously tip.

I bet most of these cart girls to pretty damn well for themselves, especially when they are good looking. Someone did mention that they often make around $25-30 per hour, nice money for driving around in the sun all day.

[3putter]

I tip a dollar per most purchases. If my purchase is like $8, she can have the $2 off the 10. I sure as hell don't tip per drink...the effort to grab 3 drinks isn't that much greater than grabbing one. Just don't tip with the hopes that your extra $ puts you at an advantage to getting in those booty shorts.

Waiters on the other hand have a special place in my heart, if your service is good, I don't hold back at all. if your service is crap, you get 10%, or the typical 15% if I'm feeling nice.

[bplewis24]

I tip the cart girl $1 per item. Regardless of looks...you guys really think if you give her a $10 bill you're gonna get in her pants? That's dumb. If anything, you're better off tipping the ugly ones more because THEY are the ones who will remember you and treat you well when you're on the course. Every jackass overtips the hot ones...

There is a course I go to regularly that is nearby my house.  The lady that works in the bar (and occasionally the cart) is legitimately hot.  I don't say that often, so trust me she's hot.  Somebody told me she was once a Sacramento Kings dancer/cheerleader, but I can't confirm that.

Anyway, typically (like this past weekend), I'll go in for a snack or a bottle of water before my round or at the turn.  You pay for the snacks at the same register they use the bar/grill for.  When she is working, the seats at the bar will always be taken.  The place is bustling whenever she is in there.  Almost always, the seats at the bar will be full of guys 50+ years old and there will be cash on the table.  They've already paid and left their tips, and just hang around to flirt and wait for their hard-on to wear off I guess.  I once saw a guy who left a $50 tip (IIRC).  I doubt he bought anything more than a few bears and maybe a hamburger.

It makes me think that an escort service could make a lot of money if they sent their girls around golf course clubhouses on weekday evenings.

[k-troop]

It makes me think that an escort service could make a lot of money if they sent their girls around golf course clubhouses on weekday evenings.

Probably, until this happened. http://nypost.com/2012/08/03/li-golfers-hired-strippers-and-hookers-to-entertain-them-at-posh-club-complaint/ Or this. http://articles.latimes.com/2002/jun/16/local/me-golf16

[Strandly]

I, like many other people in the UK and Europe, don't really do tipping but............ I never knew that some people in America earn a 'Service wage', being less than minimum wage, that changes everything. Saying this, tipping is becoming more popular in Europe, and I've seen plenty of tip jars at bars etc.  In Prague we had one barmaid who wouldn't actually serve us at the bar, because she wanted us to sit down so we could tip her after service.

If we had cart girls in the UK, no one would tip them, but we would know they were earning atleast minimum wage, if I was in the US I would obviously tip.

I bet most of these cart girls to pretty damn well for themselves, especially when they are good looking. Someone did mention that they often make around $25-30 per hour, nice money for driving around in the sun all day.

Yeah it's quite stupid actually.  All it does is push the service person's wage onto the customer, regardless of how well they actually perform, since many people feel obligated to make up the gap.  I have stopped eating out at restaurants almost entirely because of the tip nonsense.  Which brings up another point... a cart girl doesn't even really do anything to earn a tip.  They don't mix your drink or make your sandwich.. why are they even getting a tip?  Because they're a rolling vending machine?  Who tips a vending machine?  Yeah I'm kidding a little bit but I'm mostly serious.

[Ernest Jones]

I've tipped over a few vending machines.

[Jeremie Boop]

I tip wait staff at restaurants really well because they really do work, bringing your food, taking orders, keeping your glasses filled, etc. The cart girls on the course just drive around and hand you drinks from a cooler basically. I'll let them keep the change or whatever but I'm not going to give them what I'd give to a waiter/waitress. Also, typically, the wait staff have to give a certain % to the buss boys/girls that clean the tables if the restaurant has them. I'm not saying that the cart girl isn't providing a service, but it's nowhere near as valuable or worthy of tips as those that work in restaurants.

[saevel25]

For me it depends on what i buy and how much money i have on me, but it usually ranges from 50 cents to 2 dollars.

[theworldengine]

There is a course I go to regularly that is nearby my house.  The lady that works in the bar (and occasionally the cart) is legitimately hot.  I don't say that often, so trust me she's hot.  Somebody told me she was once a Sacramento Kings dancer/cheerleader, but I can't confirm that. Anyway, typically (like this past weekend), I'll go in for a snack or a bottle of water before my round or at the turn.  You pay for the snacks at the same register they use the bar/grill for.  When she is working, the seats at the bar will always be taken.  The place is bustling whenever she is in there.  Almost always, the seats at the bar will be full of guys 50+ years old and there will be cash on the table.  They've already paid and left their tips, and just hang around to flirt and wait for their hard-on to wear off I guess.  I once saw a guy who left a $50 tip (IIRC).  I doubt he bought anything more than a few bears and maybe a hamburger. It makes me think that an escort service could make a lot of money if they sent their girls around golf course clubhouses on weekday evenings.

Lol. Just out of curiosity I would like to see Tiger Woods visit this bar.

[RickK]

If the girl is getting paid by the club for selling water, then at $2.35 a bottle they should be making enough profit to pay her properly. If she is buying in the water herself and selling it with the permission of the club, again she is making enough profit already.

Caddys working for tips alone are a different kettle of fish, and if i am ever in the right job where i can afford to play these country club type courses, and they have caddy service then obviously, you need to be paying these guys wages yourself ... $15 dollars an hour seems fair to me .... more if they are good and you can afford it!

As a European the one thing we hate about going to the US is this automatic tipping rubbish .... employers should be paying people the correct wage, and we should not have to make up the difference!

As for the guys that wash your clubs etc. (I find this hilarious by the way).... if you want your clubs cleaned by them, you pay up ... if you dont you dont! Just like the guys working in bathrooms in bars in Dublin, I'd rather wash and dry my own hands thanks, and i certainly aint gonna feel guilty for not tipping them. Not when I'm paying €5 a pint.

At the end of the day you guys are paying a hell of a lot of money to play these type of places, and any additional services should either be paid by the club, or the customer, but not both!

Maybe where you live the cart girls buy the products and resell them but no where that I play golf across 3 states does that happen.  They are just there to sell you products that the club has put on their club owned beverage carts.

Funny that you mention being European and our automatic tipping rubbish.  I can tell you that as an American, if I visit a restaurant or bar in Germany, France, Italy or over in the UK and do not leave a decent gratuity, I am looked upon as American scum, even if the service was less than stellar.  So, it cuts both ways on either side of the pond.