Tipping the Beer Cart girl

[Strandly]

This makes no sense at all.  The waiter at the restaurant didn't mix your drink or prepare your dinner either?  He merely punched a button on a computer and then went to a kitchen window 15 minutes later....picked it up.....and dropped it off at you.  The guys in the kitchen are the ones doing all the real work.

It wasn't meant to be taken literally and I figured everyone would get the point.  Apparently not.  The difference between the cart girl and a waiter is you have access to the waiter more or less the entire time you're there, refilling drinks, fetching condiments, fielding complaints, etc.  The cart girl hands you your pre-packaged food and vanishes for what.. 20-30 minutes at a time?  Maybe more?

The difference between the two is night and day imo, but several of you seem to think the only thing that makes a service person a service person is the pay and that is clearly not the case.

[newtogolf]

But face it, fast food employees also work harder than cart girls.

Food servers do more work than fast food employees, but they are compensated in the form of tips.

Fast food workers work harder than cart girls, but they are compensated in the form of higher base pay.

I guess the above can be debated, but I don't think you can debate that driving around in a cart all day, even if the weather isn't ideal, is a lot easier than fast food work. That's my main point.

In this country the effort required to perform a job has little to do with the compensation of the job.  This is clearly demonstrated when you consider how poorly our soldiers are compensated and how much harder they work compared to the politicians that decide what foreign country they will risk their lives in.

[Slice of Life]

Boy, you couldn't be more wrong.  Try spending 7 or 8 hours out in 98 degree summer heat with only minimal shade from the cart awning.  And the girls/women who drove the cart at my home course also stocked it, several times a day on busy days, while on off days they still had to spend long hours out on the course with little to show for it.  On chilly days, trying to sell beer and soda is difficult and thankless, and if she doesn't sell much, she doesn't get tipped either.

I just don't get guys who are willing to pay $40 or $50 (or more) to play 18 holes, but are too cheap to tip a couple of bucks to the person who keeps them supplied with refreshments.  This is really the first time I ever heard of the terms "golfer" and "skinflint" being synonymous.

No, I could definitely be more wrong...and have been in the past.

I built Tiki huts in Miami, FL for a year. I know what working outside with NO shade is like. BTW, I made less than minimum wage and got no tips. Stocking the cart isn't doing me a service, it's her job.

Either way, it's a moot point to me, because I DO tip. I'm just pointing out the case for the other side. And my friend Jackie is a cart girl...she makes minimum wage.

[sacm3bill]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sacm3bill

But face it, fast food employees also work harder than cart girls.

Food servers do more work than fast food employees, but they are compensated in the form of tips.

Fast food workers work harder than cart girls, but they are compensated in the form of higher base pay.

I guess the above can be debated, but I don't think you can debate that driving around in a cart all day, even if the weather isn't ideal, is a lot easier than fast food work. That's my main point.

I think the last point is debatable.  However, it doesn't matter because your second sentence is the key one.  We are assuming, for the sake of this argument, that some people aren't tipping, and then arguing against it.

Re the last part being debatable: I guess, but I bet if a poll was done the overwhelming majority would rather drive a cart around a golf course selling beverages than work in fast food.

Re the rest, ok. But like I said before, I wasn't trying to say it's ok to not tip the cart girl, just agreeing with those saying it's kind of strange that the expectation is to tip them as much as if they were a food server in a restaurant

And I think it should be pointed out that you don't necessarily have to serve at McDs. I worked fast food during college for a few months and I never had to put on a fake smile for anybody because I worked the fryer.

Right, I covered that when I said:

A typical McDonald's employee spends 7 or 8 hours on their feet in a hot, greasy kitchen environment and/or has to deal with a bunch of customers who aren't out necessarily in the good moods that most people out playing golf are in.  Yet, again, they aren't tipped.

Anyway:

A cart girl, most of the time, has to go around pretending not to be disgusted by 75% of the guys that are hitting on her.  There's something to be said for people who work jobs where they have face-to-face interaction, offer a service, and rely on tips for their income.

That's true, but it's an interesting irony that the same physical characteristics that make guys hit on her are the same characteristics that get her bigger tips.

In this country the effort required to perform a job has little to do with the compensation of the job.  This is clearly demonstrated when you consider how poorly our soldiers are compensated and how much harder they work compared to the politicians that decide what foreign country they will risk their lives in.

Absolutely.  A great example of that is Starbucks vs McD's. The person at the cash register is doing the exact same thing at both companies, yet there's a tip jar at the Starbucks and not at McD's.  Yes, the tips are shared among everyone, including those making the food/drinks, but even when you consider them, the question remains: What is it about the one where tips are expected but the other is not? Not really trying to make a point, just an observation.

[Slice of Life]

Keep in mind, on a lot of courses the cart girl gets a commission on what they sell. So the hot ones win in both departments.

[bplewis24]

It wasn't meant to be taken literally and I figured everyone would get the point.  Apparently not.  The difference between the cart girl and a waiter is you have access to the waiter more or less the entire time you're there, refilling drinks, fetching condiments, fielding complaints, etc.  The cart girl hands you your pre-packaged food and vanishes for what.. 20-30 minutes at a time?  Maybe more?

The difference between the two is night and day imo, but several of you seem to think the only thing that makes a service person a service person is the pay and that is clearly not the case.

You sound clueless at times.  Have you never in your life been to a restaurant where your waiter disappeared for 20 minutes?  And the parallels don't have to be completely identical for the analogy to be fitting.  The cart girl doesn't have to do exactly the same thing exactly the same way as the waiter does to earn a tip.

Besides, as was pointed out already, whether the food is pre-packaged is absolutely irrelevant since a waiter doesn't prepare your food at all.

That's true, but it's an interesting irony that the same physical characteristics that make guys hit on her are the same characteristics that get her bigger tips.

But this is about whether they get tipped or not, so you cannot assume they are getting tips.

[Strandly]

You sound clueless at times.  Have you never in your life been to a restaurant where your waiter disappeared for 20 minutes?  And the parallels don't have to be completely identical for the analogy to be fitting.  The cart girl doesn't have to do exactly the same thing exactly the same way as the waiter does to earn a tip.

Besides, as was pointed out already, whether the food is pre-packaged is absolutely irrelevant since a waiter doesn't prepare your food at all.

But this is about whether they get tipped or not, so you cannot assume they are getting tips.

Yeah and they get no tip because they aren't doing their job.

And what is the deal with waiters having to prepare food?  You could substitute bartender if you seriously can't grasp the point.

[theworldengine]

Really can't compare what a waitress or bartender does to a cart girl. I mean waitresses go thru ****ing hell at their jobs. Tipping a cart girl is a really kind gesture, but its not done for the same reasons you tip waitstaff

[Wisguy]

I've also noticed fewer beer carts on the courses over the past few years than there used to be. I don't understand this. If they sell only 4-5 beers per hour, typically at 200-400% markup, they are more than breaking even on cart fuel and wages. A reasonably assertive beer cart girl can sell a heck of a lot more beer and other beverages with a cute smile and a nice tan than will ever be sold by leaving it up to customers to approach the bar before the round or at the turn. Quite a few posts back a new member posted claiming that she is a beer cart girl and making a vague comment about how tough she has it. Let's review the life of a beer cart girl: - Spends 2 minutes wiping down a beer cart, about what an average restaurant server spends busing 1-2 tables if there are no busboys. - Spends 5-10 minutes schlepping ice to the cart and stocking the cart first thing in the morning, then a total of maybe another 10 minutes refilling it throughout the day, plus another 5-10 minutes dumping the ice and cleaning out the cart at the end of the day. So we've got a total of no more than half an hour of actual labor over the course of an entire work day. And if she's cute, manipulative, and there's a high school or college kid working in or around the clubhouse, she may very well ask him (or maybe it's even in his job duties) to lug the ice and beverages to the cart for her. - Sits on her cute little arse on a comfy, well-cushioned beer cart seat about 85% of the workday. - Works on terrific tan that makes all of her sorority sisters jealous back at school in September. - Says "Can I get you anything?" or "Need anything?" a dozen or two times an hour. - Leisurely gets up off said perky, cute little arse, walks two steps to cooler, reaches inside, pulls out beverage, hands to customer, and pretends, with difficulty, to calculate change hoping to keep whole amount tendered. As opposed to walking briskly back and forth 40-100 feet from dining area to kitchen dozens of times per hour, sometimes carrying up to 15 or so pounds of food, plates, drinks, etc... sometimes for 2-3 hours without more than a 30 second break other than to take an order, which is what a typical restuarant server does (in my youth, I got more backaches as a waiter than I did working construction, notwithstanding the up to 1000% greater weight of stuff I carried on a construction site). - Gets typically a $1/can of beer tip. So say that's the usual "keep the change" when handed a $5 bill on a $4 beer, that's a 25% tip, for doing very little in comparison to a restaurant server, who typically will be getting an average of 15% plus or minus a few percent on tips. - If she's cute and a bit assertive, she's flirting with many of the predominantly male golfers on the course and getting significantly more than a 25 % tip. - Once or twice a day she may have to smile demurely and deflect an aggressive pick-up line from a customer who she's successfully sold multiple drinks. - Even if it's 100* outside, she's wearing a tank top, shorts, and sandals plus gets a cool breeze most of the day driving to and fro. - And if she likes golf, she probably gets free range balls and free rounds every day after work. Yep, that's one grueling job for a college girl to perform. They do about 20% of the work of a restaurant server for 1/3 (or more) better tips. I bet I'm not the only guy on this forum who watched a hot beer cart girl working a foursome for generous tips and said to himself "In my next life, it definitely would not suck to be reborn as a beer cart girl."

[theworldengine]

Its an easy job until you get groped.

[Wisguy]

How often does that happen? Probably more frequently than most women encounter on average in their jobs, but it can't be any worse than a waitress at a bar. A little can of pepper spray visibly dangling from one of those stretchy bracelets will deter all but a blind drunk or serial criminal. And aren't golfers more gentlemanly than the average bloke, anyway?

[meenman]

Its an easy job until you get groped.

My biggest problem is the cart girls groping me

[Strandly]

My biggest problem is the cart girls groping me

Teach me the ways.

[meenman]

Teach me the ways.

I am guessing it is just that i am way too nice to everyone.

[David in FL]

I've also noticed fewer beer carts on the courses over the past few years than there used to be. I don't understand this. If they sell only 4-5 beers per hour, typically at 200-400% markup, they are more than breaking even on cart fuel and wages. A reasonably assertive beer cart girl can sell a heck of a lot more beer and other beverages with a cute smile and a nice tan than will ever be sold by leaving it up to customers to approach the bar before the round or at the turn.

Quite a few posts back a new member posted claiming that she is a beer cart girl and making a vague comment about how tough she has it. Let's review the life of a beer cart girl:

- Spends 2 minutes wiping down a beer cart, about what an average restaurant server spends busing 1-2 tables if there are no busboys.

- Spends 5-10 minutes schlepping ice to the cart and stocking the cart first thing in the morning, then a total of maybe another 10 minutes refilling it throughout the day, plus another 5-10 minutes dumping the ice and cleaning out the cart at the end of the day. So we've got a total of no more than half an hour of actual labor over the course of an entire work day. And if she's cute, manipulative, and there's a high school or college kid working in or around the clubhouse, she may very well ask him (or maybe it's even in his job duties) to lug the ice and beverages to the cart for her.

- Sits on her cute little arse on a comfy, well-cushioned beer cart seat about 85% of the workday.

- Works on terrific tan that makes all of her sorority sisters jealous back at school in September.

- Says "Can I get you anything?" or "Need anything?" a dozen or two times an hour.

- Leisurely gets up off said perky, cute little arse, walks two steps to cooler, reaches inside, pulls out beverage, hands to customer, and pretends, with difficulty, to calculate change hoping to keep whole amount tendered. As opposed to walking briskly back and forth 40-100 feet from dining area to kitchen dozens of times per hour, sometimes carrying up to 15 or so pounds of food, plates, drinks, etc... sometimes for 2-3 hours without more than a 30 second break other than to take an order, which is what a typical restuarant server does (in my youth, I got more backaches as a waiter than I did working construction, notwithstanding the up to 1000% greater weight of stuff I carried on a construction site).

- Gets typically a $1/can of beer tip. So say that's the usual "keep the change" when handed a $5 bill on a $4 beer, that's a 25% tip, for doing very little in comparison to a restaurant server, who typically will be getting an average of 15% plus or minus a few percent on tips.

- If she's cute and a bit assertive, she's flirting with many of the predominantly male golfers on the course and getting significantly more than a 25 % tip.

- Once or twice a day she may have to smile demurely and deflect an aggressive pick-up line from a customer who she's successfully sold multiple drinks.

- Even if it's 100* outside, she's wearing a tank top, shorts, and sandals plus gets a cool breeze most of the day driving to and fro.

- And if she likes golf, she probably gets free range balls and free rounds every day after work.

Yep, that's one grueling job for a college girl to perform. They do about 20% of the work of a restaurant server for 1/3 (or more) better tips.

I bet I'm not the only guy on this forum who watched a hot beer cart girl working a foursome for generous tips and said to himself "In my next life, it definitely would not suck to be reborn as a beer cart girl."

QFT.......especially the part of being reborn in the next life as a cute beer cart girl!

[Ernest Jones]

QFT.......especially the part of being reborn in the next life as a cute beer cart girl!   :beer:

I'd never make it out of bed.

[David in FL]

I'd never make it out of bed.

Different line of work entirely.

[ay33660]

Just came across this interesting topic.

At my home course we have a very strict no tipping policy. It is written into the member's handbook and any deviation will result in a sit down with the Board of Directors.

I think this is in part due to the fact our club does not accept any form of cash or credit payment on the facilities except for the formal dining room.

In the member's lounge, beverage cart or cafes we sign our own "chits". For example if you want a sandwich and coffee you just tell the staff and they will get the sandwich and coffee but there is no till, you put down what you purchased on a "chit" and sign it. It is then added to your account. This is the same in the pro shop. If you have a guest you have to sign in the guest in the guest book. It is not up to staff to collect the green fees etc.

We are charged a $100 service fee semi annually and this is pooled and distributed to all the staff. There is a separate monthly charge for pro shop services.

In addition, the staff are unionized and they receive wages that are above the standard wages for golf courses.

It this more fair?

Well I guess it is more fair to those that don't work on the front lines. They have access to a portion of the tips.

It seem to be a very socialist solution.