Let's be honest: tipping your bartender is optional.
Unless you feel like having another drink.
In which case, you might want to leave a dollar, or more if it's busy and you want prompt service, if you are so inclined.
Because otherwise?
You aren't getting another drink, at least not without me helping every other person in the bar, cleaning all my glasses, taking the empty bottles to recycling, restocking the bar, checking to make sure every person who tipped me doesn't need another drink yet, and maybe I'll even throw in a smoke break if I'm feeling vicious.
And those of you who run up tabs so I don't know how much you're going to tip until you're leaving? Don't think I'm not going to remember how much you left me the next time you came in.
And to those of you who do tip a dollar a drink, and especially those of you who know that a pitcher or a bottle of wine is four drinks and tip me accordingly, I am genuinely grateful.
A lot more goes into bartending than pouring a beer, particularly at my bar because there's only ever one person working. One person to clean the bar for opening, to check IDs, to clear and clean glasses, to keep track of tabs, to change the kegs, to stock the bar, to keep track of how much you're drinking and if you mentioned that you got here by cab so I can know how much more I can serve you before I'm liable for a drunk driving accident or alcohol poisoning, to play DJ, to deal with the mess you left behind at 2am after hassling me about kicking you out. It takes me three hours to close the bar. The only reason I ever get out before 5am is because I start my closing duties at midnight.
And the reason you tip your bartender instead of the tip being added into the price of the beer, translating it into a reasonable hourly wage? Is so that I know who to pay attention to. Because when there are twenty people surrounding my bar asking for drinks simultaneously (and I work at a relatively slow bar, so I can't imagine what how the poor kids on State St handle it), I need to know who my priority is. It's just the nature of bartending, and the service industry in general; just try and show me a place of business where the employees and owners alike don't cater to those who pay them.