unfortunately, i am not friends with everyone in the tampa bay area, and am therefore not able to pass along my wisdom, since passing along said wisdom to strangers/customers while they are at my bar or table is frowned upon and will likely result in termination.
on the flip side, i have a blog and have given myself the okay to start an ongoing, constantly updated and/or revised list of things to do and probably more things not to do when you go out to eat or drink in a bar or restaurant.
first, the basics...
1. don't be stingy. 20% is the standard for good, solid service. servers and bartenders make only about four bucks an hour and depend on tips to make a living.
they also typically have to tip out, which means they share a portion of their tips with support staff like hosts, food runners, bartenders, barbacks, and such. these tip outs are usually derived using a percentage of their sales, so when you leave a shitty tip we don't get to keep all of it, and when you stiff us, we end up paying for having waited on you.
if you don't feel like you got decent service, leave a 15% tip and let a manager know. many times there are factors that you don't know about and we aren't allowed to tell you about...maybe there is a shortage of knives or glassware in the restaurant. maybe the kitchen is weeded and fucked up your order and we had to send it back. maybe the hostess just triple sat my section, meaning i just got 3 brand new tables all at the same time and everyone wants everything all at the same time. a manager will probably be able to explain what happened, but your server is not allowed to.
if you got really good service, leave at least 20% and let the manager know. trust me...this will lead to good things for your server, like better shifts, better sections, which lead to better money.
regardless, you should always leave a tip, and if you can't afford to tip, you can't afford to eat in a restaurant or drink in a bar.
2. if you and your entire table order water, throw a couple extra bucks my way. if you'd ordered soda or tea, your bill would be about $2.50-$3.00 more per person, and you'd tip accordingly...well - newsflash - refilling your water seven times takes the same amount of work as refilling your tea. tip on the waters, buddy.
3. if you bring your kids to a restaurant that has a bar, a wine list, no playground, no video games, and no kids menu, make sure those kids are behaving like tiny adults. no temper tantrums, no throwing food, no screaming, and absolutely no running loose. this type of behavior makes all of the other customers in the place miserable. if you bring things like cherrios for your baby, clean them up after baby throws them all over the floor and table.
order for your kids. your server does not have 10 minutes to wait for your kid to overcome his or her sudden shyness. you know what that kid will eat, so just tell me and we'll all move on. my other tables are dehydrating while i am stuck at your table because your kid doesn't want to commit to a grilled cheese or a hot dog.
do not sit at the bar with your kids. many bartenders will say kids are not allowed at the bar because they do not want a kid at their bar taking up a seat that could be making them much more money. sit at tables with your kids.
if you do bring your kids to a real restaurant, your server would be greatly appreciative and would probably forgive the mess you left behind that rivals the aftermath of any given tornado if you added five bucks to the 20% you should already be leaving...no matter what the cost of the bill was.
okay, i'll stop there and will continue at a later time...
