[B]artenders have tried gently nudging them to consider opening tabs.... Others opt for something more overt.... If a group of friends closes out separate tabs multiple times at Seattle’s Central Saloon, Tiarra Horn will call them out from behind the bar: "'You guys all know each other? You guys not friends? You can’t get this round?' They haven’t even thought about it.... Someone has to bully these people. Respectfully."
June 2, 2025
"These kids never learned the proper way to be a barfly."
Said an L.A. bartender, quoted in "Gen Z Doesn’t Want to Start a Bar Tab/To the chagrin of bartenders, many 20-something bargoers prefer to close out and pay after every single drink, no matter how many they might order during an outing" (NYT).
Posts
47 comments:
Ugh, when we were young we lived in London for about half a year on student work permits, and we HATED the "this round is mine" thing - we didn't have the money! There was always the rule of thumb that the rounds don't get smaller, so buy the first or second one, but that didn't always work.
I get that it's a pain for bartenders to deal with being cashiers while they're also trying to make drinks. But frankly that's not the consumer's problem, ISTM. And surely this is a job for automation.
Tom Wolfe also expressed exasperation over younger generations insipid dining habits. They give their name to the hostess and go wait in their cars like every place was TGI Fridays. How about a reservation?
Gen Z is also drinking less, we're told. And they want to be free to leave whenever they want, not to do another transaction to close the tab. If the bars can't accommodate their preferences, maybe the bar business will and should decline. This NYT article aimed at bullying them into following the old-time etiquette of heavy drinkers isn't going to turn things around, and the truth is that drinking isn't good for you.
We’ve learned bartenders like tabs because they get to add a generous gratuity to any tabs left open at the end of the night
How about a reservation?
The larger context, I think, is that cellphones have nearly eliminated the need for people to plan ahead, which creates all kinds of trouble. Remember when we all used to have to set up a meeting time and place, and in some cases, a backup place, and in other cases, a timeframe after which "assume I couldn't make it"? Younger people have a great deal of difficulty meeting up in a place without coverage.
And maps. Don't get me started on maps.
And the things we used to commit to memory.
I regret to say that I have gone along with too much of this outsourcing of my brain.
Gen Z is growing up in a low trust society.
The boomer generation took the gift of a high trust society and burned it with their selling out the working class with on free trade and mass immigration and a raft of other policies to enrich themselves at the expense of Gen Z.
Gen Z had the economic ladder pulled up in front of them.
The last thing Gen Z is going to listen to are a bunch of greedy boomers.
Capitalism can solve this problem very well; drop your drink prices by $0.50 and charge a $1 per check service fee. Share the pain, or share the benefit.
Bartending has a flow state just like any other activity. Settling the tab breaks the groove.
Who wants to drink with people who can qualify for a credit card?
If you can still get a credit card you're clearly not serious about your drinking.
..."and the truth is that drinking isn't good for you...."
Hmm.... You pay that tab the next morning, but - although alcohol isn't good for you, the experiences that come along for the ride are invaluable and sometimes highly memorable. Kids today - well, youth is wasted on the wrong people, as somebody once told George Bailey.
My daughter lives in LA and tells me how expensive it is to go to a bar. These patrons are probably acting rationally, fearing a large bill for buying a round of drinks.
Wow. I would not patronize a place where the staff was allowed to be that rude. The best thing would be to say simply drop tipping and just pay the wait staff a realistic wage. If food & drink prices surged out of one's price range then maybe you're too broke to eat out or drink at bars and some wait staff will say that very thing right to your face too.
"Gen Z is also drinking less, we're told ..."
Gen Z is also getting charged $22 for a martini at a communist Russia mob-linked bar (Bar Lubitch).
Goddamn right they're drinking less.
FormerLawClerk said...
"Gen Z is also drinking less, we're told ..."
Gen Z is also getting charged $22 for a martini at a communist Russia mob-linked bar (Bar Lubitch).
Goddamn right they're drinking less.
When in college many moons ago I had friends who realized if they took blood thinners the bar tabs were lowered.
I wonder when it was that Bacchus decided to get greedy.
Only go to a bar if the bartender knows your first name.
Gimme a break. Electronic payments are quick nowadays. No one is using carbons under the sliding press equipment anymore
Also ... do you know how Russian mob-linked bars get your credit card number and the 3-digit code on the back of it? They get you to open a tab, then disappear in the back with your card to clone it.
They open small dive bars, invite New York Times communists who show up in droves - and pretty soon you start seeing a lot of charges on your debit card statement that you don't recognize.
But yeah, we can't figure out why GenZ don't want to trust us commies with their debit cards.
This is one of those NYTs stories where the writers are hitting up the interns and the interns are relaying stories their roommates are telling them.
Being a barfly?
They could learn a thing or two from the mother of Vonda Braithwaite, a professional barfly,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sz-Yw0c7cF0
Such problems! I was unaware of the fact that I was "closing out my tab" when I paid for my drink at a bar. Heh, I was unaware that I had a tab. I ordered my drink - I paid for it. Seemed like a pretty straightforward retail transaction. I guess you have to drink more at bars than I ever did (TBF, not a high hurdle) for this article to have much significance.
A good friend of mine was recently laid off from his job in the spirits industry. He told me he wasn’t that broken up about it because the last four years or so have all been down years. A lot of his colleagues don’t see it turning around any time soon. He was actually offered his old job back a few weeks after getting the chop, but declined and went into a completely different field. His assessment was that drinking is expensive even if you only do it at home, the interest and cannabis has cut into the “get a buzz” market in a major way, both of which have worked against alcohol when it comes to younger markets.
in ALL my years of drinking at bars)
(starting in 1980 and ending in 2000)..
i Never ONCE ran a tab.. EVER
i never saw Anyone do it, either
the Idea that the owner of Cy's Roost (my old roommate) would have EVER allowed me to run a tab is just humorous as HELL! :)
What's next? expecting to run a tab with your drug dealer?
These "tabs" sure seem like either
a
Road to Ruin..
or a
Highway to HELL!
I don’t think they need to be a barfly or botfly. There are better things to be.
As for the bar, find a solution on your side. Maybe provide an app? Restaurants all over have these apps, and you can run a tab with them. Starbucks found a way to make tons of money just having an app. Alternatively, put in a method to pay in front of the customer. Many establishments like Chilis and Olive Garden have these boxes on tables allow the customer to pay whenever. You can do this at a central location, like McDonalds.
Oh wait, this is the NYT. It is all about shaming the culture to do what they want rather than solve anything.
Am I the only one here who can't help misreading 'barfly' every time as an adverb - 'barf-ly', not 'bar-fly'?
"Gen Z is also getting charged $22 for a martini at a communist Russia mob-linked bar (Bar Lubitch)."
My earliest experience with ordering drinks at a bar was in the early 70's. I don't know about martinis, but a gin & tonic was a couple of bucks at the time. According to the BLS inflation calculator, $22 today equates with $2.87 then.
You need to have a group that excludes free riders. My Gen Z daughter is of the type who would pay for a group of friends' meals, on the theory that the others would pick up the tab in the future. This worked for a while, but two people in the group never offered to pay, so that went out the window.
I just got back from a vacation in Ohau. Paid $18 for a 16 oz of Mich Ultra at the local Hilton resort. Walked across the street to a local dive bar, paid $7 for the same thing!
Anyway, I just pay in cash, problem solved. Although I hear Gen Z doesn't do cash either.
i never saw Anyone do it, either
the Idea that the owner of Cy's Roost (my old roommate) would have EVER allowed me to run a tab is just humorous as HELL! :)
What they are referring to is a tab for the duration of your purchases for the evening (usually secured by running a credit card with the first drink and not totaling it until you are ready to leave), not a long-term tab of the Norm/Cheers variety.
There is an awkwardness to group tabs reminiscent of a restaurant group scene in Curb your Enthusiasm. Who drank more, who ordered the expensive scotch and how does that relate to how much everyone should tip?
Maybe Gen Z rather avoid all that foreshadow resentment by not doing the group tab. Sensible.
Geez, the bartender doesn’t even know the definition of a barfly! Bukowski is rolling around in his grave. The impudence of that shithead! Any real barfly would drool over the prospect of a tab to walk out on. I knew barflies and bartenders, may have been one myself even. And nobody ran a tab in my ginmill. No wonder no one is drinking nowadays.
"Gen Z is drinking less, we're told." That's because they're broke. Gota pay back those student loans, you know. No more free ride. And, what's the point of being a bar fly if you can no longer hit on pretty girls? For the first time in my 78 years on this planet, I live in a town with no corner bars - no bars at all. Food places serve wine and beer. There are several wineries in the area, so it's not because the area is anti alcohol. IDK
The first time I went to a bar with my new law school friends, I bought the first round. They all thanked me. Nobody bought the next one. A learning experience.
I start tabs every time. I'm always gonna have 2 drinks. And I'm paying for my wife's drinks too. And probably my buddie's as well.
Because life it too short to argue about the tab.
Fred said..
"What they are referring to is a tab for the duration of your purchases for the evening"
yep! that is WHAT i was referring to. It's impressive, that you can keep up!
Good JOB Fred! you're paying attention!
now, pay attention to this..
In my 20 years of drinking DAILY.. not Only did *i* never run a tab, i NEVER saw Anyone Else do so Either. Got It? it's NOT Hard
i Shudder to think, what my end of the night tab would have been!
i used to drink until my wallet was empty; then go home.
Barflys? These are people who are quoted in the NYTs.
Real barflys hang out in dives, and start drinking at Noon if not sooner. And they leave at 2 AM, when the bartender kicks them out.
A quarter to 3, there's no in the bar except you and me.
So set 'em up Joe...
Thats a barfly.
Last time we went to Hawaii the Big Island, we came down for Breakfast, and there was a women in her early 30s arguing with the Desk clerk over her "bar tab". It seems she'd run up 500 dollars in a late night drinking spree with all her friends.
That's why bars love "bar tabs".
I remember when Gen X discovered the Rat Pack. Has anything worth reporting happened on the bar scene since then? People drink. They get drunk. Repeat the next night.
It took 22 posts for Gspencer to drop the knowledge.
Marty: "All right, give me, uh, give me a Tab."
Lou: "A tab? Can't give ya a tab, unless ya order something."
Only times I remember running tabs was if I was sitting at the bar. And just for my drinks or mine and my boyfriend’s. I’m old though…we carried cash more. I remember going out with a friend for pizza and beer. We were both pretty broke. We pooled our cash and put it by my right hand. When we ordered something, I’d move the cash to my left, approximating tax and tip with it. Good times.
RCOCEAN II said...
Last time we went to Hawaii the Big Island, we came down for Breakfast, and there was a women in her early 30s arguing with the Desk clerk over her "bar tab". It seems she'd run up 500 dollars in a late night drinking spree with all her friends.
That's why bars love "bar tabs".
Big island is just expensive, whether you are in Kona, Hilo, a resort, or in the boonies. They jack up the price for tourists, although kama'aina prices are also pretty steep, even at 25%-50% off. It's like living in a Disney resort, cost wise. And we were there in the off-season, too!
“ J Scott said...
Marty: ‘All right, give me, uh, give me a Tab.’
Lou: ‘A tab? Can't give ya a tab, unless ya order something.’
‘In that case, give me a Pepsi Free.”
If they DID run a tab, can you imagine the confusion when they tried to settle it and figure out who owed what?
Post a Comment
Please use the comments forum to respond to the post. Don't fight with each other. Be substantive... or interesting... or funny. Comments should go up immediately... unless you're commenting on a post older than 2 days. Then you have to wait for us to moderate you through. It's also possible to get shunted into spam by the machine. We try to keep an eye on that and release the miscaught good stuff. We do delete some comments, but not for viewpoint... for bad faith.