Are We Tipping The Full Percentage On Crazy Expensive Bottles Of Wine?

A few weeks ago I was at dinner with my good friends Vincent and Chris in Boston at Grill 23. (nbd). Our friend Vin is a fiend when it comes to good wine and I'm not sure he even glances at the price column. 

Anyway, he ordered an extremely expensive bottle of ornellaia and we had our selves quite a gentlemen's dinner. (Grill 23 never misses). 

Somewhere during the dinner, our friend Chris brought up how his friend has a strict stance when it comes to tipping on expensive bottles of wine at dinner- and that is that he doesn't do it. He'll tip 20-25% on the rest of the meal, but he'll throw an extra $20-30 for a $600 bottle of wine of more for example. His thinking is that there's no difference in popping and decanting a bottle of $200 wine or $2000 wine. 

Giphy Images.

At first I thought his buddy was just a cheap bastard. But then I thought about it, and he actually did have a point. 

And this is coming from somebody who's spent 3/4 of my life in the hospitality industry. 

(No, we didn't stiff our server, we tipped on the total bill, including the wine). But I've thought about that the last couple weeks anytime the topic of tipping comes up. Which, to be honest, is a fucking lot in this country. 

To the point stories like the one above run on a weekly basis it seems. And I even devoted an entire blog to the subject a couple of years ago- 

It's crazy when you go to Europe and you go anywhere- literally anywhere, and the price is the price. Cabs, dinners, cafes, bars, barbers, you name it. What they charge you is what you pay. If you try to give them more, they look at you like you're crazy. If you insist, they act like you donated a kidney to them. Even if it's just a euro, people appreciate it so much. (Essentially you are just handing them free money,) 

My family and friends say it's because people there don't expect to be rewarded extra for doing the job they're already paid to do. But its still surprising how different the mentality is there vs. here. 

(Sidebar- there's nothing better than rolling to a bar in Italy or Spain or somewhere with a pocketful of euros and throwing a few at a bartender, or a $10 bill when you order your first drink and hand them the receipt (In Italy they make you pay for your drinks ahead of time at a side cashier table because the mob runs everything and they don't trust the bartenders handling any cash whatsoever, so you pay and get a receipt that you bring to the bartender to get your drink. It sucks.) Anyway, you hand your receipt over and a tip and they look at you like you're Frank Sinatra and take care of you like the crowned prince the rest of the night. The bar can be 3-4 deep and if they see you waiting they'll part the sea for you. It's incredible.)

(Sidebar to the sidebar- speaking of Frank Sinatra and tipping, everybody already knows that he used to roll around vegas with like $10,000 in hundred dollar bills on him and hand one to every single person working that he came in contact with. Guy who opened the car door, guy who opened the hotel door, guy who greeted them at the restaurant, coat check girl, bathroom attendant, bus boys, everybody got a hundred from Frank. Instantly ingratiated himself with just about everybody in his orbit. And those people all became fans and spread the word of what a good guy he was. This is why it boggles my mind how stingy and cheap star athletes and billionars are today. They are the cheapest fucks out there and they should be the complete opposite. They could legit light their money on fire and still be fine. They could be buying everybody's love and respect one big tip at a time. Besides Dana White, I don't many people alive today that get it.)

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(Sidebar to the sidebar's sidebar - along the Sinatra lines, it always made me crack up hearing about the old Detroit Lions coach Wayne Fontes and how his nickname around Detroit was 5-Dollar Wayne. He earned this nickname because everywhere he went, he carried a fucking knot of $5 bills, and like Sinatra, he's slap one in every person's palm that he could. Football guy through and through.)

Owen C. Shaw. Getty Images.

So back to the blog. Sorry for the long detour there. What do people think? Is it a cheapskate move to pull the "a bottle of wine is a bottle of wine no matter the price" move? Or does it make sense? 

p.s. - personally, I am a pussy and I don't have the balls to attempt to short a dinner tab and point out the reason behind doing so, so I'd never even attempt it no matter how right I believed this thinking to be. I'd rather they shake me down for every cent in my account than shame me in public for being cheap. If that makes me a sucker ass bitch than so be it.