Tip for Busser?

Last night we walked to BBR for dinner and a couple of drinks because we had a Faveroo to use and they have pretty good food for a bar.  It was only about 20 degrees, but it’s less than a mile away, so it seems stupid to drive and pay to park – especially since our time walking places is limited.  Once we move to the suburbs, it’s over.  We watched San Fran beat the Saints in a great ending (would have rather the Saints won, but oh well) and watched the first quarter or so of Pats versus God Tebow Broncos.  We decided to head to R Bar before the Jackets game was over (before it got crazy there).  When we got our bill at BBR, there was a line for server tip and then another line for busser tip!  Seriously? We’ve never seen such a thing before!  We certainly didn’t leave a tip on that line for the guy who walked our food 3 feet to the bar and then removed the plates and walked them 3 feet back to the kitchen.  I used to be a server – if you HAD bussers, you tipped them out at the end of the night!  Pretty sure they are probably making more than servers wage and aren’t dependent on the tips.  Plus, that place has a million servers/bartenders standing around, so there is no reason they can’t handle the bussing duties themselves.  Servers get tips because they make a shit salary, have to deal with customers, and are often crazy-busy.  The bussers didn’t even speak to us except to say something when he brought our food out – we both swear he said “Columbus Crew?” when he walked up behind us with our food, which makes no sense since we ordered grilled honey chipotle wings and a Caribbean burger.  BBR is already more expensive for drinks than other places in the area, so the bill is higher – which means the tip is higher….do they really need to try to squeak another couple of bucks from their customers?  Have you ever seen such a thing?

We got to R Bar just in time to still get a seat at the bar before the game let out, had a couple of drinks there, and then decided to stop at Char Bar on the way home for one more.  And there we realized that we’ve aged out of Char Bar.  It wasn’t like that when we were there last year sometime, but the only people older than us was a server/bartender who has worked there forever and the owner who is possibly 200 years old!  There are so few places in that area where we can go after 11 pm without hating everyone around us and I guess now there is one less….