> Also, how much teaching actually goes on between a barback and a bartender?
Jumping in here on the second part of your question, I've always viewed the
ideal barbackas a bartender-in-training and tried to staff that way as well.
If that's the case, the whole shift should be teaching (though the BB needs to
realize that aspect is probably gonna get ignored when the bar is slammed).
The longer I work with a barback, the more I expect of them and the more I let
them do.
I've worked in a couple of places where the BB position isn't a stepping-stone
to bartending, so the backs were working there for several years. They got
extremely good, but also burned out and sometimes started to slip. I think if
the barback is trying to become a bartender they get more out of what can
really be a pretty hard and thankless job, and the bartenders get better help.
The best barbacks I ever had also picked up day bar shifts and could basically
read your mind when you were tending.
My two cents on barback tipping is 15% of the bar pool to start, and they go
up or down from there. Never had a barback that would open or close the bar,
but that'd definitely be worth some extra green.