Cyling, IPA (beer) and one too many

[54ny77]

https://theradavist.com/2019/09/i-never-thought-i-could-make-it-this-far-two-years-of-not-drinking/

Poignant comment from a reader:

"I worked for a long time at a shop and we were routinely tipped with six-packs of beer, the customers never asking if we wanted beer or what we thought about it. It felt condescending, reducing our labor to a party favor. So for those of you reading this, just slip your mechanic a bill to show them that you appreciate their labor. They can still buy beer with it."

[Tandem Rider]

I have never substituted beer for payment. To me, that is a slap in the face of the mechanic. I would sometimes drop off beer just because. Because they were my friends, because shoppies are usually underpaid and I knew they liked beer, because good people need to know they are appreciated for all the other things they did for the cycling community they didn't get paid for but did it anyway. :banana:

[2LeftCleats]

I recently took my bike in because it had an unfamiliar bottom bracket/crank assembly that I had failed to disassemble and was afraid I’d f it up if I kept at it. The mechanic knew what to do but still found it difficult. Spent about 20 min. After reassembling he checked the shifting to be sure the Di2 was adjusted properly. Refused payment. Later I brought in some IPA as a thank you. Agree that assuming mechanics will work for beer is condescending, but if they do me a kindness, I like to show my appreciation.

[Vientomas]

As to the comment to the article. How 'bout this, I'll just pay my bill and dispense with any gratuity out of fear of offending someone. That in and of itself will probably offend someone. "That guy did not give me a tip, what a wanker!" I worked in a bike shop many moons ago, I never expeced to receive a gift or a tip. If I expected tips, I would have worked as a waiter in a restaurant. Perhaps the expression "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth" is out of fashion these days.

[Blue Jays]

Good grief! Silly article. It is not as if people are advocating to NOT pay the shop for work.
Decent, friendly, and appreciative customers are simply adding a small gift to the shop refrigerator.
There is nothing wrong with being pleasant, kind, and gracious to others. :hello:

[Tickdoc]

I tip my current mechanic in bourbon, but I have also tipped gift cards, cash, beer, cookies, even used bike parts that I knew he would like and use.....but, it is a tip and he and I both love bourbon.

If he was a recovering alcoholic I would never do such a thing.

Silly.

[quickfeet]

I’m not, nor never really have been much of a drinker and sometimes the peer pressure of the constant “why don’t you drink?” Questioning has been a little much. As a result, I tend to ask what someone’s favorite tip is when they do me a solid. Everyone wins, I get to tip, and no one feels weird if they don’t drink either.

It’s always seemed odd to me that our cycling culture tends to shun non-drinkers.

[unterhausen]

I have also found that bike mechanics like cookies.

[madsciencenow]

I’ve been specifically asked for beer by my mechanic. I figured out what he liked and was happy to provide it.


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[Vientomas]

I have also found that bike mechanics like cookies.

Not the keto mechanics. How dare you give them "party favors"! :p

[benb]

One of the shops I go to has a bit of this culture and it's annoying to me. I'm not going to bring them a bottle of scotch. I don't like to drink on a regular basis and it's completely unproductive if you're trying to stay in shape.

Meanwhile almost every shop the labor rates are high and the maintenance/wrenching is not of exceptional quality. I have never felt like I needed to leave a tip. A lot of the places around me the labor rate is as high as auto service. And the auto guys screw up your car WAY less often than the bike mechanics make a mistake in my experience.

[FlashUNC]

This isn't hard. If you want to be nice and get someone something, just ask what they want.

But it should be on top of whatever actual money you're paying them. Can't pay rent with beer.

[oldpotatoe]

I have never substituted beer for payment. To me, that is a slap in the face of the mechanic. I would sometimes drop off beer just because. Because they were my friends, because shoppies are usually underpaid and I knew they liked beer, because good people need to know they are appreciated for all the other things they did for the cycling community they didn't get paid for but did it anyway. :banana:

Yup, never beer for work but appreciated beer as a 'thanks for getting it done', 'thanks for doing a good job', thanks in general..

[benb]

Finished reading the article it has nothing to do with shop culture.

Very interesting to me. I have never really run into alcohol and cycling mixing much at all.

My earliest adult cycling experiences were going to mountain bike races & joining up with recreational road rides and MTB group rides. I don't remember ever seeing any beer served or for sale at the post parties at the MTB rides, and there was big driving ahead to go home as well which would have given me pause. I had been drinking quite a bit in college, I got into cycling about a year after I graduated from college. My drinking had been fading away that first year without cycling and then faded even more when I bought my first bike. I was overweight when I graduated from college. I lost about 10lbs going to the gym the year after graduation, then lost another 25lbs in about the first 4 months of cycling. That was mostly college beer weight that I burned off, it was very obvious, I didn't want it back, so it was natural to be skeptical about drinking.

The only things I really remember was joining a team and we were sponsored by a restaurant/bar. I can remember once meeting up as a team there and most of us might have had one drink, some had none, I don't remember anyone getting tanked. And then we had one event later we all met at a bar at the end of the season.

I have run into way way way more of an association with coffee, but I am sure there are some subgroups within cycling that rub up against alcohol a lot more. (Urban cyclists?)

Cycling played a big part in me pretty much stopping drinking around 23-24 and barely drinking for the last 18-20 years. I'd go months in the season without having a drop of alcohol. I probably have a little more now. But we're talking like 1 a week with 2 in a week being a big drinking week. And I still go weeks & months without a drink every year at some point.

[Jaybee]

I’m not, nor never really have been much of a drinker and sometimes the peer pressure of the constant “why don’t you drink?” Questioning has been a little much. As a result, I tend to ask what someone’s favorite tip is when they do me a solid. Everyone wins, I get to tip, and no one feels weird if they don’t drink either.

It’s always seemed odd to me that our cycling culture tends to shun non-drinkers.

This is almost always because they are internally questioning their own relationship to alcohol. You drinking with them normalizes their drinking.

[josephr]

I once had a lawnmower that was in bad need of repair during the busy season and the mechanic was telling me six-to-eight weeks wait. When I mentioned beer, that wait time reduced to 'next week'...He said he liked Budweiser so I got him a six pack of tall-boys, put them on ice, and brought them in a cooler. Got my mower back in 2 days. :banana:

I only had one bike mechanic who I liked enough to buy beer...sometimes it was my bike and other times it was another customers' bike he needed to work on, but if it wasn't super-busy, he'd let me hang out and would teach me stuff about bike repair and we'd talk about beers, so I knew he had an idea of what beers he liked. He was as much as buddy as he was my wrench.

Maybe it was a 'tip' but I always paid whatever he charged and never thought of it as a tip --- more shared beer appreciation with a friend.

[eippo1]

I tip my current mechanic in bourbon, but I have also tipped gift cards, cash, beer, cookies, even used bike parts that I knew he would like and use.....but, it is a tip and he and I both love bourbon.

If he was a recovering alcoholic I would never do such a thing.

Silly.

This right here. It helps to ask your mechanic what they appreciate. Some of the mechanics at my LBS do not drink beer or at all. The mechanic that I usually go to does however appreciate Tennessee's best, so I'll get some to him.