In general, if there is one bar with shared bartenders, they have their sides they take care of. Your best bet at a big bar is to stick to one side of the bar to get your drinks with the same bartender, because as others have mentioned, they remember you when you tip. Your service time will improve, and you never know what may happen. When I was on Spring Break in Panama City Beach back in the day, I tipped the guy $5 on my first round of 5 drinks for me and my friends, and he gave me the next four drinks free! I continued to tip and I got 1 or 2 more later in the night. That's how you know that you're around a bunch of cheapos, when the bartender loves you for a tip.ketostix said:Yeah and the worst part is at a busy bar you're not really directly tipping for good service when you do tip because it goes in a shared tip bucket. If you tip your bartender well the person might still, but not always, serve you quicker, but a lot of times it's so busy you have get a different bartender to get a drink. The servers are making plenty of money and sharing the tip pot anyway so you get little in return for big tipping.
If you continually tip well, any smart bar will give you a free drink here or there as appreciation.