Me too SOG,
It's a different world over there! Tip your 'Budtender'- can you imagine? I nearly choked on my cornflakes when I read it!
I'd give him a tip; 'Raise your horizons my old son and get a proper job!'
Regards,
Iffy
-
ICMag with help from Phlizon, Landrace Warden and The Vault is running a NEW contest for Christmas! You can check it here. Prizes are: full spectrum led light, seeds & forum premium access. Come join in!
Does anyone tip a budtender?
- Thread starter OldSSSCGuy
- Start date
Me too SOG,
It's a different world over there! Tip your 'Budtender'- can you imagine? I nearly choked on my cornflakes when I read it!
I'd give him a tip; 'Raise your horizons my old son and get a proper job!'
Regards,
Iffy
Every shop is different no doubt....never been to Colorado but Im sure its a lot different then California,Oregon and Washington. Most of the budtenders I work with have taken on line courses and a few of us went to a class at Sonoma State University with Doctors, Nurses and Pharmacists. We were the only dispensary employees to ever show up.
So there are SOME ppl that try to educate ourselves and try to know a little bit about what we have on the shelves.
If I smoked and dabbed and ate all the products we have I would never show up for work, I dont have to try EVERYTHING in the store to know what it will or will not do.
Every place is different just like any business, we try to have a good time and make it fun experience for anyone that walks thru our door. its a bummer that so many have had a bad experience...
So there are SOME ppl that try to educate ourselves and try to know a little bit about what we have on the shelves.
If I smoked and dabbed and ate all the products we have I would never show up for work, I dont have to try EVERYTHING in the store to know what it will or will not do.
Every place is different just like any business, we try to have a good time and make it fun experience for anyone that walks thru our door. its a bummer that so many have had a bad experience...
I'll second your good experience with Starbuds. When I went out looking for seeds and clones, they were the only dispensary I found that actually had bud available for the clones they were selling. If the staff can't tell you anything about the strain, at least it's nice that you can take home a sample and try it first.
Aota1
Member
Our bud tenders don’t care either way if someone tips but they totally notice when someone does and thank them. With almost 60 shops in town, there’s varying degrees of customer service and types of shops. Our bud tenders go well above and beyond the call of duty, stay well informed on our inventory (it’s origin, how it was produced or grown, effects and warnings, tips and tricks), and have helped folks get off decades use/dependency of opiates, fight/beat cancer, and just find or help narrow down exactly what they are looking for. We stress giving them what they want if they know and educating them based on their condition, expectations, desires. Upselling isn’t our thing. It’s appreciated by many and a lot of them tip well. But they don’t care because they’re paid well to begin with.
(I just realized this was a Colorado thread and I’m in Oregon, but it’s all relative I suppose. Tip your bud tenders if you feel it’s earned is my 2 cents)
(I just realized this was a Colorado thread and I’m in Oregon, but it’s all relative I suppose. Tip your bud tenders if you feel it’s earned is my 2 cents)
Last edited:
X
xavier7995
Hmmm, might have check out starbuds, i had written them off as a livwell type place due to the ads and many locations. I will give props to the budtenders at sacred seed, they had a few that actually were good, and they did get a tip. Altitude on evans in denver also had one extremely good budtender
I always ask what they recommend and if i get a response back along the lines of "well, it effects everyone differently so hard to say but you might like xyz." I would consider that a quality budtender.
I always ask what they recommend and if i get a response back along the lines of "well, it effects everyone differently so hard to say but you might like xyz." I would consider that a quality budtender.
Switcher56
Comfortably numb!
I have been getting great service from a couple of outlets here. I also listen to what they have to say. 2 outlets I refuse to even patronize. $350/oz for AA-AAA and the are illegally charging tax. Both of the "good" outlets get tipped with an 1/8 of something they have been looking for and I just happen to run across. Something we use to do amongst ourselves in day of old.
SaToRi_GrOwS
New member
Lol. Like a dollar or two. I sold weed for years back when it really was a job, duckin the cops and Jack boys. budtenders USUALLY not always don't know anything or do anything. They stand in a little area and drop stuff in bags it is definitely not like a barber or a bartender. Just my 2 cents
SaToRi_GrOwS
New member
When people tell me they went to school so they know about growing cannabis or are somehow qualified it makes me laugh. Gtfoh
You know what this is? This is the world's smallest violin playing just for the budtenders..
Switcher56
Comfortably numb!
I see! A concerto in D minor LOL
yea its really bad to try to expand your knowledge and exchange experiences. Ive been growing and smoking longer then most of you have been alive but that doesnt mean you know every aspect of how the plant can affect each person.
Its funny how negative most of you are when its no different from any other job that some ppl do really good and some dont give a shit...
green404
Member
Most definitions consider service and retail the same.
Personally I would consider bud tending retail, they are selling a retail consumer product. Same as a liquor store, cigar shop, vape shop, etc.
JustSumTomatoes
Indicas make dreams happen
I think what sets the two apart is that retail sells merchandise and must keep an inventory/stock of the product that is wanted by the customer. A service sells something that isn't tangible, but instead of keeping an inventory/stock of goods, they must maintain their tools of the trade i.e. scissors and clippers at a barber shop or lawn mowers and weed wackers for a lawn care company.
Some businesses fall under both like the restaurant industry. You come for a specific tangible product (food) but you are also going for the enjoyment of the environment and service provided by the waiters/waitresses. It's for this service you leave a tip.
I feel the MJ market both legal and illegal falls under the category of retail. If it was the case of you going into a club or cafe and being waited on I would see where the tip would be warranted. There is definitely plenty of money to go around in the MJ industry and the retail of it requires an intimate knowledge of the product being sold. It feels like the tip jar on the counter amounts to more of a mom and pops ice cream/hotdog stand than a thriving industry with lots of demand. Perhaps a commission of sales would be more appropriate? Maybe not, perhaps it's no different than a liquor store.
green404
Member
I would agree. I do think their is some grey area that over laps the two. Personally I usually think of a "service" as a hair cut, lawn mow, windows washed, etc. A physical service preformed by someone.
A restaurant waiter/waitress would be grey they are providing you cooked food(they didn't butcher it or cook it) but they are serving it to you.
A bud tender I see no grey area they are just straight retail. They take a retail item off a shelf show it to you - put it by the register - take your money.
The budtender might know about the retail item and tell you about it, that would be considered "knowing"/doing your job which is one step above "Idono.? - I just work here"
I keep reading about bud tenders who are so "knowledgeable" and I just think of how long it takes me to look up a strain in Google after I take a few hits. Some trades take years to learn, retail takes reading the back of a box. or maybe open google with that smart phone instead of facebook ?
I would much rather buy bud from a vending machine than from someone working for tips or commission, unless, like JsT wrote above, it's a mom and pop farm stand where the people who grew it are selling it to me. Then I'll tip if they are selling it at a fair price.
Nice people, sow joy, happiness and fond memories. I always try be thankful. And in return. OMG... I'm always getting blessed, elite cuts , packs of seeds ect. And in return a few have been blessed the absolute best i have. But in being kind, we're no fool.
Last edited:
If they smile and are straight up, there's a good chance I will. Too many that don't look you in the eye, try to charge you too much (maybe they work in more than one and get confused...yeah...), or are just downright rude. Fortunately, I don't have to go to the brick and mortar very often anymore, but that also makes it easier to tip when I have a good experience.
mayorofthdesert
Active member
i can't say i've had a bad budtender experience. sure, i usually know more about the strains than they do but that's ok, i know what i want usually. They all seem to enjoy their work and are friendly, that's been my experience anyhow
