Bar Tab (바 탭, バータブ)

The world is fascinated by the lives and spending habits of Gen Z, and the New York Times just ran an article this past weekend about Gen Z closing out their bar tabs after each drink they order even if they might order more, giving themselves more flexiility to leave whenever they want (and possibly curbing their spending) but leaving the bartenders and bar ownership miffed because they have to process the credit card more than once, give a receipt, have them sign, whereas before there was this concept of "running up the bar tab" where you just left the tab open all night until you were ready to leave. This doesn't happent that often, but I am totally on Gen Z's side on this one; the idea of the bar tab was almost as bad as tipping as a way to force customers to spend money; it's a deliberate ploy by the bar to make customers spend more money because if the tab is "open" it's super easy to order something else, so you keep spending without knowing how much you actually owe. Ever notice how the bartenders are super happy when you leave a tab open but super bummed when you close out? Always asking you if you want to start a tab, but reluctant to have you close it out? It's these little games they play (like at Jiffy Lube telling you to change your filters once every 2 years) and it's effective. It's part of the reason I don't go to bars, that and I never liked alcohol, I don't socialize with people anymore, and I just never fit in at a bar, it's always loud and people tend to be rude and......drunk. I once went to a bar, accidentally knocked over a drink a lady had been holding in the tight confines of a bar, and another dude approached me later "suggesting" that I buy this lady another drink. I didn't think I was really at fault, but I did it anyway and just left the bar life for good. And it's not like I was trying to "meet people" at these bars. Bars are like Disneyland: they mark everything up in price just because they feel like you "want to be there," there's often a cover charge just to get in the place to get the privilege of spending more money there, and it's often hot and crowded, you wait in lines to get the bartender's attention to have them serve you a drink for $15 that you could have made for $5 at home. Seriously, I have a solution for bars and the Gen Z bar tab problem: don't have bars anymore. I don't think anything in society is lost by not going to bars anymore, maybe people would go to church more or more places beneficial to society, there'd be less drinking and driving home from the bar, people migth actually stay home on Friday nights and read books. The bar tab story was one of those stories I kept yelling in my head at whoever wrote this, "OF COURSE GEN Z is doing this!" Talk about a generation who has no respect for prior generations' customs, but also has no money! My sister (on the cusp of Millenial and Gen Z) complained to me about how she has no money and spends her whole paycheck and had to finance the purchase of a mattress out of her own wallet and also pay gym fees and can't afford a trainer anymore........but then of course at lunch she goes ahead and orders the "pink lady" vegan drink with kombucha that's $7.99 on top of the lunch that I was treating her to. They really don't want to spend more money than they have to because THEY'RE ALREADY BUDGETING IT ON STUFF THEY DON'T NEED. And also they have no attention span, so why would you expect them to stick around a bar for more than one drink? They probably spend their time in the bar on their phones looking for the next place to go to. There are actually genuine victims of this phenomenon that I feel bad for like libraries, certain schools (not necessarily elite colleges), hospitals that need nurse, but it's not bars. It's like feeling bad for taxi drivers before Uber and Lyft came into the picture: they're just mad someone else came along to take their ludicrously profitable industry that rewarded price gauging and ripping off unsuspecting customers. Speaking of Taxi drivers being replaced by rideshares, I feel like most of our industries are like the taxi business in 2009 right before Uber took off, or Kodak in 1999 right before the digital camera, or The Pony Express before the US mail service: it's the dying days of some jobs, we just don't know it yet, except unlike previous labor revolutions where one service went out of business and replaced, it's going to be whole plethora of industries, maybe more than half of all jobs getting replaced within a few year span. Actors....do we need actors anymore? Teachers... do we need teachers anymore? Do we need politicans anymore? (We definitely want to get rid of politicans if we can). Do we need lawyers anymore? (Gulp). Everything I'm hearing is that AI is here to stay, unlike a lot of jobs. So don't worry bar owners, you're not alone: everyone else is feeling the pain of new attitudes and new technology.