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Can you guys elaborate on the dislike of DJ nights?
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Sep 9, 2012 22:30
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| # ? May 15, 2024 07:33 |
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"WHAT DO YOU WANT?" BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM "a rum and coke" BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM "A WHAT?" BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM Or the rush when the crowd hears this. And probably the general crowd that shows up to that kind place. Douches.
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Sep 9, 2012 22:58
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odiv posted:I was away at university and some friends of mine had come in from out of town. "I know a decent Irish pub we can go to," I said. I remember the fuss I kicked up when my bar (slightly "fancy" mid-market bar & restaurant) started stocking Jager and Sourz and put a vodka red bull pitcher on sale. Just finished at that job on friday night as it goes. Hoops fucked around with this message at 23:04 on Sep 9, 2012 |
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Sep 9, 2012 23:02
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Hoops posted:put a vodka red bull pitcher on sale. Haha you gotta be kidding. Is this a new trend now?
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Sep 10, 2012 00:11
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Rotten Cookies posted:"WHAT DO YOU WANT?" I'm in tears laughing at this ( I'm actually djing right now), thanks. I'll definitely agree that not everywhere needs a dj, but when even clothing stores in the mall and Dave and busters have them I guess its inevitable.
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Sep 10, 2012 00:28
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Hoops posted:You people that drink Campari are just biological mutations, my good god. Some of us drink it on the rocks, none of this negroni business. As for DJs, any tips on getting booked? (aside from not sucking)
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Sep 10, 2012 04:59
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Muck and Mire posted:Can you guys elaborate on the dislike of DJ nights? The crowd that is drawn to DJs tends to suck. A lot of them are rolling or on something else and not interested in drinking at all. Others just want to skip the bar and find some willing chick to grind on. Those that do drink either don't tip or are obnoxious in some other way. It's always too loud. Always. Most of us can read lips but even that has it's limits. And forget actually trying to have a conversation, as a bartender or a customer. The music. Hell, I dislike having a jukebox due to the ear raping it inflicts on me. But at least with a jukebox I can plug it full of something tolerable if I want to. I won't argue that it can bring in people. But we've noticed that we're acquiring a new crowd that is coming to our place simply because we DON'T have a DJ on the weekends. These are people that use to frequent other bars and are actually being driven away by it. I'll take them over that other crowd any day.
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Sep 10, 2012 05:13
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Muck and Mire posted:Can you guys elaborate on the dislike of DJ nights? From my experiences: - DJs are needy, not always their fault, DJing does require equipment and whatnot to make their end of the deal work. Many are just needy in general though. - People generally came to my bar for Karaoke, a DJ completely clashes with that which is our main unique selling point. - DJs take up a poo poo ton of space and make it hell for service to get from one side of the floor to the other. Your vomit, broken glass, and fights are going to take twice as long to resolve at least - People who would be excited by "club night" are generally horrible, I mean why would you want people to come out for a club who arent willing to pay club prices? Oh yeah and you cant up the prices because the service would be lost, and anyone who came with any regularity would be pissed. - Many DJs are assholes, and your place is not a make or break for them so they arent exactly going to give you their best. We ended up calling one dude DJ Ipod with the genius playlist. - DJs give no fucks about laws or noise levels. Dont get me wrong, DJs are usually fine in the right environment and nightclub bartending is something very different from a bar or a pub. Vegetable Melange posted:If you can't hack Campari, that's fine, more for me. I see a girl order a Negroni, I get an erection, it's some pavlov poo poo. I think my hate of having a bottle of Campari is a little overblown here, its not that I cant make drinks with it, its that Im usually way too lazy to since I think Campari and OJ is a bit annoying. Also a little bit of that goes a long way so using up a liter of it takes loving ages(I bought a liter bottle for some reason Im not sure of). FWIW I usually make this: 2 parts Vodka 1 part Campari 2 parts OJ 1 part lemon Juice shaken if done correctly the drink should taste and look like pink grapefruit juice. uinfuirudo fucked around with this message at 08:43 on Sep 10, 2012 |
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Sep 10, 2012 08:41
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rrrrggghhthhthrhrhghg and then there's Sunday nights, where the industry and the best regulars on the planet come out and end up tipping me 40+% of the entire night's ring. gently caress ME leaving this bar is hard. And god bless everyone posting and lurking in this thread (including myself) and everyone that works as a service employee for being awesome customers, generally great people to serve, and most often being pretty understanding of when they gently caress up and when I have to call them on their bullshit and in the end STILL tipping and being polite the rest of the evening. Thanks, from a dive bartender. \/ I had that too, but got lucky that they self-regulated the really hosed up ones right out the door as soon as I told them that "I will be back in 2 minutes, but if you don't all relax a bit or otherwise stop being so aggressive and making everyone else in the bar so uncomfortable, I'm going to ask all of you to leave." They kicked out the bad apples and stuck them in taxis without me having to say another word, and the ones that stayed behind were really pleasant people. Woo. Ally McBeal Wiki fucked around with this message at 12:02 on Sep 10, 2012 |
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Sep 10, 2012 10:06
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FaceEater posted:rrrrggghhthhthrhrhghg and then there's Sunday nights, where the industry and the best regulars on the planet come out and end up tipping me 40+% of the entire night's ring. gently caress ME leaving this bar is hard. gently caress that poo poo, I had nothing but drunk goddamn football fans. Plus, I am beginning to believe that my staff is intentionally engaged in a conspiracy to drive me out of my loving mind.
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Sep 10, 2012 11:32
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Frozen Horse posted:Some of us drink it on the rocks, none of this negroni business. Be available and have a wide genre selection. I can play an old school hip hop night a 90's night or a top 40 night, aside from my snooty show on Digitally imported. Be able to play everything and let the people that do the bookings know that you are available. Sorry for ruining all you bartenders nights with BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM, but you gotta do what pays.
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Sep 10, 2012 11:57
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Rotten Cookies posted:"WHAT DO YOU WANT?" The only time I went to "Da Club" in the past...number of years, the music was horrible as evidenced by the fact that this video was playing. I started yelling at the TV because of the terrible recipes they were shouting. Roller derby lesbians were staring at me.
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Sep 10, 2012 13:55
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Muck and Mire posted:Can you guys elaborate on the dislike of DJ nights? It's the no money no brains fucknasty crowd a DJ attracts. Also the noise.
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Sep 10, 2012 14:24
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leica posted:How does a DJ suck? All he has to do is play music, right? A DJ will make or break your party (read: drinking, read: money) very easily. A good DJ can read crowds, can motivate people to dance, can get people not to dance while still having a good time, is making sure folks are having a great time and, most importantly, is bringing people into the club. And I'm not talking about the 4-5 regulars who are buddies with him. I'm saying that he's a following and folks will come out specifically to see him or her, because the DJ is an awesome person. A lovely DJ will play a bunch of hard rock music when the crowd is predominantly TAPOUT/Affliction t-shirt wearing meatheads who are spoiling for a fight, and get them amped up to the point where they'll be wanting to fight. A lovely DJ will not take requests or will tell customers 'No', leaving them frustrated or upset with the dickhead who has the headphones. Unhappy people leave. A lovely DJ will have terrible transitions, dead space or gently caress all to say on the mic. This kills the party, because people notice that poo poo, think it's amateur hour and it reflects poorly on the bar. I've worked and dealt with DJs who are extremely loving good at what they do and take their craft seriously, and I've dealt with loving yahoos who think having a microphone in a nightclub means they're going to be pulling all the tail they want. Good DJs make you money. Crappy DJs can lose your bar money.
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Sep 10, 2012 16:05
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I asked because I am a bar DJ  I appreciate the opinions here 'cause I don't really get to speak to the bar staff more than briefly, when I show up they're getting ready for Friday night and as I'm leaving they're packing up so I try not to get in their way.I don't think the nights I'm involved with suffer most of these problems, they seem to attract mostly older people who definitely drink and I haven't seen any fights in a long time... might be my location/venues though, I remember the club nights where I went to college seemed like total shitshows at the time. Anyway, thanks for the answers, this is consistently a cool thread
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Sep 10, 2012 18:53
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Old Man Pants posted:Sorry for ruining all you bartenders nights with BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM, but you gotta do what pays. It's all WUUUUUUUUUB-WUB-WUBWUBWUBWUBWUB and suddenly I'm waking up the next morning with blood all over me.
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Sep 10, 2012 19:16
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Through a connection I nailed a job as a fine dining server, the rub is that at the interview they asked "Do you have tending experience, sometimes servers need to tend when the place is busy, or our tender calls out." Seeing that I need this job I did as any job hunter would do and just say yes, with some caveat about mainly backing. I've done neither. After a few behind the bar shifts I am getting into the rhythm but I want to be a better tender. We do mainly wines, some beers, and a full selection of cocktails. Since we are mainly a dining establishment with a bar, I have the slight luxury of time, though when tending I need to manage tables too. How can I speed up my ability to make more drinks at once? I will be handling the server's wine and beers orders, my own, plus walk-ins. It's enjoyable, but I just want to do better?
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Sep 10, 2012 20:02
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OmNom posted:Through a connection I nailed a job as a fine dining server, the rub is that at the interview they asked "Do you have tending experience, sometimes servers need to tend when the place is busy, or our tender calls out." Seeing that I need this job I did as any job hunter would do and just say yes, with some caveat about mainly backing. I've done neither. Honestly you should either not have a section or only be doing your own drinks. You can't look after a section and walk in drinkers and other peoples drinks. It's just not feasible. Why isn't everyone making their own drinks when you are tenderless? Or why aren't they just making you dedicated bar tender for the shift?
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Sep 10, 2012 20:11
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Masonity posted:Honestly you should either not have a section or only be doing your own drinks. You can't look after a section and walk in drinkers and other peoples drinks. It's just not feasible. I wouldn't say we are poorly managed, just running really lean. Our services correlate with show times, so we can sometimes serve 50-70 covers in a 3-4 hours shift. Then tender handles the bar walk-ins and any other non reservation customers. If we can't hang other servers can pick up the table. As for making their own drinks, on really busy shift they can pour their own wine and beers, but most have even less bar experience than myself. Feasible or not it's just how the place is run. I'm glad for the job, my trusty note pad keeps me organized, and luckily those at the bar order mostly food and a drink or two max. Plus we have runner/bussers who are loving military like in their duties and make sure customers are good on h20 and bread, and tend to be our second set of eyes.
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Sep 10, 2012 20:43
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OmNom posted:How can I speed up my ability to make more drinks at once? I will be handling the server's wine and beers orders, my own, plus walk-ins. It's enjoyable, but I just want to do better? I've been a bartender and server at almost every job I've worked, and while it's not the norm, I've occasionally had to take a section while I'm on bar. It sounds like you want to improve your efficiency - besides simply getting more practice (becoming more familiar with your establishment's recipes, as well as commonly ordered drinks and classic cocktails) you're going to want to focus on streamlining your tending for large orders. Say you have a set of drinks to make - are you filling all the glasses that need ice at the same time? Are you handling each bottle you need for the whole order only once (that is, if you need vodka for two drinks are you pouring the vodka for those two drinks consecutively before adding mix or whatever)? Are you garnishing drinks at the same time? I've found that approaching large orders like this helps to speed up your production time immensely provided you can keep the level of quality up to that of making each of those drinks one at a time. As with a lot of things behind the wood your memory is going to get tested doing this; quiz yourself on how well you know recipes, how efficiently you can pour, whether you know where everything you need for a random order is behind the bar. Besides that, make sure you're fully stocked at the beginning of, and throughout your shift. If you have beers on tap are any of your kegs just about empty? Do you need more fruit? Is your mix all stocked? Are your spouts all turned the same way on the backbar and in your speed-rail(this is a hell of an annoyance when you're trying to be quick). At the end of the day you'll get better with practice, especially if you're regularly high-volume.
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Sep 10, 2012 20:45
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JawKnee posted:I've been a bartender and server at almost every job I've worked, and while it's not the norm, I've occasionally had to take a section while I'm on bar. Thanks for that, luckily I have some BOH experience so mis en place is second nature for me. That is a really good point about touching the bottle once if I can. And I guess there is no shame in grabbing the barman guide to look up obscure drinks if needed.
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Sep 10, 2012 20:55
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OmNom posted:I wouldn't say we are poorly managed, just running really lean. Our services correlate with show times, so we can sometimes serve 50-70 covers in a 3-4 hours shift. Then tender handles the bar walk-ins and any other non reservation customers. If we can't hang other servers can pick up the table. How many staff do you have to serve those 50-70 covers? With a dedicated barman doing dispense and 4 floor staff (3 waiters and a food runner) plus a manager or two seating people and maybe helping to run food we do around 80 tables at lunch. Plus another 30 or so upstairs with 2 floor staff who do their own tending. Even assuming we don't flip any tables (food led pub so we can't just kick them out for the next diners), and this is all between 12-1.30 really. We'll then usually serve another 40 or so people between 1.30-3ish. If the bar area itself is busy, we can feasibly have to do all our own drinks too as the bartenders are all too busy to do dispense (which is a bad management issue) and we get by fine. Admittedly I just described a busy shift, not todays lunch where we only had around 40-50 people downstairs maximum, with 30-40 of them between 12-1.30. And we'll occasionally have a floater or two helping out. Although at other times we'll have the 3 waiters and also have 20-30 covers sitting outside too to somehow deal with. So if you have more than 1 busser, and more than 1 other server, you have enough physical staff to get the job done in a far more efficient manner. It's not hard to learn to pour a beer or a wine. They have to know their beers and wines to sell them anyway right? Or alternatively, have you just deal with the bar on those days, and have the other servers cover all the tables? Hell, even have them bus their own tables somewhat too to lessen the bussers load and have a busser learn to wait tables on the days when you have to step onto the bar. I honestly can't see a single scenario where it makes sense to have one person doing all the dispense for everyone and bar tending walk ins and having their own section on top of that. Their section will be neglected massively. 50-70 covers isn't a huge amount edit: JawKnee posted:I've been a bartender and server at almost every job I've worked, and while it's not the norm, I've occasionally had to take a section while I'm on bar. Yeah. Emergencies happen and we have to take on more than we should at times. It sounds more like it's a thing for him rather than "Oh poo poo six people are sick today!"
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Sep 10, 2012 20:57
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Quote is not Edit.
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Sep 10, 2012 20:59
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Alcohol question time. So with the start of September, the only 3 months of the year I drink beer are starting because the Oktoberfest/harvest beer blends have always made me a happy man. I'm pretty happy with a bottle of Sam Adams Octoberfest, but what are some other good beers with the same sort of flavor and body?
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Sep 10, 2012 21:45
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bud light lime margarita. An ad informed me yesterday that for years people have been trying to perfect the margarita, and now bud light have finally done it! In beer form!!
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Sep 10, 2012 21:56
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Masonity posted:How many staff do you have to serve those 50-70 covers? Cover doesn't equal tables, I'm a tired. On a busy night it looks like this: Open 5pm, seat until 6:45 pm, kick them out the door for the show by 7:20. We feed 150 plus people in that window an entire 3-4 course meal with wine pairings, or if lucky just a few entrées. It can be a mad scramble hustle, and we'll have 2 bussers, a barman, and 3-5 servers. On the flip side for a crappy show we'll just be dead.
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Sep 10, 2012 22:13
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OmNom posted:Cover doesn't equal tables, I'm a tired. On a busy night it looks like this: Open 5pm, seat until 6:45 pm, kick them out the door for the show by 7:20. We feed 150 plus people in that window an entire 3-4 course meal with wine pairings, or if lucky just a few entrées. It can be a mad scramble hustle, and we'll have 2 bussers, a barman, and 3-5 servers. I meant people, not tables, when talking about 110 during the "heavy" lunch period. So I guess we're dealing with slightly less people with a comparable number of staff than you are, and in a similar time frame as we have to kick people back to their offices by 1.30-2pm. Honestly, if it works for you guys, fair enough. But regularly bar tending and doing dispense and running a section just makes me think people in your section will have bad service, or people at the bar will have bad service. It just makes sense to not have someone waiting on a table while doing another full time job at the same time. If there is a queue at the bar and a table in your section who want to order desert, what happens? Who gets the bad service? Of course, as a worker all you can do is moan and bitch about it, then suck it up and do the best you can in the circumstances. I just think it'd run a lot smoother if you always had a dedicated bartender. It also makes sense to have all servers comfortable enough with pouring a beer or wine to grab their own if they ever need to.
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Sep 10, 2012 22:37
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Masonity posted:I meant people, not tables, when talking about 110 during the "heavy" lunch period. So I guess we're dealing with slightly less people with a comparable number of staff than you are, and in a similar time frame as we have to kick people back to their offices by 1.30-2pm. I agree 100%. I don't make the rules I just make them work as well as I can for me.
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Sep 10, 2012 22:40
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navyjack posted:gently caress that poo poo, I had nothing but drunk goddamn football fans. Plus, I am beginning to believe that my staff is intentionally engaged in a conspiracy to drive me out of my loving mind. gently caress both those shits! I didn't have a non-employee customer from 8pm until I locked the door at 12:30. Which might sound okay but it was only three of them and they were nursing hangovers from the night before. Coolguye posted:Alcohol question time. The only thing I've had besides Sam Adams this year is the Newcastle Werewolf fall seasonal, which I found quite tasty. Nobody around here seems to have any of the fall stuff on tap yet though. If there is a bar near you with a decent selection of beers on tap, see if they'll let you do a flight of the falls/Oktoberfests. I find a lot of them to be hit and miss and I hate ordering a pint just to find out that one was a miss.
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Sep 11, 2012 00:30
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nrr posted:bud light lime margarita. An ad informed me yesterday that for years people have been trying to perfect the margarita, and now bud light have finally done it! In beer form!! The only thing Bud Light perfected is piss in a can.
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Sep 11, 2012 05:50
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At least they've moved to a new victim after laying waste to the mojito.
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Sep 11, 2012 06:37
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Noticed that poo poo in our cooler when I opened last week. So continues the saga of our GM stocking every dumb thing Budweiser comes out with. 8% ABV in an 8 ounce can, in a college bar full of binge drinkers. loving brilliant, what could possibly go wrong?
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Sep 11, 2012 07:01
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Doesn't that work out to be very slightly stronger than a beer?
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Sep 11, 2012 14:51
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Dirnok posted:Noticed that poo poo in our cooler when I opened last week. So continues the saga of our GM stocking every dumb thing Budweiser comes out with. 8% ABV in an 8 ounce can, in a college bar full of binge drinkers. loving brilliant, what could possibly go wrong? You can always say you ran out if it gets bad, we do that with Jager 
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Sep 11, 2012 15:42
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Halloween Jack posted:Doesn't that work out to be very slightly stronger than a beer? lovely light beers are usually around 4.2% alcohol. That's a difference that can add up quickly when you're serving binge drinking college kids smaller "beers".
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Sep 11, 2012 15:50
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What kind of people drink Jager at bars, by the way? I mean, besides the obvious thing about how they have no taste.
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Sep 11, 2012 16:03
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Halloween Jack posted:What kind of people drink Jager at bars, by the way? I mean, besides the obvious thing about how they have no taste. People who work there. Whenever we're having a really busy night (under the old manager, still to be seen if the new one follows suit) the managers would crack out a round of Jagerbombs for the staff for every landmark we'd hit.
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Sep 11, 2012 16:06
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MisterOblivious posted:lovely light beers are usually around 4.2% alcohol. [edit]Jaegerbombs are super popular here right now. People only started drinking them maybe 5 years ago, and whilst the trend has probably peaked, it's still definitely going strong. You'll get a club flyer with "Jagerbombs only £2.50!!!!!" or whatever for most of the clubs in the country. Hoops fucked around with this message at 16:27 on Sep 11, 2012 |
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Sep 11, 2012 16:23
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Hoops posted:All those light beers like coors light or bud light, are they all about 4.2%? I thought they were like 3.6, 3.8, something like that. One of the more annoying quirks about liquor laws in a lot of states is that the beers you buy in grocery stores are regulated by something bizarre and stupid (in this state it's alcohol by weight of the product), while beer you buy in liquor stores is regulated by ABV. You know, what you'd expect it to be regulated by. The net effect is that beer you buy in grocery stores tends to be a little bit less alcoholic than liquor store beer, which might explain part of this perception. But that said, I don't think I've ever had an American beer from a liquor store that was under 4% ABV, particularly when you're talking about the brewers who actually give a poo poo (IE, not budweiser and coors and michelob). Coolguye fucked around with this message at 16:40 on Sep 11, 2012 |
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Sep 11, 2012 16:37
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| # ? May 15, 2024 07:33 |
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Hoops posted:That's surprising to me. Internationally, US beer is thought of as being weak and watery, but most of the mass-market draught lager (Carling, Carlsberg, Kronenbourg, Fosters, Stella Artois, Becks) you can buy in a typical pub or supermarket in the UK is 4-5%, while the more common "premium" stuff can go up to maybe 5.5%. Our mass-produced beers are weak and watery...in the flavor department. You can find beers under 4% but they aren't the norm. http://www.alcoholcontents.com/beer/ ABV vs ABW: Here in Minnesota "non-intoxicating malt beverages" for sale in gas stations and grocery stores are limited to 3.2% ABW. That's right around 4% ABV or a whole 0.2% ABV less than most light beers.
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Sep 11, 2012 17:04
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