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Soda water, cranberry juice, Coke/Sprite/etc, non-alcoholic beer, etc. If you're at a bar known for its cocktails, feel free to ask the bartenders to mix you up something, though chances are it'll be a lemonade variant or some sort of mixed juice drink. Obviously nothing's wrong with going to a bar and not drinking, though if you're interested in the bartender perspective on that, I'll throw out three quick rules of thumb: -When I'm only ordering a non-alcholic beverage (generally soda water, because I don't drink much soda), I always make sure to tip a dollar or two each time I get one. Nobody will give you poo poo if you don't, but it's a nice gesture. If the bar is crowded and I'm sitting there or if I plan on hanging out for a while, I make a point to buy something like bottled water instead of getting tap water so I'm not totally killing the bar's revenue for the seat I'm taking up. -If it's busy, you may have to wait longer for refills, just because the bartender will prioritize higher spending (and tipping) customers. Don't take it as a personal slight or a criticism of your not drinking. -If you're at a nice restaurant or a bar that does fresh juices, please don't go crazy pounding glass after glass of orange juice or lemonades and run the bar out of mixer while the bartender has to disrupt service to make more juice. Usually restaurants will charge pretty high prices per glass of juice to keep this scenario from happening, or at least make the cost worth it.
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Sep 3, 2013 00:31
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Coco13 posted:What's wrong with water or Diet Coke? If you're at a bar and people are giving you poo poo about not drinking, they're the one with problems, not you. I don't know I feel weird just drinking that amongst people at a bar. I read an article about drinking bitters in a situation like this so people don't bug you but I'm not insane so I wanted to see interesting ways people have dealt with it. Also if there is some non-alcoholic stuff that bartenders here make that is good, I would also like to know. I work in a very social industry that has a lot of casual meetings and I drink enough on my own without having to drive all over DC after. Great responses though, thanks. prezbuluskey fucked around with this message at 02:17 on Sep 3, 2013 |
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Sep 3, 2013 02:14
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Just get the soda with a lime wedge and ask for little straws. They're fast to make, they're tasty and hydrating and something you don't drink at home, they look like a normal drink. I tip a dollar when I get them when I'm done drinking and my company isn't (or when I don't want someone I'm with to get too wasted but also appear that they're not done with the thing socially). Bitters is usually about 60% alcohol or more in the bottle and you can't drink a bottle of it anyway. You could try a few drops of bitters in your soda water but honestly bitters is awesome when used to play off of the musky man flavors in other drinks (mostly the brown ones but gin works too), it's not for drinking on its own.
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Sep 3, 2013 03:33
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I think by bitters he may be thinking about an Amaro. A little glass of Fernet when you are sick? Hell yeah, tastes like medicine anyways. Unfortunately Fernet Branca is a gateway drug, I know seek out cocktails made with Cynar and other such burnt tar. So loving delicious. If I am at a place and see an actually interesting Amaro, especially something I've never heard of, I will at least order a glass if not engage in a discussion with the dude with brass balls to stock that poo poo. More often than not ends up with doing a flight or tasting of interesting stuff that ranges from honey to tar and many points between. gently caress, where's the Amari thread?
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Sep 3, 2013 04:00
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Drinking in Manhattan, have noticed something called "buy back" appearing on my bill. Asked the waitress lass what it was and she said she'd bought us a couple of drinks? Is this a normal thing in America and what is the appropriate response? Also got undercharged by quite a few pints in another bar, queried this with the barman, and he said he did it on purpose. It's a bit confusing, and being Welsh, I'm suspicious of anyone giving anything away for free. Where's the catch?
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Sep 3, 2013 04:37
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Were you being a cool dude? Did you tip well at the end? They were being friendly.
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Sep 3, 2013 04:41
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Gambrinus posted:Drinking in Manhattan, have noticed something called "buy back" appearing on my bill. Asked the waitress lass what it was and she said she'd bought us a couple of drinks? Is this a normal thing in America and what is the appropriate response? Also got undercharged by quite a few pints in another bar, queried this with the barman, and he said he did it on purpose. It's a bit confusing, and being Welsh, In some cities on the East Coast but especially NYC the "buyback" is an institutionalized free drink. Most small bars set a policy of something like 4:1 buybacks or whatever. After you get four drinks (that's four drinks for each person, or four rounds, not four people get one drink) the bartender may tell you "this one's on me" and give you another round. This makes the bar seem generous and helps with his tips and since drink costs are very high here the bar doesn't lose that much on liquor costs. The terminology comes from the bar "buying back" the drink. Please note however that the buyback is never a must-do, its always up to the bartender if he wants to do it. If you're poo poo you won't get a buyback. Not all bars have buybacks though (some owners think they're BS) so on the flip side not getting a free drink doesn't mean someone doesn't like you. The normal response is to tip about 50% of the value of those drinks (instead of the usual one or two bucks per drink). This assures you a free drink the next time your buyback comes up and shows that you understand the system and appreciate it. You could also just tip the usual 1-2 to say "I'm a nice guy but I'm not Mr. Bar Mysterio." Most people don't tip on the free drinks because they don't have their wallets out then anyway, which is fine, but catch up the next time you do ("this is for the last one too.") Some bars give their bartenders even freer reign than this but it's usually guided somewhat ("On the weekdays and for ladies -- don't overdo it on the weekend with the dudes" or whatever). If you find a bartender that gives you a bill and mysteriously only about half of your drinks are on there leave a tip that reflects the money he saved you (and that still saves you on what you would have paid, or about 50% of the value of the goods you were expecting to pay for anyway, plus 1 or 2 for each regular drink that you paid for). As for why it's on the bill, the owner wants to keep track of how much of his liquor costs are coming from buybacks, so they get rung in and then cancelled out sort of. Normally this is done on a separate "comp tab" and then cancelled by a manager but depending on the system the bar uses sometimes ghosts of it appear on the customer's receipt.
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Sep 3, 2013 05:21
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Sheep-Goats posted:Bitters is usually about 60% alcohol or more in the bottle and you can't drink a bottle of it anyway. You could try a few drops of bitters in your soda water but honestly bitters is awesome when used to play off of the musky man flavors in other drinks (mostly the brown ones but gin works too), it's not for drinking on its own. Sure it is, my other industry friends and I shoot straight Angostura (~45%) all the time, and I've drank Angostura on the rocks with dessert every now and then. Granted, it's turned into a gimmicky sort of cocktail inside joke thing, but some bitters are perfectly drinkable on their own if you're so inclined. But he's probably thinking of bitters and soda water, like you mentioned.
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Sep 3, 2013 06:23
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Perdido posted:It's a (very, very mild) annoyance when people come up and apologize for asking for a glass of water or a coke because they're the DD or because it's loving hot. I'm one of those guys who'll get a glass of water every 2 or so drinks because I'm a pussy who's terrified of hangovers. Seems to work, although I often get weird looks from bartenders.
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Sep 3, 2013 13:51
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re: that barback, she worked for a year at a more beer orientated place and I don't know how she managed it. For locale I'm lucky to be in a UK city with an exceptionally strong bar scene, but it's not London. Barbacks here are usually young white guys (16-20) who are either desperate for work or more interested in the industry/regulars who got hired.
number one pta fan fucked around with this message at 17:07 on Sep 3, 2013 |
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Sep 3, 2013 16:57
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I bartend and serve in a big restaurant and I just realized that working 10.5 hour shifts isn't normal. A single shift is at least 8 hours, but it usually runs closer to 10. We have two new managers whose prior jobs were Red Lobster and Fridays. They are both rude and lazy. To top it all off, I have been scheduled a double this coming Thursday (Six shifts in five days). 9:30 AM open the bar. I get to cut all of the fruit and garnishes, make sour, and basically clean up (sloppy closing bartenders that make all of the money) and set up all of the wells. Follow that with serving at 3 pm. Funny enough, I don't even have another bartender to relieve me until 4 pm. I told a manager that I was scheduled overlapping shifts and she said, "What do you mean?" I responded, "well, I'm scheduled to start serving at 3 pm, but I don't even have another bartender until 4 pm. Her answer: "I don't know." I know it's common knowledge among you fine goons that corporate restaurants are to be avoided like the plague, but you guys have no idea. I haven't taken a vacation in over 4 years and I'm gonna flip out 
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Sep 4, 2013 02:19
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Talk to your industry friends and get a job at another place.
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Sep 4, 2013 02:28
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Been out of the game a few months now, and pretty happily so. But the other night I went into one of my favorite spots around town and they were pretty well slammed considering it was usually a dead night for them. Moreover, my usual bartender buddy was having himself a really lovely night because their draft system (normally a point of pride for this place) was completely hosed and not working, all of their main toilets were broken completely, and they looked a bit short staffed. He was busting rear end and clearly not happy with how the night was going. Can't blame him, looking at the crowd. I have myself a few, he buys me one, and I see that as the night goes on, he and the couple other dudes working are just miserably busy. I leave 'em a $20 on a $20 tab and a note that says "If you ever need a back / a hand around here on short notice, give me a ring. Also, gently caress those toilets" and my phone number. I told a non-service worker buddy of mine this story, and he was blown away, saying, "Well you can't ever go back in there without it being awkward you know. Now that you basically applied to work there..." And I didn't think a loving thing of it prior to that. But now he put that nugget of doubt in my head. I love that bar, and hated to see those dudes clearly overworked and was offering to help should they forsee that kinda poo poo happening again and wanted an experienced hand to do whatever they needed help with. I have every intention of going back as a customer whether I ever hear from them or not, 'cause it's frankly just a place I love to drink. Is that actually weird?
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Sep 4, 2013 06:18
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Did you use a heart post-it or wolf stationary?
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Sep 4, 2013 06:23
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Re: nonalcoholic drinks, I had a customer once ask me for a gunner, which was just half ginger beer, half ginger ale, and a dash of angostura bitters, and while explaining that at a crowded bar is probably more annoying than it's worth, ginger ale with a dash of bitters can be pretty tasty as well (and supposedly cures hangovers when you drink it at the beginning of your shift ymmv).
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Sep 4, 2013 06:55
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FaceEater posted:Been out of the game a few months now, and pretty happily so. But the other night I went into one of my favorite spots around town and they were pretty well slammed considering it was usually a dead night for them. Moreover, my usual bartender buddy was having himself a really lovely night because their draft system (normally a point of pride for this place) was completely hosed and not working, all of their main toilets were broken completely, and they looked a bit short staffed. He was busting rear end and clearly not happy with how the night was going. Can't blame him, looking at the crowd. I have myself a few, he buys me one, and I see that as the night goes on, he and the couple other dudes working are just miserably busy. I leave 'em a $20 on a $20 tab and a note that says "If you ever need a back / a hand around here on short notice, give me a ring. Also, gently caress those toilets" and my phone number. Do they know you worked in the industry before or is it a newish hangout for you? If they know you as a barman then it's not usual, but it's not THAT unusual either. I'd consider it just a mate offering to do a solid if I was ever in the poo poo, not a job application as such.
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Sep 4, 2013 07:46
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Tychtrip posted:I'm one of those guys who'll get a glass of water every 2 or so drinks because I'm a pussy who's terrified of hangovers. Seems to work, although I often get weird looks from bartenders. I don't get hangovers because I'm spending half my night drinking water or in the WC.
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Sep 4, 2013 09:23
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FaceEater posted:I told a non-service worker buddy of mine this story, and he was blown away, saying, "Well you can't ever go back in there without it being awkward you know. Now that you basically applied to work there..." And I didn't think a loving thing of it prior to that. But now he put that nugget of doubt in my head. This summer has been insane, but it's finally all over!! I'm finally going on vacation, it's going to be magical! I can't believe how relieved I was tonight as the last customer wandered out the door, I was so damned happy I actually stayed back and scrubbed under counters and poo poo to wage a farewell fruit fly battle and then I danced out of the place after cashout. Finally, It's actually happening... two days off! In a row!
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Sep 4, 2013 10:45
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I got the job that became my first bartender job by frequenting a dive bar, knowing the staff and them asking me to ditch my night out to come help them through an absolute stinker of a night with the promise of employment. That's definitely not weird behaviour by industry standards. Last night I had a flashback to a moment where I was taking one food order, had taken one food order and needed to make two drinks for another guy, had been given a ticket from another bartender to make two cocktails, had a waitress in one ear telling me I'd sent a food order without a table number and I had to run to the kitchen to tell the chefs about an order with four substitutions. It felt like I was going to die. Thread Q: What calls do you use other than the standard 85/86? We use 50 for throw/catch, 600 for a break, 200 for a customer needs serving and 450 for something really important just died.
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Sep 4, 2013 16:49
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We had to 86 french fries one night and as the message goes around the staff, it finally reaches this one young french kid who hears the news and just stares, wide eyed for a second. "There's 86 french fries left...?" Very quickly, everything we ran out of became "fries" or "only 86 left!" for a while
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Sep 4, 2013 19:37
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Mordiceius posted:I'm recently out of the military after 8 years and am going back to school and thinking of taking up a bartending job while in school. Didn't really see anyone comment to this. Any advice for bartending in restaurants? The place I'm applying at is called The Kona Grill. They seem like a decent mid-tier restaurant.
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Sep 5, 2013 06:33
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prezbuluskey posted:I don't know I feel weird just drinking that amongst people at a bar. I read an article about drinking bitters in a situation like this so people don't bug you but I'm not insane so I wanted to see interesting ways people have dealt with it. Also if there is some non-alcoholic stuff that bartenders here make that is good, I would also like to know.
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Sep 5, 2013 07:55
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Mordiceius posted:Didn't really see anyone comment to this. Any advice for bartending in restaurants? The place I'm applying at is called The Kona Grill. They seem like a decent mid-tier restaurant. Do you have any experience behind the wood? Most of the drinks in that restaurant's drinks menu look fairly complex, and if the place uses house-made ingredients that adds to the work you'll have to do. If it's busy, that means you've gotta be efficient as hell behind the bar. I worked at a place for a brief time where the cocktail list used in-house made syrups/juices, there were 8 different kinds of bitters, and each drink had a whack load of steps; it's challenging but fun work. Your question is kind of general though, so I'm not sure what you're looking for exactly - pithy aphorisms about working in a restaurant? If it's heavily food-centric you might not ever get a white-out, at least outside of weekend dinner shifts. Typically you won't have to deal with rowdy drunks in a restaurant, especially if it prices them out, but you may have to deal with more fussy customers. Also if you're looking for money, serving is (usually) where it's at in a food-primary type place.
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Sep 5, 2013 08:09
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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323893004579055224175110910.html?KEYWORDS=taxesquote:Starting in January, the Internal Revenue Service will begin classifying those automatic gratuities as service charges—which it treats as regular wages, subject to payroll tax withholding—instead of tips, which restaurants leave up to the employees to report as income.  Jig's up fellas. OK, this maybe doesn't hit bartending so terribly, but some guys who do alot of events are gonna feel it.
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Sep 6, 2013 01:11
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40 OZ posted:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323893004579055224175110910.html?KEYWORDS=taxes I work events almost exclusively and I'd say 98% of my tips come in as cash. Hooray for my situation
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Sep 7, 2013 17:29
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40 OZ posted:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323893004579055224175110910.html?KEYWORDS=taxes It goes a bit further. Management was trying to tell us that the gratuities will be appearing on our paychecks as wages, not just in the taxable sense as they are now (as long as you're reporting properly) but literally you will not get paid that night and the money will be on your paycheck. Just accepted my first real Bartending job at a fancy steakhouse in the US, looking forward to tapping this thread often for advice and stories. Apparently my restaurant is being sponsored by Fireball, I bet it would impress the brass if I came in with a fancy new cocktail using it. Any ideas? I checked online but I'm wary to trust Google results with drinks that are actually reasonable or good and don't have ingredients I'd have to stock just for this drink (like horchata).
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Sep 8, 2013 08:50
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Advice posted:It goes a bit further. Management was trying to tell us that the gratuities will be appearing on our paychecks as wages, not just in the taxable sense as they are now (as long as you're reporting properly) but literally you will not get paid that night and the money will be on your paycheck. Interesting. I wonder how these experiments with the "suggested tip" appearing instead of auto-grat are working out? If people aren't opting out of it in large numbers, I would expect that management would just go that direction. Its gonna cost the employer alot in taxes, changing the POS systems, a mess in payroll, etc, to keep auto-grat. Either way it's a bummer.
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Sep 8, 2013 08:58
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Advice posted:It goes a bit further. Management was trying to tell us that the gratuities will be appearing on our paychecks as wages, not just in the taxable sense as they are now (as long as you're reporting properly) but literally you will not get paid that night and the money will be on your paycheck. We make a Fireball and cider shot called Angry Balls. Probably get a similar vibe with Apple Pucker.
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Sep 8, 2013 09:47
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40 OZ posted:Interesting. I wonder how these experiments with the "suggested tip" appearing instead of auto-grat are working out? If people aren't opting out of it in large numbers, I would expect that management would just go that direction. A service charge and a printed suggestion are two different things - one of them is still a manual entry into the POS, the other one is a separate line item on the printed bill. It will almost certainly fly.
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Sep 8, 2013 19:28
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Shooting Blanks posted:A service charge and a printed suggestion are two different things - one of them is still a manual entry into the POS, the other one is a separate line item on the printed bill. It will almost certainly fly. Whoops, I meant under this model: "Some restaurants insert an amount on the tip line and then remind guests on the check that they are free to adjust that amount up or down."
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Sep 8, 2013 20:02
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Vegetable Melange posted:Speaking of events and professionalism, what cabin are you in this year? Only the most extra medium.
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Sep 9, 2013 08:39
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Choom Gangster posted:Only the most extra medium. #GGallenthicke, baby. I have a bone to pick with that strawberry cream whatever you got from Toddy's, though.
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Sep 9, 2013 15:31
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At least I didn't Buzzball you. To inform you all in the thread, myself and Vegetable Melange were cabinmates at bourbon summer camp last week. He farts, a lot.
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Sep 10, 2013 03:04
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its prob too late to tell you two to get a fuckin room then isnt it
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Sep 10, 2013 07:10
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Choom Gangster posted:At least I didn't Buzzball you. It's poo poo like this that I really miss about bartending.
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Sep 12, 2013 02:43
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Shooting Blanks posted:It's poo poo like this that I really miss about bartending. I assure you, you don't miss the buzz balls. Just wait for Portland Cocktail Week. There will be blood(y marys). e: I fart a perfectly reasonable amount. What you smelled were my drive-all-night-from-NYC kicks.
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Sep 12, 2013 06:31
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Holy gently caress yesterday we opened up to capacity numbers of people in formal ware who had booked us out for 150 people for some pre reception wedding drinks while the bride/groom took photos, and for the first time in my living memory, a booking was not loving around with their numbers and actually bought 150 people, we actually opened early because the line out front was getting way too loving long (I'm not sure if this is even legal under our licence) I wasn't expecting to open ten minutes early, so only one well had ice. No barbacks (we all take turns barbacking), just two dudes, and thankfully a manager to run food. Only having one well actually worked out ok, since one of us just did spirits and the other did beer. I normally think bartenders saying 'I'm only doing beers, who wants beers' is kind of a pain and a copout as a customer in normal circumstances, but under the pump, what else can you really do when 150 people all need drinks at exactly the same time? 2 grand in an hour. I don't think we made much more than that for the next 8 hours, it was a pretty pitiful Saturday night but poo poo like this just makes me really love my job. Later on one of the groomsmen who was friends with my venue manager came up and introduced himself as the owner of my favourite American whiskey bar, and told us we had absolutely killed it so that was a really good feeling as well
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Sep 15, 2013 06:09
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MC Eating Disorder posted:Holy gently caress yesterday we opened up to capacity numbers of people in formal ware who had booked us out for 150 people for some pre reception wedding drinks while the bride/groom took photos, and for the first time in my living memory, a booking was not loving around with their numbers and actually bought 150 people, we actually opened early because the line out front was getting way too loving long (I'm not sure if this is even legal under our licence) Just reading that made me smile. Hopefully you'll have most of them back in smaller groups to reintroduce themselves in the coming months.
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Sep 15, 2013 22:57
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Well gently caress, I'm coming back. I've been out for 3 years after spending 5 behind the wood, but I'm taking a working holiday to Canada and at this stage it looks like a good choice to support my skiing habit. Anyone in here got any tips for picking up seasonal bar work in the BC ski fields? I'm arriving at the end of September so as I understand it most of the good stuff will have been taken by then, but to be honest I'd be quite happy to go in as a barback or something so long as I was getting paid. I was pretty burnt out by the end but god drat if I'm not looking forward to being 3 deep, wondering where the back is with my loving ice, trying to remember what the fourth drink that guy ordered was and checking out the cute girl two rows back, all at the same time. I'm not sure there are many more satisfying feelings then sitting at the bar on a Saturday morning after after getting slammed all night, beer in hand, knowing you and the others behind the bar absolutely killed it.
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Sep 16, 2013 15:54
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I'm in the BC ski fields, and not to burst your bubble, but it's practically impossible to get a bartending gig out here. It does depend on where exactly you're going but I came into town with 7 years experience and it still took me over a year working in a club to get behind the bar. You've got to get really lucky to stumble into a place that needs a bartender because the jobs that are going up here are very, very rarely free and there's at least another couple of hundred people just like you looking for the exact same job. The good news is that you're getting into town before all the major job fairs, so you'll get a chance to go to the cattle calls and at least have a shot. The bad news is that the end of September is going to be coming into shoulder season and nowhere is going to be hiring anyone for around another month at least, so you're going to want to make sure you've got cash to keep you going, as well as money for rent and security deposit as well. The most important thing you want to do when you get here is find a place as soon as possible. There's going to be a good couple of thousand kids coming here for the season and they'll all be looking for a place. They fill up fast. My advice is trying to get into serving (waiting) if you can. There's a hell of a lot more serving jobs going, and they still get you tips which is super important. Minimum wage out here is $10/hr, so if you want to make any money you badly want a job that will get you tips. Another option if you have your first aid, is try getting a job as a guide with one of the adventure companies. Snow mobile, zip lining, bungee jumping, heli skiing, there's all sorts of really amazing guide jobs, and on top of having a great job, you get tipped as well. Obviously, those jobs are pretty tough to get too, but if you have first aid they're worth a shot. Finally, getting a job with the mountain is a great way to get a free pass, although they normally pay poo poo. They do have cheap staff housing, but it's also poo poo if you're not 19 anymore and don't want to live in a dorm. You can also volunteer a day a week over the season and get a pass for that, but when you do the math it basically works out to roughly $8/hr so only go for that as a last resort. If you don't get a job with the mountain, there's other ways to get your pass - some other places will buy you one and there's also a program called the Spirit Pass here (I'm in Whistler, btw) that you can get if your employer is a part of the Chamber of Commerce which gets you a pass for around $1200 instead of the usual $1800 + or whatever it's up to now. I think that's probably enough words for the moment. Let me know if there's anything else you want to know but tl;dr: Don't just expect to come out here and walk into a bartending job because you're in for a shock.
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Sep 16, 2013 21:36
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