Sunday, March 13, 2011

Advice for when you're buying a round of drinks in a crowded bar

As a bartender the following situation happens to me at least once a night: a guy comes up to the bar when it's busy and waves his hands or says "excuse me" trying to get my attention.  Usually I say something to the effect of "I'll be right with you," and finish taking care of the person I am already helping while he stands there impatiently.  When I am able to get to him, he orders his drink, then turns around and asks each of his friends what they want.  This always blows my mind.  Why wouldn't anyone use the time they were standing and waiting to already find that out?  Isn't it common sense not to get the bartender's attention until you know what you're going to order?  Am I crazy?

On a mostly unrelated tangent inspired by this picture, I simultaneously love and hate the movie "Cocktail."  The movie as a whole is one of my favorites, but the specifics of the bar scenes are ridiculous.  Like in this part at the club opening, it takes both of them combined 2 minutes to make a single drink, but hundreds of thirsty people miraculously don't mind because they are dancing and throwing things.

3 comments:

  1. I mean, the solution is quite simple really. Person's not ready to order, onto the next one, and they go back to waiting. The lesson is usually learned. If not, tough titties, we'll play that game all night. Sometimes if that person's really aggressive I'll actually put them back at the end of the queue.
    -Cocktails and Dreams

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have so much to say about this post I don't know where to start.
    Regarding cocktail- everyone knows that the 'Cellblock' sited in the attached picture is know as a performance bar, afterall why else would they stop the music for poetry? And honestly if you could bounce a shaker off the floor and catch it, I would happily wait my turn.

    Regarding the Douchebag at your bar- just tell him what his friends are drinking.

    ReplyDelete
  3. As a server I feel the same way. They wave you down because clearly I've taken too long. Then they look at the menu like they've never seen it before. Like it's Greek test then continue to ask what everyone's having. Then ask you what you like after you asked them the first time if they had any questions about the menu. Then you explain a dish. It comes out. They're surprised that the crispy chicken skin sandwich (or whatever dish) is in fact, what I told them it is... A crispy chicken skin sandwich (side note: it's delicious). At least bartenders can be a little rude and get away with it. Servers are the low man totem pole on the restaurant food chain to patrons.

    ReplyDelete

Back to homepage