{"id":1656,"date":"2010-04-11T11:08:27","date_gmt":"2010-04-11T18:08:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bspcn.com\/2010\/04\/11\/how-to-get-a-drink-at-a-busy-bar\/"},"modified":"2010-04-11T11:10:12","modified_gmt":"2010-04-11T18:10:12","slug":"how-to-get-a-drink-at-a-busy-bar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/2010\/04\/11\/how-to-get-a-drink-at-a-busy-bar\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Get a Drink at a Busy Bar"},"content":{"rendered":"

Written by artofmanliness<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Drunk Fella: \u201cHey Chief! Chief!\u201d<\/p>\n

My co-worker: \u201cIf that guy calls me \u2018Chief\u2019 one more time, I\u2019m cutting him off.\u201d<\/p>\n

As I write this, I\u2019m sitting at my bar, just off of work on a Friday night. I feel sorry for my co-worker; I\u2019m the one who got Drunk Fella that way.<\/p>\n

\u201cChief!\u201d<\/p>\n

What Drunk Fella doesn\u2019t know is that he is being ignored on purpose.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014-<\/p>\n

When Mr. McKay asked me to write this article, I had to think about it for a couple weeks. I really had to talk to a lot of bartenders I know to find out what their process is for getting their customers drinks. Do they just start at one end of the bar and work their way down? Does a regular get served before someone they don\u2019t know? Do friends take precedence? Or do they just serve the loudest guy first, in an effort to get him to shut his trap? After talking to a few co-workers and fellow bartenders, I think I\u2019ve got it down to a few key concepts.<\/p>\n

1. Always, always, tip.<\/h3>\n

An elephant never forgets. Neither does a bartender (or waiter, for that matter). If you don\u2019t tip well, or at all, you are automatically on the bottom of the list. And don\u2019t play games with your tipping, either. If you pay cash each round, tip with your change. Don\u2019t pull it all back and then tip at the end of the night. Tipping is expected, no matter how much you think of it as \u201cextra.\u201d If you start a tab, tip when you pay at the end of the night, or when you get your rounds with whatever cash you happen to have. Either will do! Both!<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s be honest: if you don\u2019t have money to tip, go to a liquor store, buy your favorites, and watch the game at home. If you don\u2019t have money to tip, you don\u2019t have money to go out in the first place.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a tip: tip big on the very first round. I have a customer that hands me a $20 bill after he\u2019s paid for his first drink. I take care of him until he leaves. He often gets refills before he\u2019s even done with his last one. I take care of him because he\u2019s taken care of me already, and no matter how busy it is, I always have time for him.<\/p>\n

And guys, your phone number is not a tip. Give my female bartenders out there a break.<\/p>\n

2. Know what you\u2019re going to order before you start yelling for service.<\/h3>\n

Hopefully, I\u2019ve gotten there just as your group has approached the bar and I\u2019ve asked you what you\u2019d like to have. If you\u2019re the one who ends up ordering for the group, I understand if you don\u2019t know what everyone wants. That\u2019s why I have no problem waiting for your order if I\u2019ve approached you. But if it\u2019s super busy and you\u2019ve finally gotten me over to take your order, KNOW WHAT YOU WANT. There is nothing worse than hearing you call for service for a few minutes and when I get there, you don\u2019t know what you are ordering. I can\u2019t stress this enough. In the time it takes you to figure out what everyone is drinking, I could have filled two other orders. All that time spent yelling for service should be used for figuring out what your group wants.<\/p>\n

Case in point: for some reason, I always end up being the \u201corder guy\u201d for my group. Last time, we had a new person with us and I didn\u2019t know his drink, so I asked him BEFORE we got to the bar. When the bartender came over, I rattled it off to her, she quickly called my price, and I paid her. She took my money, ran to get the drinks, and brought them back with the correct change. The whole thing took 5 minutes. Because I tipped well, the next time, it took 2.<\/p>\n

We understand that if we approach you, we\u2019ve caught you off guard and you may not know who needs what. But if you\u2019re yelling, waving your arms, slapping the bar, trying to get our attention, then we get there and you don\u2019t know what you want, understand that we\u2019re a bit unhappy.<\/p>\n

3. Chief, Boss, Bro, Scout, Partner, Dude\u2026<\/h3>\n

The list goes on. Don\u2019t use them. For bartenders they\u2019re the equivalent of nails on a chalkboard. Now, I know that not all bartenders will call you \u201csir.\u201d But they should call you something respectable if they don\u2019t know your name. My line is \u201cSir, can I get you a drink?\u201d and when I deliver, \u201cThere you are, sir. My name is Mike if you need anything else.\u201d I expect to be called by my name or sir, or if you\u2019re impolite, I\u2019ll answer to \u201cbartender.\u201d \u201cChief\u201d especially chills my spine.<\/p>\n

The key is not the names, but what they represent: respect. Like it or not, the bartender is in charge of the bar. You are in his territory. Waiters come to YOUR table, but you have entered the bartender\u2019s area. Treat it, and him, with respect, and you\u2019ll both have a good time.<\/p>\n

4. Don\u2019t stand at the server station.<\/h3>\n

If the bar has a station where servers come to pick up drinks, it\u2019s a bad idea to try to stand there to get one. You\u2019ll get mad because the bartender is there 50% of the time, yet he\u2019s ignoring you, and he\u2019ll ignore you because you\u2019re not supposed to be there in the first place, so he\u2019s hoping you\u2019ll get the idea and move.<\/p>\n

5. Be a regular.<\/h3>\n

Find a bar you like. Go there as often as you can. If they serve food and it\u2019s good, eat there on a slow night. Talk to the bartender when he\u2019s not busy. Get to know about him and let him know about you. Create a rapport. When he sees you on a busy night, he\u2019ll make steps to make sure you\u2019re having a good time and getting taken care of. Unless you\u2019re the creepy jerk regular that only tips with phone numbers given to the waitresses!<\/p>\n

My Method<\/h3>\n

I\u2019m lucky because I\u2019m tall. Not NBA tall, but tall enough. I find a hole in the bar chairs that allows me not to reach over someone\u2019s back. I hold my money in my hand, elbow on the bar, hand in the air, facing the bartender. I look at them until they\u2019ve made eye contact. Now they know I\u2019m there. Now I can scan the bar for beautiful women, friends I didn\u2019t know would be there, or check the score of the game. But I keep watching the bartender. When they come over, I rattle off my drink order, and repeat if necessary. Explain drinks if necessary. The money is still in my hand. I say thank you when they bring the drinks back to me. They take the money. I say thank you again when I get my change, and because I know what I\u2019ve already planned on tipping, I give it straight to them, saying thanks for a third time. If I need a helper for my drink load, they\u2019re already there with me, and I start handing drinks back. Then I make my way to the spot where my group is. They next guy who is paying for a round usually ends up just giving me the money and having me do it\u2026or we all just sit there parched while he calls the bartender \u201cChief\u201d a thousand times\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written by artofmanliness Drunk Fella: \u201cHey Chief! Chief!\u201d My co-worker: \u201cIf that guy calls me \u2018Chief\u2019 one more time, I\u2019m cutting him off.\u201d As I write this, I\u2019m sitting at my bar, just off of work on a Friday night. I feel sorry for my co-worker; I\u2019m the one who got Drunk Fella that way. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1656"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1656"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1656\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1657,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1656\/revisions\/1657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}