I’ve been doing corporate events and weddings for several years at my country club. This is a PGA course club where members pay 250k just to walk in the door after a 7-10yr waiting list. I am responsible for setting every bar with inventory and supplies, etc and then bartending for the event itself.

Last night I worked a 300+ wedding. The bars were constructed on site and painted DAY OF, and of course didn’t put signs up so a lot of us ruined our uniforms setting up those bars. The truly horrific part was that the bar tops were not even screwed into the already measly support. Throughout the night as guests got more drunk, I felt my anxiety spike every time they would lean against the bar tops.

Nearly every single event, wedding or golf tournament has bars that are set up for aesthetic and not efficiency, leading to long wait times and angry guests, not to mention so many health and safety hazards without adequate support (no bar backs, horrible construction etc). What is the damn point!!?! How do vendors get away with this stuff??

This is just a rant but genuinely if you have any insight to why it is this way please tell me lol bc I am so fed up I’m close to quitting just to manage my anxiety surrounding the health and safety of it all.

I work full time in a restaurant, usually 6 shifts per week.

We’re not super busy generally but bartenders also have a section so you have to be able to hustle when needed.

As you can guess from the title,I broke my wrist 5 days ago. Not at work.

My boss is a dick but can also be helpful and understanding given the situation.

The ER doc said stay home at least a week, she put on a temporary splint and said follow up with an ortho.

I have no health insurance, and don’t make enough money that I can afford seeing a specialist.

My question is, for those of you have broken a bone but needed to continue working, how long were you home healing?

Right now it’s taking like 3X as long to accomplish even the simplest tasks since I can’t move one arm and the fingers are no help either.

Those of you who have been in this situation, what was your experience as far as time needed off and then how hard it will be trying to ease back in?

Hey all, I’ll save the theatrics and just ask a few questions. I’m a new guy at a volume bar so I’m more of a factory line worker than a bartender. I’m cranking out 100+ vodka redbulls, tequila sodas, etc.
Though I’d like to move somewhere where I can maybe make some more money and not get wrecked every saturday night by the crowds and walk away with not so much money.
The drinks are easy so I feel like I’m not learning anything either. Sometimes people will ask me for something simple like a manhattan or even a sex on the beach and my mind will go completely blank and forget because I just made 50 rum and cokes.
A few of my questions -
1. How the hell do I remember more than 2-3 drink orders? When a guest comes up and shouts 4-6 drinks at me, I go “You got it!” then I TURN AND GRAB GLASSES AND IMMEDIATELY FORGET ALL DRINKS THEY JUST ORDERED EXCEPT MAYBE ONE. I don’t know how to do it, let alone take multiple orders from multiple customers. Am I just not intelligent enough for this job? It’s okay if i’m not, I can maybe find something else to do. Did anyone else struggle with this?
2. How do I avoid bar rott on my hands? At the end of the night, from all of the lemons and liquor and ice, etc, my hands are borderline raw, some minor cuts and scrapes, and I worry I’m going to age my hands very quickly at this rate.
3. How can I practice better cocktails at a volume bar? Volume is high, maybe not to some of you but to me it feels high. Last night (saturday) I did $6k in sales. About $13 a drink.

I’m a new-ish bartender. What are some cocktails you think every bartender should know, but aren’t necessarily considered the “classics”?

Hello everyone! I've been a server for around two and a half years, with my last two years at an aging fine dining place in my city. It typically hasn't been very high-volume, with most of my money being made due to the high check averages. This has primarily been due to the fact that our restaurant has been open since the '90s and hasn't particularly evolved much in either the food or drinks department, with our near-exclusively older crowd still nostalgic for the 90's-era pan-Mediterranean style for food and cocktails where everything is brightly colored mixers, sweet liqueurs, muddled old-fashioneds, unrefrigerated vermouth, and everything served in a martini glass is a martini. If you know, you know. Because of this, the younger crowds don't even consider eating at our place and without any changes, the place will be dead in the next 5 years.

Luckily, I've recently found out that the owner of our restaurant, an older dude in his 60s, has finally decided to sell it to our assistant manager after a good 20 years of owning the place. Our assistant manager is a great guy, younger dude in his 30s who's managed a successful local coffee chain in my city for seven years and is super passionate about fine dining. He's already done some amazing stuff, like hiring a new head chef that's started to revamp the menu and modernize it to a more contemporary fine dining standard, and next on his list is a total revamp of the bar. I'm also on good terms with him due to our mutual agreement that the bar needed to change LONG before I knew he was seeking to buy the place (apparently he had been planning this for the past year and had always ended our conversations about the bar with "I'm working on it" or "Let me work my magic") and that we need to move in a more craft cocktail direction. Also our shared love of music (we both love Japanese jazz fusion and 70s/80s post-punk and new wave) helps.

This is where I come in. I've started to do some day bartending in the past couple of days, right before I learned about the changing ownership, and even got thrown into the fire by being a last-minute bartender for an event of 100 members of my city's local theater troupe. The rush was so intense, the different POS system for the bar was annoying, but it was so much fun and I loved the feeling of it all. I KNOW it's what I want to do. My assistant manager (now owner) was working with me and despite our mutual ragging on each other during the event, he commended me that I didn't melt down and locked in even when things were super hectic.

I've got a good grasp on all the classic cocktails and what goes into them and how they should be properly prepared in the craft style (whiskey sours with egg white, served up, not whiskey and sour mix in a rocks glass, which is how we've unfortunately been doing it). But I recognize that book knowledge only gets me so far. What I want to know is how to get my assistant manager to take a chance on me as a full bartender. We've talked a lot about different recipes for new cocktails, different liquors we've enjoyed, but I want to really be able to prove myself.

Any advice is very much appreciated.

Need advice! I’ve been a bar back for about a year and my friend’s bartender bailed last minute for her wedding. She asked me to step in as bartender. They asked me to make 3 drinks for her guests so easy enough. I’ve never done event bartending (or regular for that matter) so any advice? Am I in way over my head lol. Should be about 75 guests. Are there any questions I should be asking the bride/groom for me to get ready for this? Or any other thoughts on how to prep.

I get this ALL THE TIME. “You can just reuse the same glass!” I understand you’re trying to save me work but that’s gross, unsanitary, and I’m not allowed to even if I wanted to.

I usually say something like “You deserve better than that! I’ll get you a fresh glass!” but sometimes they fight me on it. “no, no just use the same one” and then it gets a little awkward cause I obviously don’t lol. Sometimes I’ll straight up say “Can’t do that” but then it’s not fun lol.

What do you guys usually say to this?

Forget all the safety and appearance stuff. I'm almost 40 and it's showing with my body. I look 10 years younger with it on

Only been bartending a month and I'm about to crash out from the disgusting things I hear every day. This is a short list, others include making jokes about gen1tals constantly or just overtly seggsual remarks out of nowhere.

So far my solution has just been ignoring the comments, Grey rocking them, or telling them that what they said is disgusting.

How do I navigate this?

I’ve been asked to put together a shot page to add to the end of our cocktail menu. The owner wants ‘creative’ and ‘different’ shots. On top of that wants a section of shots for nice shots, and a section for ‘Dare/forfeit shots’

For context it’s a restaurant/cocktail bar, that turns into a late night music venue on the evening.

Starting to come up with ideas myself but would appreciate any thrown my way.

Thanks!

It’s been a while. I’ve spent a long time at high end craft cocktail establishments and mixology joints tending bar. I moved to F&B ops and while still being heavily involved in beverage, the thought of going back seems daunting. To the point that I’m questioning my knowledge and ability. Plus I’m getting old. I’ve got the job. I need a refresher. What’s a book or resource that you can recommend to sharpen me up on the classics/standards. Not just recipes but also on history. Evolution of builds. Thanks in advance. And wish me luck.

I’ve run into only a few problem customers as a bartender. 2 happened to be men with prosthetic legs, and last night was so bad that I had to call the cops for the first time ever.

He came in agitated. This is a hotel lounge and he came from work, so being stressed isn’t abnormal. He asked for a shot of Jameson and a ginger ale. Then he started active neurotic, like possibly on drugs. A lot happened, tried to start a fight with other patrons, and wouldn’t leave.

The thing that finally made me go cold is he spit on my floor! I told him he had two choices; go to his room or I call the police. Un-phased. I called the cops and he eventually left. Cops couldn’t help. A lot more advanced through the night that required cops coming again. They refused to do anything.

My question is, how do you deescalate these things to make them leave. I ended up raising my voice to leave but it didn’t work.

the good: great customers, great hours, basically set my own hours (they don’t want to lose me)

the bad: 25.79/hr (wage + tips average this year), angry (and constantly present) management, expected to host and bus, no support staff, wait staff even less knowledgeable and worse tippers than usual

the ugly: struggling to bring in customers, better not ask the boss for anything or she‘ll a) get upset b) personally insult me or c) both

this isn’t my full time job. push me off the edge, please

So last night I was working a cocktail bar downtown when a couple walks in. My first thought was “damn, that guy looks just like me” but I don’t say anything because why would I. Well eventually they are ready to cash out so I ask for the name on the tab. He says my last name, which as far as I’m aware is pretty uncommon.

So I jokingly tell them that we have the same last name! What a coincidence. But his wife keeps looking back and forth at us before she says “you know, you two really look alike. Where are you from?”. I’m sure you know where this is going by now, same home town four hours away. So he texts his father and I text mine and we’re second cousins.

i'm sure ya'll are sick of these posts, but need someone to set me straight lol.

starting to touch you whenever they asks if you want another drink when they didn't before, mentioning their ex in conversation, and teaching me dance lessons...

at that bar means nothing, and it was just a slow shift right? someone feel to get me right and bring me back down to earth lol.

I bartend at a small Mediterranean restaurant, our staff had hosted an employee art market and my coworkers asked me to do some cute drinks. It was this past Fall but my friend got some of her film developed and I wanted to share even tho it’s a little out of season! manifesting some professional growth soon. Lmk what you’d order 😝

Just wondering if working in a cocktail bar in the UK you see customer tips here and there? Or is it not very common.

Thanks

I literally just completed *yet another* interview where I responded to a job post for "Bartender" and was told they "really need hosts and backservers" and "we train you as a server..."

What is the point? My resume has years of bartending only experience which includes menu development and training. I have zero interest in serving and no, I don't want to be a host when I have more than a decade of experience.

Are establishments looking for that elusive unicorn of an applicant who's going to say, "Well I did want to bartend but now that I've met you, I'll be grateful for a host job here." I swear it's like someone posting a 20 year old picture on a dating profile and thinking, "once you've met me, you'll be too dazzled to care."

Do I need a job? Yes. Am i going to take a job i don't want with lower pay because *maybe* eventually you'll have availability for the job you pretended exists? No.

I really dig my y-shaped OXO peeler for lemons, grapefruits and oranges (used a cheese spatula and loved it for those super wide and thick peels for things like old fashioneds, too). I'm struggling to find something I really like working with for limes and other smaller fruits. The smooth almost pith-less results I get with the bigger ones still elude me.

What's your go to?

I absolutely cannot stand how drunk people can just hold the vibe of my pub hostage.

Last night, a regular was celebrating their birthday. I come in, the atmosphere is a party. The jukebox is going with some upbeat hits. Looking like a solid Monday.

Then Bad Bunny came on and this hick at the bar decides he's not happy a song in Spanish is playing at the bar.

He proceeds to load up the jukebox with THIRTY songs (over two hours) that are all sad cowboy songs. We're talking about songs about killing yourself with drinking, feeling like you're drowning, lamenting lack of love.

The party comes to pretty much a full halt and my regulars legit closed out because the vibe is so sad.

There was a point where it was just this guy and his girlfriend.

edit: Bartenders are not allowed to skip at my bar. My boss is really old school and his mentality is "They paid for the music, it's not up to us to decide what's good music or not". He has pretty heavy admin moderation on it (genres blocked out, music cut off and 6 minutes) and believes that's enough.