Bartender Vision pt 7 "Trick o' the Hand"

I can honestly tell you, the last thing you want to order from me is a Patron margarita, if you claim to be a liquor enthusiast of course, because you will find that a Patron margarita from me has a definite kick. Why do you ask? Because I have spiked it with rail.

How could I do such a thing? I got tired of people saying it ain't taste strong enough, and expecting me to put in more patron as if that would really make make a difference or if I could do that and not get fired. You'd think people would know that compared to your rails, cuervos, etc. patron has a much more subtle, muted flavor (if you can call it that), which makes it good for mixing because it doesn't overpower the other flavors in the drink.

Before you cuss me out for cheating people (granted I'm sure that won't happen since nobody really reads this) I still give a full shot and a half of patron...you just might get and extra half to 3/4 shot of rail to go with it. And of course, I haven't had another complaint since.

Which brings me to one of my biggest pet peeves: Why must people insist on tasting every drop of alcohol in a cup? Mixed drinks serve the purpose of providing a smoother taste to regular alcohol. If you just want alcohol, man (or woman) up, skip the chaser and just take shots! Unless of course your reason for whining about the excess of cranberry juice is your fear of bartenders not giving you your money's worth in alcohol, which I understand. but DAG! Why must we constantly spring for the long island that tastes like gasoline? I know people wanna get nice quick but I assure you, if your drink is made right, good people you will still get there, and maybe even a little quicker if I don't shake the carbonation out of the coke, but my point is I guess, that it's the SAME AMOUNT OF ALCOHOL!

Speaking of requests for stronger drinks, I do the same to zombies, but that doesn't make much of a difference because for a rum, 151 just may just put a little hair on your chest anyway.


Maybe tequila is my answer for everything...who knows?

Bartender Vision pt. 5 A change is gonna come

It kinda blows me that more people come out in the freezing cold but not when there's a light rain. So needless to say, last night was a little slow for a Wednesday, but the beauty of it all is I still do pretty well even on slow nights. It was kinda an off night in general..I didn't party as hard as I usually would, but oh well..maybe I needed the rest; I've been running myself into the ground lately.

On a slightly unrelated note, one patron really got under my skin last night. It's my first time seeing him so he doesn't get a name. He asks me for a double shot of remy..which I pour for him...liberally into a cognac snifter. I give it to him, tell him the price and he complains that it's not a double shot...fml Luckily it was not busy so I took the time to explain to him that it was but he was still insisting...to the point of arguing. So I reach for a shot glass and pour the Remy into it..there's way more than one shot. but then he STILL wanted to argue that it somehow was not two shots...THEN asked for more (little did he know that he got close to 3 shots (when people ask for shot of cognac they actually get a shot and a half, because we want it to look nice in the snifter) !!!!!! UGH! After seeing about the few other customers waiting on my while this fool was trying argue me down....I pour him a splash more. He whines about how he thinks I somehow don't like him......... promises that he will tip me extra..the bill was $24 for a double shot of Remy VSOP.. he left me $4 when gave him $6 ones for change....he ain't even give me 20%.....oh well... but if I see him again he will NOT get the same treatment..I'll just put it into a shot glass so he'll get exactly two shots.... The moral of this anecdote? NEVER bite the hand that slips extra alcohol into your drink free of charge.

We've got some "big" changes coming up within the club..some of which I'm a little apprehensive about to be honest. For one, my bosses got the club so they could party and make money...not so they can help us bartend when it gets busy...which is what they have been doing. They usually bring in an extra bartender during summer months to help man the days (Wed, Ths, Sun) that in the winter don't usually need more than one bartender, but with the quitting of the senior bartender, they've got to hire two instead of one.

I didn't discuss it before, but we don't pool tips* where I work. Whatever you make, you keep. Because the bosses are tired of having to cut short their Friday night party to serve drinks behind the bar, and plus they are opening up a new spot they are going to have 3 bartenders behind the bar on the busiest nights. Great, we have extra help but that comes with problems all its own. They have decided that on those nights we will have 3 bartenders, we will pool tips. the veteran was not having that, and put in her 2 weeks notice. So now I'll be working Fridays also.


The boss man seems convinced we will make more money at the bar AND in tips...I'm hopeful but not 100% sure:

1. We still only have 2 registers.... No matter how many drinks we whip up, we still gotta enter it into the system..and we don't even have POS**.

2. We only have one credit card machine. Again, it just slows down the process...Me and the twin are already strugglin to get our receipt orders processed, and once she accidentally gave away the credit card and ID of one of my customers to the wrong person..(boy was THAT a nightmare)

3. In this instance it's a double edged sword that we'll be pooling tips.. our bosses like hiring people straight out of bar school..no shame in that..for all of us this is our first bar gig. But this means the third person is inexperienced, and doesn't seem like she is bringing in tips just like that just yet. In time she will but I think in the short run it will hurt us. Also, when we are off on our liquor count we have to pay the difference...I feel like there's more room for error, and because you can't pinpoint it to one person...we'll ALL have to pay..which sux. Because if someone is giving their friends a lot of free drinks, or just making a lot of errors in general, it could be ugly. That said, pooling tips can be good because we act as our own bar backs, and when the juices run out, etc we refill them ourselves, because you know you're losing money not serving drinks, I really didn't see anyone wanting to stop to refill the cranberry juice or count out ones from the tip jar when we run out of ones for change in the register.

4. Instead of 2 personalities, it's three...she seems cool but how do the three of us work together..my twin is not super excited about pooling tips for the reasons discussed above and i kinda feel her...but we'll see....at least we don't have to pool on slower nights.

******** Updates on some of my infamous regulars********

The nekked contortionist was back....I was so surprised/shocked/excited I hugged her. lol I asked her why she hadn't been around and apparently she had been banned for a few months because of her dance floor antics... well she was back at it, wine-ing all over the place and drinking zombies..she seemed VERY excited to be back...even brought out some new dance moves....and had the presence of mind to "leave before they ban me again." I was glad.

The Sleuth came in last night. He didn't stay long, just wanted to give me a flyer of a picture of him with VP Biden, for an event announcing his mayoral candidacy......He finally cut off the twists....thank God! I wasn't a flattering style for him. Apparently he's been pursuing my Bartender twin, on nights we're not there together of course, but she constantly rejects him. He has thrown flowers at her because of it then come back later with a Tiffany** bracelet to express his regret. Sigh...when he gon learn?

*The practice of splitting tips evenly at the end of the night, so everyone leaves with the same amount. If you're not as good a bartender or have an off night, its good because what the other bartender made makes up for it...If you're good.....you might feel some kinda way if you're working with someone who isn't bringing in that kinda money for any give reason.
** POS - Point of Sale-the touch-screen flat panel registers in many restaurants and clubs
***The authenticity of this gift has not yet been established.