WhyI Quit my Bartending Gig..

Well its me again and since the last time we talked I was bartending at a club in Atlanta that had a policy of reusing drinks to resale to customers. I Quit! that’s right I quit that horrible job and all the negative energy that started to flow towards me. The atmosphere was really beginning to corrupt me into being a real sleaz-ball yet my Integrity and my character is more important than robbing customers out of their hard earn money. Even the mixed drinks were not really the real recipes and what’s so crazy is the customers (who I think were baby drinkers) didn’t even realize that the were being hood-winked on nearly all of the mixed drinks that used 2 or more liquors. For instance a long island tea consist of rum, vodka and triple sec along with the usual sour mix and coke splash. Then my favorite the Appletini consisted of triplesec, apple pucker and get this guys peach schnapps now that’s really sticking it to your customers. The mere notion that the other bartenders were down with this is what truly made me day Wow this place should be called “No Class” because I didn’t see any professionalism or pride about themselves amongst any of the employees. That brings me to where I am now, unemployed yet happy and feeling good about believing in y morales and not selling out but most of all doing the right thing. Not to get to religious but as a christian I truly believe we have to be an example to first God then to the living word to live a spirit filled life and to love our neighbors and treat one another as we would want to be treated (served). We have to work as citizens in the country doing legitimate and honest work yet we have to duty I feel to let our walk match our talk with character and dignity and for that I’d rather be a unemployed bartender than a money-making, low down dirty with no class bartender. So tell me what do you think?

A Long Night at the Club

Man it was a long, long night at the club I worked at and let me tell ya, the people came to mingle and not to drink. It was a friday night and the weather couldn’t have been more beautiful. The club was packed and its only 8pm so I’m saying to myself mo’ money, mo’ money right; wrong o.k. it started out pretty good people where dancing and drinking and even eating so the night was really moving. The music was awesome and the women were off the chain. Then a strange spirit hit the club around midnight, I like to call it the funny money spirit because drinking and eating came to almost a complete halt! Can you imagine having 9 bartenders and 10 cocktail waitresses standing around looking at one another till 4 am? I mean it was ugly dude and the owner never sends anyone home no matter what. The bad thing about was that after 2 am the club was near empty and the music became very annoying by then. What made matters worse was the managers for some reason took their time checking us out so guess what time we left the club that night… you guess it 4:30 am! “Are you serious”! we all were pissed and stunned because as I stated the club was packed from 8pm till round 12am or so, so what happened, your guess is as good as mind but I know what I hope never happens and that is another funny money night that hopefully is in the books for good…

Boycott Absolut Vodka Now!

I recently read an article that advertised boycotting Absolut vodka on its ad campaign that they launched down in Mexico city some months ago. In brief the ad said that the state of California is really owned and belongs to Mexico (at least a third) and that the Mexicans and or illegal aliens especially in the Arizona area have a legal stance on being in this country when part of it was robbed by the U.S. The ad indicates by some 40 foot billboard that 1/3 of California being turned into Mexico leaving the people of Mexico fired up even more about the boarders being heavily patroled and the illegal immigration act that are being carried out through our government. What is clear is that the Absolut vodka company is running this ad and basically calling it the absolute truth wich in my mind is a sleazy and low blow move especially when the U.S. market alone has made them billions and billions of dollars in alcohol sales for decades. It was a bad advertising move and yet they stand behind it whole heartedly. So won’t you join me in standing tall and firm as true Americans do and tell Absolut vodka that they can kiss our Absolut American ass and take their business elsewhere! http://www.boycottabsolut.com/

The Fisrt Annual B.A.C. Awards…

This is truly an award that people should pay close attention to for it gives an insight on what type of customers are the worst tippers either at restaurants, bars, hotel, airports and or night clubs. There are many other categories i,e. resorts, country clubs and cruise ships yet for time sake I will focus on the ones mentioned above to give a quick debt on what we are dealing with when it comes to certain customers who we do appreciate yet at times can become unruly and down right disrespectful and belligerent when it comes to being serve at certain establishments. So sit back and enjoy this survey that was conducted with over 250 servers, bartenders, managers, cashiers, cocktail servers as well as bussers and barbacks in the past 3 years. I believe and hope you find this enlightening and informative to all service industry employees, and that it will give you a chuckle or two when you see what we’ve seen and heard for the past few years at various establishments. If you are one of the customers or you know of people who fit the criteria please, I beg you please advice them that even though we love their business at times that they ain’t gotta go, but they got to get the hell outa here!

10. Customers who are mainly from Spain, Argentina and or Venezuela are very picky and bossy types of guest. Especially the women who have a major, major chip or their shoulders and look down on anybody who is a U.S. citizens Normally they can have a 2 or 3 hundred-dollar tab yet when its time to pay their known for carrying wads of money in hundreds of course only to leave you a 3, 4, or maybe 5 dollar tip; they really could be in the top three dude.

9. Asians are in this sector usually they are pretty nice and less demanding on anything but they too will leave you with a 6-8% tip no matter how large their party is. The good news is that they smile at you and say tank yooo-uu.
8. Europeans takes this award, even though by now you’d think they would now how to tip when they come in America yet they too will leave an 8-10% tip my man.

7. S.E.C. customers… during football season this is really sad to admit because I am a Gator fan till death yet my friends from the South Eastern Conference are really fun to talk with and to cheer for or against but damn they got the funny money disease!

6. “The Brothers”- as an Africa American myself I tend to shrug and get a little embarrassed at this one because it truly hits home. My father took me out with the family when I was around 10 and he taught me and my brothers about respecting people who work and that they work hard for their money so I’ve always been a 25-35% tipper. Black men will usually tip if it’s a hot chick because they don’t want to look so cheap. Most brothers will tip 9-11% tip normally but don’t hold your breath my friends…

5. The Sista’s- this one too could be in the top 3 yet I’ve seen a slight increase in the tipping customers lately. Now here’s the break down on this one so pay close attention especially white servers and bartenders. If there’s only two sista’s then you’re doing pretty good and won’t run into any problems for the most part yet hey the night is young. If you have 3,4,5,or 6 pray first and then smile at the cordially, usually there will be one who will dominate the whole dinning experience and more times than not she ain’t paying so just try to keep her neutral because she won’t take her foot of your neck until she leaves so make sure the majority are happy and they will stifle her themselves. Never let one out of 5 or 6 dominate the dinning experience because if you do allow it, it will become a domino effect they will all want to see the manager and get free desert, drink or void the whole meal totally. They won’t ever come in trying to get something for free but it will be at least one of them who is a professional instigator and hustler and she won’t stop till she get what she wants….Freebies!

4. Families with Kids Now I’m a family man myself yet families with kids especially first time mothers or housewives will drive you crazy and leave the biggest and nastiest mess to clean up nearly every time. They always have that I’m about to explode look on their faces as if the world is about to end if they don’t get their chocolate milk, grill cheese sandwiches, mac-n-cheese or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in less than 30 seconds. The first problem you will notice is that the men act like it’s not their job to control their bad ass kids and will just order a beer and walk off into the lounge to watch ESPN, while mommy dearest is pulling her hair out trying to get Johnnie and Heather to stop pouring the sugar out of the caddie, spilling their drinks or breaking those crackers all over the floor only to leave you a measly 7-9% tip.

3. Golf fans These men are over 35 and are really on another planet when it comes to being at a bar. Usually they will order 1 drink and sip on it for the next hour and a half holding up the bar and your tables. They may even order a coke or ginger ale and chips and dips to pretend like their ordering yet they will sit at the table or bar for nearly 4 hours with a 10-15 dollar tab. When you approach them on ordering something else they will remind you that they have ordered something even while you watch your bar or the establishment getting busier he will not budge until the entire tournament is over…Hell to the Na-ll!!!

3.Businessman- These guys are normally cordial and quiet just like their tips very quiet and weak yet while all of this is true they will ask you for food reciept to take back to their place of business to get money back on food they ever ordered. Rule number one with businessmen, never talk politics, religion or money with these guys because it seems to get them aggravated for some reason yet I never figured out why?

2. Foreign Soccer fans They really need Jesus because these people will literally go off on you if they can’t hear the game on loud as hell! They will ask for every t.v. in the joint to be on the world cup yet you can only watch one t.v. dude. Very very rude and cheap as hell with most of the time leaving a 3-4% tip even with a hundred-dollar tab and that’s only if their team wins…

And the B.A.C. award for the cheapest customer of 2010 goes to…
THE NASCAR FANS!!!!
Now this ones a doozy because they will walk in a place of business and ask for a natural light beer or a Busch beer and when you politely say you don’t carry those beers they will say in a loud voice “this is still America isn’t it”? The thing that disturbs me with nascar fans is that the race is about 4 hours long yet the will ask you not to change to channel to Ohio State and Michigan game which makes them look crazy. Second they don’t even look at the race the whole time they will just look up from time to time and carry on their conversation. They will drink their asses off yet if you can get 4 dollars out of 6 men boy your lucky as hell jack. But for all of this mention they are the winners of the B.A.C. awards of 2010.

Finally I’d like to say a lot of the categories may seem a little off especially to female bartenders yet one has to keep in mind that at times you are an exceptions pertaining to male dominance on a bar so we have to use a curving system to even out all of our findings when dealing with the customers we mentioned. We know that there are hundreds of more categories and we will be adding those categories in our next survey that’s taking place as we speak. We hope that our honest experience and comments were not too offensive as we also critique our own race as well. people are people no matter their origin, language or culture yet we have to adapt on the fly to giving them a complete dinning or service experience. It is our responsibility and pleasure to serve people from all over the world despite some of their behaviors when we interact with them. We thank them and invite them back for better or worse it is our pleasure…

Why I Hate Businessmen At My Bar

I’ve been bartending for over 20 plus years and I have serve people of all races and various occupations from movie stars,rappers, athletes from all sports, ordinary people and oh yes the dreaded businessmen. Now I truly don’t have a preference of who comes to my bar yet when it comes to businessmen they are really cheap as hell. Don’t get me wrong I appreciate all my customers no matter who they are or how they look but man sometimes I’d rather deal with a drunk than to deal with 5 or 6 businessmen who will drink their asses off with their nose tossed in the air only to have a $150.00 tab and leave you $6.00; Whey dey do dat At???? These men by the way will ask you for food reciept to take back to their jobs and get money back on food they didn’t even order yet will sit at your bar for a whole football game and leave you chicken change. It is these people who are in the same class as I am and are just trying to provide for my family. They are usually middle class men and family and yet they act as if they are better than you when we’re in the same boat moron’s! Life is hard enough to make it with the economy the way it is and we all are trying to maintain and hold on till it passes over. Yet as Americans we should treat each other with respect no matter what their occupation may be after all somebody had to bartend how else would you get a drink homie home. Another terrible tipper are golf people and nascar people. Real quick golf people are used to getting things for free or are members of a golf club which is fine. When golf season is in especially at the airport they will sit the whole 3 to 4 hours and hold your table up drinking club sodas or a coke and chips and salsa, how rude. We would have to turn the t.v. to get them off the bar stools to allow real customers to sit down and eat or drink and they would go ballistic on you if you ask them to cash out and let a guest who ordered wings and a pizza to sit at the bar; are you serious man! Then the nascar people rude, rude, and rude they will eat and maybe drink but they will seldom leave a tip. They don’t wanna watch football, nor baseball and diffenantly not basketball. They have a funny saying “if it doesn’t have a motor than it isn’t a sport”; your kidding right? All in all it seems that people are just people and who you really are will eventually be exposed sooner or later. My hope is that if any good American goes out to your local watering hole that you simply respect the people who prepares your food or make your drinks because it is real job and serious business because this industry is in the top 10 of lucrative business according to money magazines. I love what I do and for good or bad I will continue to provide great customer service one guest at a time…

It’s In The Mix

Have you ever ordered lets say a margarita top shelf of course with salt and extra lime wedge only to get the drink and take the first sip only to say, “hey I don’t taste the alcohol and this drink taste a little funny? Well it’s not often that the bartender can truly screw up this drink and yet he/she can. One things for sure is that you can’t mess up patron I mean it is what it is and that leads up to the mixer that the bartender may be or may not be using correctly. One of my biggest pet peeves stems from restaurant/bar managers and owners never really knowing how to order the proper mixers to accommodate the liquor that they may carry. No matter how we as bartenders try to tell them not to skim on buying cheaper and less expensive types of mixers they do anyway and that lies the problem folks. You see you wouldn’t go out and buy a 80,000 dollar car only to go to a mom and pop gas station to get gas would you; hell no you wouldn’t;would you take your car to a shade tree mechanic to fix your transmission in that same car! So I ask you why would you buy top shelf alcohol from a vender only to buy boot leg mixer that does blend with the proper type of mixers to go inside your drink. This blog is created solely for restauranteurs who either have a bar/ restaurant now or may own in the near future or even regular people who go out to clubs, bars and what have you only to keep sending back that long island tea. My advice for you all is take some time to educate yourselves about mixers and how they can accent the alcohol content before you spend countless dollars voiding drinks and bitching or threatening the bartender about high liquor cost that you yourself initiated buy purchasing crappy tasting mixers! My professional advice is to allow the bartenders to recommend a proper mixer i.e, sourmix, margarita mix, o.j. and especially bloody mary mix if you don’t make your own as I do. You’d be amazed on how the wrong grapefruit juice coul really tick the customer off and leave you with a high liquor cost month after month if you would’ve simply invested a little time and a few extra pennies in buying something that is tasty, has a longer shelf life and is a crowd pleaser when concerning the ultimate goal if your staying in business… The customer.

HAPPYHOUR!

Rude People At The Airport.. Part two

As I had written a few weeks ago prior the Steven Slater’s incident on the airplane when a passenger would not sit down and ultimately hit him in the head with her bag falling out of the compartment (lawsuit); I was sincere and honest when I was giving you facts on how customers treat employees at airports. Although I was talking about Hartsfield-Jackson airport in general yet there are many airport employees that have to deal with unruly ghetto ass people. When I say ghetto in this instance it doesn’t pertain to ethnicity of the customers because country folks act ghetto, northerners act ghetto and especially the conservative mid-westerners! boy where do these people come from? The term ghetto in this case simply means acting inappropriately without a conscience thought. Man they simply don’t give a damn is what it boils down to. Many travellers think that the airlines and the airport as well as the vendors are all link together so if they get delayed or cancellation that everything in the airport should be free where ever they go. Well let me break it down to you travelers who just don’t know. Its like the pentagon in Washington D.C. there are many agencies from the FBI, CIA, ATF as well as local police agencies. They all may have the same goal in common yet they all act on their own accordance without reporting to one another, same agenda yet different methods and that’s how the airport is structured we’re here to serve the customers yet we don’t act or are not ran under the same accordance so in that being said please stop asking for free stuff! I once asked a senior manager at the airport is there a survey you can do on rude people? He laughed and said that it wouldn’t make sense because we have to please a customer no matter what and I said yet some customers are seasoned in that they look for ways of getting over on businesses and they are successful at doing it especially now with the economy the way it is people are more hostile and ruder to you and its even escalated to being threatened by your customers. He then told me there’s nothing you can do but to take it… Hell to the Na’ll! I have a 21 year in Washington D.C. attending school at the University of Maryland and she calls me and says “dad these people are so rude at this airport every time I travel it gets worse and worse; I said who the employees and she says no the travelers. what she was referring to was even the men will cut in front of women or even shove them out of their way to get where they are going. Now all airlines live by the customer service report and that’s how they get rated in the AAA and also that rating determines a lot of people bonuses and thus lies the problem. You see what happened to Steven Slater was no isolated incident but years and years of b.s. piling up on him from constant nagging and rude customers.
we no where our butter comes from so don’t think I’m not appreciative yet “WE ARE PROFESSIONALS” and we don’t need you talking to us like we are your step children you ordered from east Africa. We are trained professionals and if we apologize and say the flight is delayed don’t turn around and call me moron or asshole I don’t run the airport I just work here and can only give you the info they give to me. Mr. Slater has put up with this mess for many years and so has his fellow employees yet we do it not because we can’t find other work we do it simply because we love people and meeting new people. To do this job you have to be a people person and that’s what Steven is. Although I’ve never met him we are brothers in the service industry. You have to be crazy to do what we do because it’s no great money yet our reward comes from pleasing ad satisfying our guest who are priority number one. In this new age of me, me, me people have lost their sense of character and etiquette when it comes to dining,sporting events,concerts, plays and flying to name a few. You don’t have true diners so you have to deal with the lo-budget kind of client even if they have money they have no respect for their fellow-man. It’s no wonder kids are more careless, thoughtless and selfish to name a couple you have their parents to thank for that. Our job as employees in the hospitality field is to make it happen and to wow the customers yet how can we do our job we the guest speaks to you if you’re any Tom, Dick, or Harry; that’s why I phrased it that Steven Slater was a Vic-”Tom” and not a victim. We should thank Mr. Slater for his 20 plus years of service and for taking so long to finally snap. My final words comes from my grandmother who once said to “treat people the way you want to be treated and everything will be fine”; maybe they should put that in every service industry business on a 50 foot neon sign… Peace Be Still,