Drinking bartenders

Did I rustle your feathers a little bit? Sorry, not all of us take something like a bar so seriously that we feel the need to go on virtual rants about bartenders loosening up a little. Chill out.

 

What rustles my feathers is that you go immediately to insulting people when they do not agree with you. Give your opinions and reasons but please leave out the insults directed at real people who do not feel the same way as you. And since you needed to reply I assume a few feathers are now gone from your tail.

 

While I'm totally against drinking on the job, I do find a joint and a few lines tend to loosen me up and make my interactions with my customers more fun for all.
This is how some of you ass hats sound.

 

When I worked as a server in a restaurant where drinking wasn't allowed on the clock, there were customers who insisted I have a drink with them. Talk about a rock and a hard place. Appear as a goody two shoes and maybe my tip suffers, get caught and lose a shift or worse. Well, since coffee cups were available, they would order me a drink and pour it into the coffee cup. Whenever I passed the table, I'd take a sip or if I had a minute to spare, I'd sit down with them [which incredibly was allowed, even encouraged.] There's more than one way to skin a cat.

 

I share good bottles with bartenders at my go to bar. No issue if just trying.

 

It wouldn't bother me at all unless it starts to somehow detract from the quality of service.

 

I think this is probably an apropos statement for the differing opinions that I am reading in the post. When I read between the lines of them all, I'd think a lot of us are probably more on the same page than it would seem, and I think the differences lie mainly in personal situation and experiences.

 

At a couple craft places I frequent, bartenders are encouraged to sample a small pour 'for science.'
Encouraged sampling? Cool
Customers are allowed to buy you a drink? Cool
You're doing your job well and not hammered? Cool! Who am I to judge!
Everyone is going to run their business differently. If you don't like something about an establishment, DON'T GO THERE.

 

If they can perform their job, why should it matter?

 

Is this a serious thread? I find a pub/bar where the bartender is drinking more appealing, if anything.

 

bartenders drinking behind the bar... shocked I say... shocked... never seen that before...

 

I pour on a regular basis at a local brewery & do drink (along with the others behind the rail). I think the above statement is right on.

 

Personally, I would be more concerned with a nose picking bartender.

 

Maybe this doesn't apply to the OP or everyone who is uncomfortable with drinking bartenders, but I have a feeling this is not completely about "safety" or their ability to handle money, etc. The cooks in the back are often doing harder stuff than alcohol. Speaking from experience and having known plenty of people in the business, I feel like this is more about attitude towards people in the service industry. It's honestly awkward having strangers make, prepare, and serve things to us. What makes this easier is if servers put on a facade that a lot of us are calling "acting professional". It's a bit dehumanizing at times, but I think it makes the interaction easier for those being waited on if they, on some level, think less of those serving them.

If a bartender is drinking (or eating, or are on their phone, etc), I think it breaks down this relationship. The server is no longer performing. They appear a bit more human, and it feels odd that they are serving you.

I apologize for the somewhat philosophical and non-beer related rant.

 

If I were a bartender and couldn't grab a few drinks, I'd no longer be a bartender

 

Illegal as all hell in NC.

Even if I could have had a drink on the job when I used to bartend, I wouldn't have, just for liability reasons. NC's dram shop laws make it pretty easy for a bartender to end up getting sued, and I'd not want to give a lawyer anything extra to hang their hat on.

That said, if I was a customer, and the bartender was taking care of business in a professionally-acceptable manner, it wouldn't bother me if they had a few drinks.

 

True enogh however they are now connecting with you, and what more do you want

 

Maybe we drink because people like to whine about every single little thing…YOURE A MONKEY DEREK!!! DANCE DEREK!!! You want "professional," stick to your olive gardens and cheesecake factories. Let the people who have been doing this for years, and sometimes decades, do their job. There are rotten apples in every bunch, but nobodies coming to your workplace and smacking the laser pointer out of your hands.

 

I am pretty stoic. I could be anouncing that I just won the superbowl or that I accidentally ran over your cat with my truck and it would still be the same dead mackerel blank look on my face. So I understand if a bartender or waitress would need to be a little buzzed or drunk to make small talk with me at a beer bar while I am ordering. But if they're clumsily drunk I would probably leave.

 

You have incredibly stupid laws.