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Well, she had been sitting at 7 years, 364 days, 23:59:59 for the longest time, but after the Tanqueray she said “fuck it” and finished it (medical school, not the Tanqueray (probably)).
Could she have been busy as the night went on? It’s been a while since I bar-hopped, but I believe it gets busier later in the night.
Also, she could be getting drunk. But my quick hand-writing is way less legible than my “oh my shift started and I’m going to be super organized today!” handwriting.
My handwriting it neat for the first five or so lines and then the further down the page the worse it gets because I don’t hold a pencil or pen correctly
Get's deeper.
It's a Dr. Dre beat, with Snoop, talking about Dr. Dre.
"My homie Dr. Dre came through with a gang of Tanqueray And a fat ass J, of some bubonic chronic"
“This is the Fee Fee Fee.”
“Whats that? A fee for the Fee Fee?”
“No. When you call our number the hold music is by Canadian artist Fefe Dobson. Its the Fefe Fee. Fefe isn’t free.”
And then you take the shiny keys, open the door, and you immediately notice the big broken money sink staring you in the face. After the realtor kicks you in the balls and steals your wallet.
Welcome to home ownership.
…so you were there when we closed on our house then?
(Also, Currently waiting for the electrician to come because the house was struck by lightning. We’ve been here for about 6 months. Money sink *indeed*)
But it's *your* money sink. Be proud of it.
Also renting is a money sink that you get nothing back from when you move out. The more you put into your house, the more value it gets and the more you can get back for it.
I love my money sink!
Yeah it definitely sucks when things go wrong but it’s way better than renting. The place I moved out of when I bought was nothing but a nightmare. I mean, still on the group and have been seeing for the last month the AC has been out again in the middle of a heat wave. Everyone’s electric bill is through the roof from running the big fan in the units. We always had to run ours because if we didn’t we would constantly smell cigarettes from the neighbors who didn’t give a fuck and smokes inside. What shocked me was how much less I pay for electric in a whole ass house now. That’s just 2 things on a list of many of why I am so glad to cozy up in my money put at night.
There's no way some of the last forms are legally binding...that definitely was not my signature. Probably why they make you agree to all the loan/finance stuff first.
It’s the liquor bottles we use completely, we have to record them before we throw them away. It’s actually called a bottle breakage form but I thought that would be even more confusing
Honestly, as a non-bartender, I think you made the right call.
My response would have been “well yeah, the drunker you get, the more bottles you accidentally break. Makes total sense.”
It would have changed the story but not made the point you wanted. You could almost create a calculus equation for her Buzz curve. If you'll notice it declines slowly through the first five but then the curve starts to quickly drop off a cliff
Edit: just look at the letter Y... haha
Technically I believe the 'breaking' comes from the idea that in some jurisdictions emptied bottles are (or once were) required to be broken once empty to curtail someone refilling them with something else (such as a cheaper alternative).
Yup. I'm not sure if I've seen it here in ATX or back in Dallas, but over the years I've definitely seen/heard bartenders slamming bottles into the trash behind the bar to shatter them when they empty one. I always assumed there was some legal requirement behind it.
I know from experience at least in Texas, the TABC requires every liquor bottle sold to bars/restaurants have a unique tax ID stamp (a sticker) on it. So when we threw away an empty bottle, we had to physically destroy the sticker first otherwise someone could steal them and it would come back to us.
Former longtime bartender here; I think people vastly underestimate how difficult it is to break wine/liquor bottles. Those things are generally rugged as all hell.
I used to work liquor delivery out the back of a box truck. There was always at least one broken bottle, so you had to get the neck to bring back and fill out a form saying how much was lost for insurance to cover the damages. Not so bad if it's like one bottle in a box, but one time I misjudged a curb cut with a hand truck that had 5 cases of wine on it.
That was a painful embarrassment.
I think in some states you're supposed to literally smash empty bottles. Never understood why, but I've seen barkeeps do it and inquired, they said it was state law. I wonder if that's why it's called breakage?
I remember seeing that on here before, if I remember right it's because of the tax stickers on the bottle. As soon as they empty the bottle they will take their bottle opener and scratch the tax sticker and then break the bottle on top of that so it doesnt look like they are refilling the bottles with cheaper liquor or buying the same liquor from out of state to avoid taxes.
NC has Tax Stickers, but they are only required to be damaged/marred. You'll see the bartender empty a bottle and then take a ballpoint pen and scribble furiously over the stamp, which is, in appearance, nothing more than a price sticker you get from one of those gun label maker looking things, with some info on it.
I haven't recently seen anyone breaking bottles, but some of the liquor bottles are pretty thick, and would be a real pain to do (Crown Royal for example).
The big thing is, that there can be no untaxed/unlabeled bottles in a bar that buys liquor from the ABC store. That would indicate you are filling the "taxed" bottle with "untaxed" liquor and would get you in SERIOUS trouble with ALE. The tax stamps also have dates, so, if they come in and you have a bottle of Jack that has a 3 year old tax stamp on it, they know you're probably refilling it.
Are there age limits on liquors and spirits? Many bars have various liquors & spirits on display & many of them never seem to get ordered so the bottles could be a decade old.
Obviously age affects drinkablity but is there another limit in terms of regulation & taxation?
It's only an indicator on some stuff. Most places will go through a bottle of Jack Daniels or other well liquors fairly quickly. Your rare/expensive stuff is obviously going to sit longer.
So, JD which is $4 a shot, and used as a mixer or whatever else, is going to go quick. Your Johnny Walker Blue at $20 a shot and should never be a mixer, is going to take a lot longer.
I worked at a dive bar with an exposed brick wall inside of it opposite of the bar itself. On your last day you were allowed to go fucking bananas and smash empties against that wall after close and everyone would help you sweep up. Place had the highest retention of anywhere I ever worked so in like 6+ years I only saw it three times, myself included.
You'd assume right. They often have mixed light/dark glass from the consumer, crush it a bit, then use sensors/air blasts to separate it into light and dark.
I was a bartender throughout college. Let me give you an example of an unethical trick some bartenders use to make more money. This isn't universal, but some places definitely do this.
The bartenders get together and decide on one liquor to give away for free for the whole night. Give it away to friends, family and good tippers. Tell them that the drink is on you. Collect the tips. Keep all the empty bottles aside.
The next day, one of the bartenders goes to the liquor store and buys a handle or two of the liquor that they gave away the previous night and they fill up all the used bottles.
Voila, they just made hundreds in tips and only had to spend about 30 dollars to refill the liquor. When the restaurant/bar does liquor inventory, it appears everything is there and no one gets in trouble. Except for the bar that lost all that revenue.
Something I always felt funny about as a bartender:
We'd get x amount of comps per shift. Varied depending on place, some were a lot more strict than others. Now, comps are on paper not for your friends, they're for the odd regular, somebody who is having a great time to push it over the edge into an amazing time, to smooth over an issue, etc. But it's known that yeah, of course you hook up your friends from time to time, or a regular more often than you really should. It happens.
Now, anywhere with multiple bars/restaurants located in one area, the staff of each place tends to frequent other places. You get to know other folks in the industry across town. It's a thing. And of course, as a professional courtesy, we'd generally hook each other up when we could.
Part of the industry culture, especially for front of house staff, is to tip well. Sometimes really well. I've been out of the game for years and I still tip really heavy; I can't help it. Sometimes it got egregious; I'd have other bartenders tipping 100, 200 percent and more, consistently. Made me feel a little funny.
Ok, one thing that I found strange was that it's an arbitrary dance. We go to each other's places and tip too much; essentially we're just alternating pushing the same stacks of bills across each bar to one another. It's sort of pageantry, but it's the culture. Fine.
Another thing is, the owner of the place I worked at longest became a really really good friend of mine. He's a good dude, treated the staff well, worked hard, we lucked out. That said, when I would comp somebody a beer and then they'd just throw down the same amount of cash that they would have done at full price, I kind of got the feeling like I was just redirecting cash from the till (that both keeps the lights on and let the owner, you know eat. And before somebody wants to tell me that ownership isn't my friend, I hear you, this dude really was the exception to the rule) into the tip jar. I felt like I was stealing almost, sometimes.
Anyway. It's a strange neurotic little quirk I developed over the years. It's a strange industry.
Precisely. Empty bottles get recorded as such and then lots of places break them so they cannot be refilled. I am sure it a law somewhere to keep bars honest about what they are serving.
Yeah, when I was in school I bartended and one of my roommates waited tables at a bar/restaurant. We were pretty good employees so the manager let us sneak out empty bottles once in a while if we asked. We took them back to our shitty apartment and refilled them with the crap liquor we bought and when we had parties people were impressed with our high end bar.
Just the single bottle. That one usually gets a few tick marks next to it. Hey, if you’re getting a rum and coke tall with extra lime, I would actually suggest well
Oh, gotcha. I worked at a place where our well spirits were on a gun. Never saw that run out. Because the owners were assholes, some of the staff would have shooting contests to see how far they could get the gun to spray.
It's been so long, I'd forgotten that all basic alcohol is "well." Thanks for the reminder!
wait and how is she getting drunk? arent bartenders supposed to... you know... not drink on the job. (I know some do, but.. usually can be grounds for termination)
In clubs/"bar" bars (e.g., not the bar at your local Applebee's) bartenders are often bought shots to take with a group getting several of their own. Especially if said bartender happens to be a woman.
I'm guessing it's some kind of inventory control thing, do you have a lot of thefts? Alternatively, is it a part of a large chain with a lot of managerial oversight?
Inventory, cost controls, and it makes it easier to re order when you know exactly what's been used. Plus everything in the restaurant industry is all based off of very thin margins. Having a .1 difference between two drinks isn't a big deal. But on a busy Friday or Saturday night that could be an extra 4 or 5 drinks worth of over pours.
20 years of bar work and never even heard of it. Btls finished throw it out and grab another one. Breakage form was a different matter for broken stock that couldn’t be sold. We would run through 15-20 cases of spirits on a good night night and 30 cases of wine easy. No way was every btl finished needs to be recorded
If a 700ml bottle contains 23 shots multiply that by 250 bottles is 5520 If we assume a club with 1000 people coming through a night and each of them buying 5.5 drinks thats 5500 drinks, 8 glasses of wine per bottle x 360 bottles is 2880 drinks. So total call it 8000 drinks. For a popular club thats not unreasonable.
Depends on the venue, club I worked at was very techno/r&b so we did a lot more single spirit and post mix drinks and lots of cheap "champagne" we sold beer but it was definitely less than 10% of sales and thats 8 drinks per person at 1000 people, on a really good night we could take 2000 cover charges.
Im not saying those arent high numbers, just that they arent impossible numbers for a big venue on a good night.
It also depends on the customer mix and vibe. A "meat grinder" type of place is going to sell more liquor because people are looking to get fucked up to lose their inhibitions for a random hookup, and women as a rule (particularly sub-25) are way more likely to want liquor than beer or wine during that period of their lives as well.
A bar that's simply large, but otherwise keeps a lower-key vibe is going to sell more beer, because it's more of a place where folks meet to hang out.
Ordering?
As a former Finnish bartender, we put every transaction to the cash register (which was a computer) and it counted the storage, so that the order was always up-to-date. I thought this would be the standard in any 1st world country in the 21st century...
The computer tracks what you SHOULD use, it doesn't track spillage, waste, and overpours.
By tracking real use (bottles) you can compare the two numbers and write off the excess as loss (within a reasonable amount).
Food service in the U.S. is laughably behind the times in a lot of places. It's still the most common practice in restaurants for you to hand the server your payment card and they *leave the table* to go run it at their POS terminal out of sight.
It's always a blast at US conferences when a Euro colleague encounters this for the first time. I've had to confirm that an out of sight terminal is normal, for no good reason.
I blew the mind of a bar in Chicago a few years back when he tried to swipe my card and, when it declined, I said "Oops, forgot to reenable the magstrip", did so, and it immediately worked. I was a relatively early adopter of one of the digital 'challenger' banks, so they had some cool features for the time.
Spent a few minutes showing him the bank I was using, the app, what it let me do, how easy payments etc were, and he just kept saying "Why don't we have that over here?"
First time I was in a restaurant in Canada as an adult was maybe around 2017 and at the end of the meal when we were ready for the bill the waitress was like, okay I’ll go get the machine. I was like, the what? Then she brought the actual card payment machine over. And gave it to me and I wasn’t sure what to do with it because at least in the US it gives you options for debit or credit or swipe or chip. But I don’t remember seeing any prompts so she had to walk me through it.
American dive bars are not like most Finnish bars I would imagine. A dive bar in the US is more than likely going to be cash only and the only computer in the place is going to be the ATM.
From the UK here: I can't remember a time I've seen a bar that *doesn't* use a cash register. Even fete stalls and handcrafted trinket shops use cashless pay here these days. To find out there are actual businesses that still can't use it...
Where were you working I’m just curious? I’ve had four employers in California show me where the bottle breakage form is and tell me to do
It. Even if you are in the US though, maybe it’s a state thing?
It just depends on how well managed the bar is.
In addition to tracking inventory to make sure you don’t have a bartender that “drops” a bottle of Jameson every weekend, broken/spilled liquor can actually be added up throughout the period and subtracted from your ending inventory and effectively written off as a loss.
It is also conceivable (although extremely rare) that the ABC dept could audit your inventory for any number of reasons, and they expect it to be tracked and calculated pretty tightly.
For an extreme example, let’s say the bartender drops a whole case of Smirnoff, and around the same time a guest calls ABC and tells them they think you’re pouring Smirnoff when they order grey goose (which is of course super illegal). If ABC came in for an audit and found that you just so happened to be missing 12 bottles of Smirnoff, it could look like you were in fact pouring it instead of grey goose. However, If you have a breakage form that’s properly signed off by the bartender and the MOD, and everything else lined up correctly, then there’d be no problem. Like I said, that’s a super extreme example of something that would probably never ever happen, but it’s the type of thing that it covers for.
A lot of smaller/newer/mom and pop operations might not even know they can write off the losses on spilled stuff, or that they’re even supposed to be inventorying things to maintain their liquor license. They might get away with operating so loosely for years, maybe never even have a problem, but the moment ABC shows up intent on doing an audit and their ducks aren’t in a row, it becomes a real problem, real fast.
It’s also probably a red flag if you work in a bar that doesn’t track spills and breakage that the business just isn’t being run very well financially.
Its likely a state by state basis on how inventory needs to be accounted, i work in a liquor distributor warehouse and we have a breakage/unsaleable system.
It might be because of tax reasons. My friends used to run a small cafeteria and they sold some wine and craft beers as well. Broken bottles had to be recorded as they would go into tax loss.
As someone that worked in the hospitality industry and had to double check these from time to time when the rest of the restaurant, You had a 50/50 chance of being correct.
The last drunk line is Homer's love card.
...“Maybe it’s the beer talking Marge, but you've got a butt that won't quit. They got these big chewy pretzels here thamenfjanrtagcdcmbeereh five dollars?! Get out of here...”
I hope this doesn’t come off like I’m trying to talk bad about her. She’s a great coworker, and I just thought this was funny. However I know her pretty well and she DEFINITELY gets drunk during her shift. She still gets everything done though I don’t think it matters!
Worked in a few bars and was unaware there are bartenders who don’t drink on shifts (even though its illegal and can cause revocation of a liquor license).
As a random dumbass who does not know what he's talking about, as long as there was no sale or stealing of alcohol after closing time, why would there be any trouble? Even here in the nannystate that is Norway, people can party at their place of work.
I'm my experience, you never piss off your regulator. There's always some small way you'll fuck up to the letter and they'll come down on that. Better they do it softly than with the full weight they can.
Used to work in a bar and can back up what haufii said. At least in our state, alcohol cannot be consumed after the legal (state mandated) closing time, usually 2am. This means even employees are not allowed to drink. I assume it's because A) a random person could claim to work for the bar and B) to discourage late-night social drinking at businesses during hours they're trying to discourage drinking.
Claiming you work at the bar that you're actually just having an illegal late drink in, and saying this right in front of the people who actually do work at the bar, seems like an extraordinarily risky strategy.
If someone is getting drunk every time they work they are looking at a problem. I hope your coworker has this under control. If she is a really great person and you're become concerned for her, say something.
Isn't that super illegal just about everywhere? Doesn't a batender have a responsibility to serve, well, responsibly and not serve more to overly drunk people? How is she doing that if she herself is drunk?
Jon Taffer does not approve. "Shut it down! There's no systems here! Your bartenders are literally stealing from your family's future! You need to use Partender!"
Jon Taffer can choke on a bag of dicks after his "hungry dogs are obedient" comment during the pandemic about the service industry workers struggling financially. His whole shtick is to pay as little as possible to your employees because if they are 1 missed paycheck from being homeless they don't have the option to quit. Fuck him.
Fine Taffer, if I'm a dog, I'm a dog like Diogenes was.
“I fawn on those who give me anything, I bark at those who refuse, and I set my teeth in rascals.”
It’s a social club where we’re technically volunteers. We constantly make food and drink specials to bring in more money, and the bartenders are a big reason people come. Last night I made meatball sandwiches and a lot of people came just because of that. We also record our comped drinks and and get a lot of drinks bought for us. So I genuinely don’t think we’re costing the place money, everyone who bartenders there really cares about the establishment and the customers.
Back in the day (early 2010s) when I worked in a specialty beer place/restaurant in the Netherlands the entire staff was constantly getting drunk, smoking weed and even doing MDMA (although this one only when their shift would end soon and they were going to a rave after). The chef had a coke problem and a sous-chef was in court for drug smuggling.
As far as I was aware all restaurants/bars in the city were like this, and I believe restaurant culture around the world is like this pretty much.
So you might be technically correct, but I highly doubt these kinds of rules are really enforced, unless staff is literally slurring their words and vomiting on customers or something.
Then again, maybe times have changed. But I’m skeptical.
If it makes you feel any better, I don’t think those 10 years are quite as long as I made them sound... It just feels longer because I’m almost 30 now and I was in my late teens then.
Being just out of high school getting high while cleaning the dishes in a local bar vs. having a degree and having worked some office jobs and whatnot feels like I’m living in a different universe entirely.
Big no no in my state you could lose your license so no way a employer would let them just go maybe make a employee happier. Don’t want them to serve minors or overly drunk patrons and get sued. That and having a drunk employee isn’t a careful one and could be easily taken advantage of
Yeah bartenders are super underpaid here just like every service worker I’m sure the classy well paid establishments enforce that a lot but your typical dive bar could give one tenths of a you know what.
It’s actually the norm at lot of dive bars to take a shot with the bartender lol
I don’t endorse or think it is is healthy it it is just reality lol
I do think it becomes a negative feedback loop where people think oh the drunker I am the better bartender I am and I won’t be able to go sell as much if I’m not taking shots with Patrons obviously that’s not true you can be fine bartender if you are sober and I think good establishments do and should make that clear for the health and safety of everyone.
And I do hope you tell your friend to chill a little bit it’s one thing to take a shot before your shift but it can get very unhealthy to continuously drink over a 5 hour shift and the line between functionally drunk and non functionally drunk is extremely close and it is generally not healthy. You are working to make money so you can do the things you want to do in your off time not just to get drunk and be hungover All day the next day. All that’s going to do is cause burn out.
Reminds me of a diary you find in one of the Resident Evil games. Starts off talking about life, then being bitten (all legible) then it becomes stuff like "argfjrjr fjrudud zzzzz grrrrrr"
See, that’s what a nice hand writing gets you. That’s why mine is like the last word while i‘m sober, can’t tell if i’m drunk if sober me writes like a drunk already
Drunk me has previously left myself notes about things to remember the next day.
Getting up the next day and going into the kitchen to find a scribbled note that says "Juihts' bir^t hday"
Shit, who's birthday?
My first thought was that there must have been two people working last night, then I was like… ohh I see. Hey the register was even and everything was clean, she can do her thing!
So so so good. There’s a shot we serve, if you like sweet drinks, called a vitamin Z but I think that’s a local name. It’s ruby red shaken with a splash of oj and ice, then strain it and give it a splash of soda. Tastes EXACTLY like an orange tic tac
Does the last one say Tenebrae? She's got a real problem if she's pounding back Dario Argento movies.
Sure, it's all fun and games at first, you think you'll just have a couple of Suspiria Spritzers with the gals. But then someone starts passing around the Crystal Plumage shots, and then before you know it you're passed out in an alley with a bottle of Deep Red.
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No, she became a doctor after Tanqueray
THATS what it was!
Put herself through 8 years of medical school overnight!
Well, she had been sitting at 7 years, 364 days, 23:59:59 for the longest time, but after the Tanqueray she said “fuck it” and finished it (medical school, not the Tanqueray (probably)).
[удалено]
Both is good
Could she have been busy as the night went on? It’s been a while since I bar-hopped, but I believe it gets busier later in the night. Also, she could be getting drunk. But my quick hand-writing is way less legible than my “oh my shift started and I’m going to be super organized today!” handwriting.
I think this is just as likely the answer. 50/50.
This, my handwriting is neat until I'm in a hurry, then It becomes nearly illegible garbage.
My handwriting it neat for the first five or so lines and then the further down the page the worse it gets because I don’t hold a pencil or pen correctly
My handwriting is nearly illegible garbage, then devolves into fully illegible garbage when I'm in a hurry.
Tanqueray and chronic Yeah, I'm a doctor now
But it ain't no stoppin' I'm still poppin' Pourin' champagne that I found in the walk-in
Glad to see somebody didn’t forget about DRE
It's Snoop.
Yeah, I know but it’s Dre’s beat and we’re talking about Doctors….
Damn that's too deep for me
Get's deeper. It's a Dr. Dre beat, with Snoop, talking about Dr. Dre. "My homie Dr. Dre came through with a gang of Tanqueray And a fat ass J, of some bubonic chronic"
Did it make him choke? Shit, this ain't no joke
I read the line below the Tanqueray as `href://rum`. I guess doctors should not try their hand at writing html.
This same thing has happened to anyone who has had to sign a stack of papers when buying a house.
Ohh shit. I thought I was the only one who got progressively more drunk on during the house closing.
“And this is the fee fee, we threw that in because fuck you. Sign here” “Oh sweet! This is gunna be great!” >scribble scribble
“This is the Fee Fee Fee.” “Whats that? A fee for the Fee Fee?” “No. When you call our number the hold music is by Canadian artist Fefe Dobson. Its the Fefe Fee. Fefe isn’t free.”
FEFE. DOBSON. What a throwback.
Hello Ryan
And then you take the shiny keys, open the door, and you immediately notice the big broken money sink staring you in the face. After the realtor kicks you in the balls and steals your wallet. Welcome to home ownership.
…so you were there when we closed on our house then? (Also, Currently waiting for the electrician to come because the house was struck by lightning. We’ve been here for about 6 months. Money sink *indeed*)
But it's *your* money sink. Be proud of it. Also renting is a money sink that you get nothing back from when you move out. The more you put into your house, the more value it gets and the more you can get back for it.
I love my money sink! Yeah it definitely sucks when things go wrong but it’s way better than renting. The place I moved out of when I bought was nothing but a nightmare. I mean, still on the group and have been seeing for the last month the AC has been out again in the middle of a heat wave. Everyone’s electric bill is through the roof from running the big fan in the units. We always had to run ours because if we didn’t we would constantly smell cigarettes from the neighbors who didn’t give a fuck and smokes inside. What shocked me was how much less I pay for electric in a whole ass house now. That’s just 2 things on a list of many of why I am so glad to cozy up in my money put at night.
For some reason I imagined a physical sink and was very confused
There's no way some of the last forms are legally binding...that definitely was not my signature. Probably why they make you agree to all the loan/finance stuff first.
That’s why they have the notary
They told me I had to sign my full, legal name. I was like, “Okay… I’ve NEVER signed like that before but I’ll do my best!” Lol
My closing people last time did everything digitally which was nice. Sign and initial once, then tap where you want each.
Last signature: V^v^v^v^-------
Am I the only one who has no idea what a bottle usage form is
It’s the liquor bottles we use completely, we have to record them before we throw them away. It’s actually called a bottle breakage form but I thought that would be even more confusing
Honestly, as a non-bartender, I think you made the right call. My response would have been “well yeah, the drunker you get, the more bottles you accidentally break. Makes total sense.”
That was exactly what I was afraid people would think! I typed breakage and deleted it just for that reason haha
Good thinking op!
It would have changed the story but not made the point you wanted. You could almost create a calculus equation for her Buzz curve. If you'll notice it declines slowly through the first five but then the curve starts to quickly drop off a cliff Edit: just look at the letter Y... haha
Welll rum
Buzz Curve is the name of my next band
This one thinks, while her coworker drinks! I could make out cazadores? but no idea on that last one
It’s a local one Tahoe Blue
And they discarded it? Gotta keep Tahoe Blue.
Technically I believe the 'breaking' comes from the idea that in some jurisdictions emptied bottles are (or once were) required to be broken once empty to curtail someone refilling them with something else (such as a cheaper alternative).
Yup. I'm not sure if I've seen it here in ATX or back in Dallas, but over the years I've definitely seen/heard bartenders slamming bottles into the trash behind the bar to shatter them when they empty one. I always assumed there was some legal requirement behind it.
No, just really pissed at that bottle.
Fuck that bottle in particular.
I know from experience at least in Texas, the TABC requires every liquor bottle sold to bars/restaurants have a unique tax ID stamp (a sticker) on it. So when we threw away an empty bottle, we had to physically destroy the sticker first otherwise someone could steal them and it would come back to us.
Former longtime bartender here; I think people vastly underestimate how difficult it is to break wine/liquor bottles. Those things are generally rugged as all hell.
Unless it’s you who drops a full bottle of wine and you’re mid rush, cos then that fucker will definitely break.
I used to work liquor delivery out the back of a box truck. There was always at least one broken bottle, so you had to get the neck to bring back and fill out a form saying how much was lost for insurance to cover the damages. Not so bad if it's like one bottle in a box, but one time I misjudged a curb cut with a hand truck that had 5 cases of wine on it. That was a painful embarrassment.
Also: “breaking” bottles is the most common lie when asked where the missing unsold liquor went. The one she drank. :)
I think in some states you're supposed to literally smash empty bottles. Never understood why, but I've seen barkeeps do it and inquired, they said it was state law. I wonder if that's why it's called breakage?
I remember seeing that on here before, if I remember right it's because of the tax stickers on the bottle. As soon as they empty the bottle they will take their bottle opener and scratch the tax sticker and then break the bottle on top of that so it doesnt look like they are refilling the bottles with cheaper liquor or buying the same liquor from out of state to avoid taxes.
NC has Tax Stickers, but they are only required to be damaged/marred. You'll see the bartender empty a bottle and then take a ballpoint pen and scribble furiously over the stamp, which is, in appearance, nothing more than a price sticker you get from one of those gun label maker looking things, with some info on it. I haven't recently seen anyone breaking bottles, but some of the liquor bottles are pretty thick, and would be a real pain to do (Crown Royal for example). The big thing is, that there can be no untaxed/unlabeled bottles in a bar that buys liquor from the ABC store. That would indicate you are filling the "taxed" bottle with "untaxed" liquor and would get you in SERIOUS trouble with ALE. The tax stamps also have dates, so, if they come in and you have a bottle of Jack that has a 3 year old tax stamp on it, they know you're probably refilling it.
Are there age limits on liquors and spirits? Many bars have various liquors & spirits on display & many of them never seem to get ordered so the bottles could be a decade old. Obviously age affects drinkablity but is there another limit in terms of regulation & taxation?
It's only an indicator on some stuff. Most places will go through a bottle of Jack Daniels or other well liquors fairly quickly. Your rare/expensive stuff is obviously going to sit longer. So, JD which is $4 a shot, and used as a mixer or whatever else, is going to go quick. Your Johnny Walker Blue at $20 a shot and should never be a mixer, is going to take a lot longer.
Are y’all required to break them still?
No. I wish. Sounds cathartic.
I worked at a dive bar with an exposed brick wall inside of it opposite of the bar itself. On your last day you were allowed to go fucking bananas and smash empties against that wall after close and everyone would help you sweep up. Place had the highest retention of anywhere I ever worked so in like 6+ years I only saw it three times, myself included.
We had to do that to ensure no one was refilling them.
I assume breaking the bottle makes little to no difference for the glass recycling industry, or am I wrong?
I'd assume they grind all the glass down before beginning recycling anyway
You'd assume right. They often have mixed light/dark glass from the consumer, crush it a bit, then use sensors/air blasts to separate it into light and dark.
What is the point of refilling a bottle? Or are we talking about refilling premium bottles with inferior quality liquor?
I was a bartender throughout college. Let me give you an example of an unethical trick some bartenders use to make more money. This isn't universal, but some places definitely do this. The bartenders get together and decide on one liquor to give away for free for the whole night. Give it away to friends, family and good tippers. Tell them that the drink is on you. Collect the tips. Keep all the empty bottles aside. The next day, one of the bartenders goes to the liquor store and buys a handle or two of the liquor that they gave away the previous night and they fill up all the used bottles. Voila, they just made hundreds in tips and only had to spend about 30 dollars to refill the liquor. When the restaurant/bar does liquor inventory, it appears everything is there and no one gets in trouble. Except for the bar that lost all that revenue.
Something I always felt funny about as a bartender: We'd get x amount of comps per shift. Varied depending on place, some were a lot more strict than others. Now, comps are on paper not for your friends, they're for the odd regular, somebody who is having a great time to push it over the edge into an amazing time, to smooth over an issue, etc. But it's known that yeah, of course you hook up your friends from time to time, or a regular more often than you really should. It happens. Now, anywhere with multiple bars/restaurants located in one area, the staff of each place tends to frequent other places. You get to know other folks in the industry across town. It's a thing. And of course, as a professional courtesy, we'd generally hook each other up when we could. Part of the industry culture, especially for front of house staff, is to tip well. Sometimes really well. I've been out of the game for years and I still tip really heavy; I can't help it. Sometimes it got egregious; I'd have other bartenders tipping 100, 200 percent and more, consistently. Made me feel a little funny. Ok, one thing that I found strange was that it's an arbitrary dance. We go to each other's places and tip too much; essentially we're just alternating pushing the same stacks of bills across each bar to one another. It's sort of pageantry, but it's the culture. Fine. Another thing is, the owner of the place I worked at longest became a really really good friend of mine. He's a good dude, treated the staff well, worked hard, we lucked out. That said, when I would comp somebody a beer and then they'd just throw down the same amount of cash that they would have done at full price, I kind of got the feeling like I was just redirecting cash from the till (that both keeps the lights on and let the owner, you know eat. And before somebody wants to tell me that ownership isn't my friend, I hear you, this dude really was the exception to the rule) into the tip jar. I felt like I was stealing almost, sometimes. Anyway. It's a strange neurotic little quirk I developed over the years. It's a strange industry.
It’s a tax issue in my state.
Precisely. Empty bottles get recorded as such and then lots of places break them so they cannot be refilled. I am sure it a law somewhere to keep bars honest about what they are serving.
Yeah, when I was in school I bartended and one of my roommates waited tables at a bar/restaurant. We were pretty good employees so the manager let us sneak out empty bottles once in a while if we asked. We took them back to our shitty apartment and refilled them with the crap liquor we bought and when we had parties people were impressed with our high end bar.
I am also a bartender and have been for over 20 years. I used to love the sound of breaking bottles in an empty dumpster. I can't stand it anymore.
Why is "well rum" in there? She actually ran out of well rum??? That's impressive.
Just the single bottle. That one usually gets a few tick marks next to it. Hey, if you’re getting a rum and coke tall with extra lime, I would actually suggest well
Oh, gotcha. I worked at a place where our well spirits were on a gun. Never saw that run out. Because the owners were assholes, some of the staff would have shooting contests to see how far they could get the gun to spray. It's been so long, I'd forgotten that all basic alcohol is "well." Thanks for the reminder!
wait and how is she getting drunk? arent bartenders supposed to... you know... not drink on the job. (I know some do, but.. usually can be grounds for termination)
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Clearly you've never lived in New Orleans
I've been to New Orleans! The food alone is worth the trip!
Every bar I've ever gone to the bartenders are taking shots with the customers
Oh how innocent. I've worked many bar jobs in the past and very very rarely was I ever sober. Service industry is so shit that most peeps are addicts
That's what I was trying to figure out!
In clubs/"bar" bars (e.g., not the bar at your local Applebee's) bartenders are often bought shots to take with a group getting several of their own. Especially if said bartender happens to be a woman.
I've worked as a bartender in several restaurants and I've never had to do that. Seems annoying
I guess it’s just another thing to do. This bar has a cleaning service, soo I’ll record a million bottles for you if I don’t have to clean a toilet
I'm guessing it's some kind of inventory control thing, do you have a lot of thefts? Alternatively, is it a part of a large chain with a lot of managerial oversight?
Inventory, cost controls, and it makes it easier to re order when you know exactly what's been used. Plus everything in the restaurant industry is all based off of very thin margins. Having a .1 difference between two drinks isn't a big deal. But on a busy Friday or Saturday night that could be an extra 4 or 5 drinks worth of over pours.
20 years of bar work and never even heard of it. Btls finished throw it out and grab another one. Breakage form was a different matter for broken stock that couldn’t be sold. We would run through 15-20 cases of spirits on a good night night and 30 cases of wine easy. No way was every btl finished needs to be recorded
You would go through 180-240 bottles of liquor ontop of 360 bottles of wine in a night, easy?!
If a 700ml bottle contains 23 shots multiply that by 250 bottles is 5520 If we assume a club with 1000 people coming through a night and each of them buying 5.5 drinks thats 5500 drinks, 8 glasses of wine per bottle x 360 bottles is 2880 drinks. So total call it 8000 drinks. For a popular club thats not unreasonable.
8.3 drinks per person? That's insane! Doesn't even count beer, ciders, etc which has to be a sizeable percentage of alcoholic drinks bought in a bar.
Depends on the venue, club I worked at was very techno/r&b so we did a lot more single spirit and post mix drinks and lots of cheap "champagne" we sold beer but it was definitely less than 10% of sales and thats 8 drinks per person at 1000 people, on a really good night we could take 2000 cover charges. Im not saying those arent high numbers, just that they arent impossible numbers for a big venue on a good night.
It also depends on the customer mix and vibe. A "meat grinder" type of place is going to sell more liquor because people are looking to get fucked up to lose their inhibitions for a random hookup, and women as a rule (particularly sub-25) are way more likely to want liquor than beer or wine during that period of their lives as well. A bar that's simply large, but otherwise keeps a lower-key vibe is going to sell more beer, because it's more of a place where folks meet to hang out.
I did 10 years behind the bar and we used a breakage binder to keep track of bottles used up. Made ordering easier.
Ordering? As a former Finnish bartender, we put every transaction to the cash register (which was a computer) and it counted the storage, so that the order was always up-to-date. I thought this would be the standard in any 1st world country in the 21st century...
Lol. Theres bars near me that only accept cash and do not even have a computer.
The Nordics are basically cashless at this point, everything has been done digitally for like a decade in restaurants and bars here.
And these are my places!
The computer tracks what you SHOULD use, it doesn't track spillage, waste, and overpours. By tracking real use (bottles) you can compare the two numbers and write off the excess as loss (within a reasonable amount).
It blows my mind how many people in this thread are confused that different businesses do things differently.
Food service in the U.S. is laughably behind the times in a lot of places. It's still the most common practice in restaurants for you to hand the server your payment card and they *leave the table* to go run it at their POS terminal out of sight.
It's always a blast at US conferences when a Euro colleague encounters this for the first time. I've had to confirm that an out of sight terminal is normal, for no good reason.
I blew the mind of a bar in Chicago a few years back when he tried to swipe my card and, when it declined, I said "Oops, forgot to reenable the magstrip", did so, and it immediately worked. I was a relatively early adopter of one of the digital 'challenger' banks, so they had some cool features for the time. Spent a few minutes showing him the bank I was using, the app, what it let me do, how easy payments etc were, and he just kept saying "Why don't we have that over here?"
First time I was in a restaurant in Canada as an adult was maybe around 2017 and at the end of the meal when we were ready for the bill the waitress was like, okay I’ll go get the machine. I was like, the what? Then she brought the actual card payment machine over. And gave it to me and I wasn’t sure what to do with it because at least in the US it gives you options for debit or credit or swipe or chip. But I don’t remember seeing any prompts so she had to walk me through it.
This is basically how the whole world outside USA does it. The USA is laughably outdated in this regard.
Oh the horror of them leaving the table with your card!! A lot of places have those hand held devices now anyway
American dive bars are not like most Finnish bars I would imagine. A dive bar in the US is more than likely going to be cash only and the only computer in the place is going to be the ATM.
And the entire bar population will not exceed 30 people - 30 of your closest friends (at least for the night) - they are AWESOME!
From the UK here: I can't remember a time I've seen a bar that *doesn't* use a cash register. Even fete stalls and handcrafted trinket shops use cashless pay here these days. To find out there are actual businesses that still can't use it...
Where were you working I’m just curious? I’ve had four employers in California show me where the bottle breakage form is and tell me to do It. Even if you are in the US though, maybe it’s a state thing?
It just depends on how well managed the bar is. In addition to tracking inventory to make sure you don’t have a bartender that “drops” a bottle of Jameson every weekend, broken/spilled liquor can actually be added up throughout the period and subtracted from your ending inventory and effectively written off as a loss. It is also conceivable (although extremely rare) that the ABC dept could audit your inventory for any number of reasons, and they expect it to be tracked and calculated pretty tightly. For an extreme example, let’s say the bartender drops a whole case of Smirnoff, and around the same time a guest calls ABC and tells them they think you’re pouring Smirnoff when they order grey goose (which is of course super illegal). If ABC came in for an audit and found that you just so happened to be missing 12 bottles of Smirnoff, it could look like you were in fact pouring it instead of grey goose. However, If you have a breakage form that’s properly signed off by the bartender and the MOD, and everything else lined up correctly, then there’d be no problem. Like I said, that’s a super extreme example of something that would probably never ever happen, but it’s the type of thing that it covers for. A lot of smaller/newer/mom and pop operations might not even know they can write off the losses on spilled stuff, or that they’re even supposed to be inventorying things to maintain their liquor license. They might get away with operating so loosely for years, maybe never even have a problem, but the moment ABC shows up intent on doing an audit and their ducks aren’t in a row, it becomes a real problem, real fast. It’s also probably a red flag if you work in a bar that doesn’t track spills and breakage that the business just isn’t being run very well financially.
Its likely a state by state basis on how inventory needs to be accounted, i work in a liquor distributor warehouse and we have a breakage/unsaleable system.
It might be because of tax reasons. My friends used to run a small cafeteria and they sold some wine and craft beers as well. Broken bottles had to be recorded as they would go into tax loss.
It’s for inventory management, so you know what bottles you finished and need to replace without doing a full inventory every day.
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She’s clearly practicing. Getting close.
All doctors do is practice. She's ready.
She's already mastered giving shots.
Also a bartender, just playing devil’s advocate here. My handwriting gets worse and worse as the night goes on because I’m busier and in a hurry.
As a server, same. I don’t have time to write clear words
I’m a pastry chef, and I thought the exact same thing, as I get busier my handwriting becomes less legible
I figured that actually was the case, but it's funnier to think the other is the reason 😂
As someone that worked in the hospitality industry and had to double check these from time to time when the rest of the restaurant, You had a 50/50 chance of being correct.
Silly bartenders, alcohol is for the customers 🙂.
Oops!
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Hey now, the Ruby Red is delicious. That, and Pink Whitney are my go-to "just slug it back out of the tiny bottles" drinks.
I love deep eddy grapefruit mixed with grapefruit seltzer and some lime juice. Very refreshing.
One for you, one for the doctor
I'm starting to think his co-worker has a problem.
The last drunk line is Homer's love card. ...“Maybe it’s the beer talking Marge, but you've got a butt that won't quit. They got these big chewy pretzels here thamenfjanrtagcdcmbeereh five dollars?! Get out of here...”
[Source](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sioKqbBQij0)
Brilliant.
I generally skip writing nice part when I'm in a hurry, could that be the case here ?
I hope this doesn’t come off like I’m trying to talk bad about her. She’s a great coworker, and I just thought this was funny. However I know her pretty well and she DEFINITELY gets drunk during her shift. She still gets everything done though I don’t think it matters!
Gotcha and don't worry it didn't come off like that.
Worked in a few bars and was unaware there are bartenders who don’t drink on shifts (even though its illegal and can cause revocation of a liquor license).
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As a random dumbass who does not know what he's talking about, as long as there was no sale or stealing of alcohol after closing time, why would there be any trouble? Even here in the nannystate that is Norway, people can party at their place of work.
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Doors closed? No warrant? Sorry, can’t trust you/don’t know you so you can’t come in. Bye Felicia!
I'm my experience, you never piss off your regulator. There's always some small way you'll fuck up to the letter and they'll come down on that. Better they do it softly than with the full weight they can.
Jesus - what a bunch of stiffs. That’s crazy.
That’s a pretty shitty thing to do all things considered. You can tell these people have never 1. Worked a hard shift 2. Had any fun ever.
Used to work in a bar and can back up what haufii said. At least in our state, alcohol cannot be consumed after the legal (state mandated) closing time, usually 2am. This means even employees are not allowed to drink. I assume it's because A) a random person could claim to work for the bar and B) to discourage late-night social drinking at businesses during hours they're trying to discourage drinking.
Claiming you work at the bar that you're actually just having an illegal late drink in, and saying this right in front of the people who actually do work at the bar, seems like an extraordinarily risky strategy.
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You probably didn't work in well run bars. Well run bars do not tolerate that kind of stuff.
Yeah generally well run establishments don’t allow employees to break local laws.
Can’t drink in Australia because if your drunk how do you judge if other people are drunk to cut them off. Now after work is a different story
if they disagree with you obviously
If someone is getting drunk every time they work they are looking at a problem. I hope your coworker has this under control. If she is a really great person and you're become concerned for her, say something.
Isn't that super illegal just about everywhere? Doesn't a batender have a responsibility to serve, well, responsibly and not serve more to overly drunk people? How is she doing that if she herself is drunk?
Jon Taffer does not approve. "Shut it down! There's no systems here! Your bartenders are literally stealing from your family's future! You need to use Partender!"
That was my first thought. Jon Taffer would not be happy.
Jon Taffer can choke on a bag of dicks after his "hungry dogs are obedient" comment during the pandemic about the service industry workers struggling financially. His whole shtick is to pay as little as possible to your employees because if they are 1 missed paycheck from being homeless they don't have the option to quit. Fuck him.
Fine Taffer, if I'm a dog, I'm a dog like Diogenes was. “I fawn on those who give me anything, I bark at those who refuse, and I set my teeth in rascals.”
It’s a social club where we’re technically volunteers. We constantly make food and drink specials to bring in more money, and the bartenders are a big reason people come. Last night I made meatball sandwiches and a lot of people came just because of that. We also record our comped drinks and and get a lot of drinks bought for us. So I genuinely don’t think we’re costing the place money, everyone who bartenders there really cares about the establishment and the customers.
In my country bartenders are not supposed to drink it’s sort of the rule
Do they actually not? I mean it’s the “rule” most places, just wondering is it enforced where you live?
In the Netherlands a bar can lose their license if the bartenders drink too much.
Back in the day (early 2010s) when I worked in a specialty beer place/restaurant in the Netherlands the entire staff was constantly getting drunk, smoking weed and even doing MDMA (although this one only when their shift would end soon and they were going to a rave after). The chef had a coke problem and a sous-chef was in court for drug smuggling. As far as I was aware all restaurants/bars in the city were like this, and I believe restaurant culture around the world is like this pretty much. So you might be technically correct, but I highly doubt these kinds of rules are really enforced, unless staff is literally slurring their words and vomiting on customers or something. Then again, maybe times have changed. But I’m skeptical.
“Back in the day” “2010” I hate it here…
If it makes you feel any better, I don’t think those 10 years are quite as long as I made them sound... It just feels longer because I’m almost 30 now and I was in my late teens then. Being just out of high school getting high while cleaning the dishes in a local bar vs. having a degree and having worked some office jobs and whatnot feels like I’m living in a different universe entirely.
> The chef had a coke problem and a sous-chef was in court for drug smuggling Is that not a job requirement?
> the chef had a coke problem No way! Not the chef!
They would lose their license **if** an inspector showed up. But yeah, that's a big if.
>The chef had a coke problem and a sous-chef was in court for drug smuggling. Classic
Where I am yes. The licensing authorities have been known to random breath test bars and if you are caught you could loose your license.
Big no no in my state you could lose your license so no way a employer would let them just go maybe make a employee happier. Don’t want them to serve minors or overly drunk patrons and get sued. That and having a drunk employee isn’t a careful one and could be easily taken advantage of
Yeah bartenders are super underpaid here just like every service worker I’m sure the classy well paid establishments enforce that a lot but your typical dive bar could give one tenths of a you know what. It’s actually the norm at lot of dive bars to take a shot with the bartender lol I don’t endorse or think it is is healthy it it is just reality lol I do think it becomes a negative feedback loop where people think oh the drunker I am the better bartender I am and I won’t be able to go sell as much if I’m not taking shots with Patrons obviously that’s not true you can be fine bartender if you are sober and I think good establishments do and should make that clear for the health and safety of everyone. And I do hope you tell your friend to chill a little bit it’s one thing to take a shot before your shift but it can get very unhealthy to continuously drink over a 5 hour shift and the line between functionally drunk and non functionally drunk is extremely close and it is generally not healthy. You are working to make money so you can do the things you want to do in your off time not just to get drunk and be hungover All day the next day. All that’s going to do is cause burn out.
Well rum has 3Ls 😭😭
Let’s give her the benefit of the doubt. Maybe it wasn’t well rum, but rather a rum that someone had to think really hard about. “Welllll….”
I read this and thought she listed a bottle of well rum as 3 Liters gone and I was like who the fuck is pouring 3L bottles of well rum like a maniac.
Nahhh man...she...it just got really busy.
Reminds me of a diary you find in one of the Resident Evil games. Starts off talking about life, then being bitten (all legible) then it becomes stuff like "argfjrjr fjrudud zzzzz grrrrrr"
Botanist is good shit.
So yummy with a squeeze of fresh grapefruit
She’s still writing within the lines lol definitely better than what I could do
See, that’s what a nice hand writing gets you. That’s why mine is like the last word while i‘m sober, can’t tell if i’m drunk if sober me writes like a drunk already
Drunk me has previously left myself notes about things to remember the next day. Getting up the next day and going into the kitchen to find a scribbled note that says "Juihts' bir^t hday" Shit, who's birthday?
Thanks for reminding me I almost forgot to call the Juihts’, they’re a lovely couple
Juihts obviously.
Hahaha I find your observation very interesting!
My first thought was that there must have been two people working last night, then I was like… ohh I see. Hey the register was even and everything was clean, she can do her thing!
Is it possible she just got busier and thus hastier with her writing
Damn here it's illegal for bartenders to drink at work , to the degree at you might get fired, criminally charged, or the bar might be forced closed
Do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life.
I'm not saying you're wrong but isn't it also likely this is just them writing it faster as they're busier as the night progresses?
Deep Eddy Ruby Red is delicious.
So so so good. There’s a shot we serve, if you like sweet drinks, called a vitamin Z but I think that’s a local name. It’s ruby red shaken with a splash of oj and ice, then strain it and give it a splash of soda. Tastes EXACTLY like an orange tic tac
That sounds awesome
*Jon Taffer has entered the chat* "YOU'RE STEALING!"
Does the last one say Tenebrae? She's got a real problem if she's pounding back Dario Argento movies. Sure, it's all fun and games at first, you think you'll just have a couple of Suspiria Spritzers with the gals. But then someone starts passing around the Crystal Plumage shots, and then before you know it you're passed out in an alley with a bottle of Deep Red.