Stupid bartenders

So I just got back from going to a couple bars here in the Memphis area with my brother. At the 1st bar we went to.....the bartender couldn't tell us the price of any of the drinks, or what the happy hour deals were for Wed. At the 2nd bar it is our local brewery/pub. They have a cask conditioned/dry hopped beer every weekday. So I asked the bartender what the hops the Scottish ale was dry hopped with........and he was like.."I'm sorry sir we can't give out that information." So, I get home a few min ago and look on there website, and they tell what hops they are conditioned with on the site for the week. I'm pretty much now sitting here thinking wtf DA bartenders. I must say though....that cask conditioned Scottish ale was absolutely delicious

I have gotten this to at a brew pub around me. I order there house brew porter and I get "you know its dark right". Morons. I later ordered an IPA and was given a regular pale ale instead...I am very forgiving to the fact that more people are not as into beer and styles and the whole culture as we are, but is it asking to much that our bartenders and servers know what they are serving, especially when IT WAS BREWED THERE!!

This is only a minor irritation, but it irks me when I get a glass poured with only an eenxy, see-through layer of foam. I wouldn't send it back or anything (unless it was flat or something), but it makes me want to slap whoever decided that it's okie dokie to serve a beer with no head. It's like decapitation!

Arneba28 said:

I have gotten this to at a brew pub around me. I order there house brew porter and I get "you know its dark right". Morons. I later ordered an IPA and was given a regular pale ale instead...I am very forgiving to the fact that more people are not as into beer and styles and the whole culture as we are, but is it asking to much that our bartenders and servers know what they are serving, especially when IT WAS BREWED THERE!!

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Yeah, i love it when bar tenders try and talk me out of a beer. One of the local bars i go to occasionaly had "bare knuckle stout" on tap, so i ordered a pint. The BT responded with "thats a real dark beer, most people don't like it" i told her that i loved dark beers and never shyed away from trying a new beer of any type. she said, "are ya sure? cause once i pour it you have to pay for it!" she then poured about 2 table spoons of it into the bottom of the glass and held it up saying "see, it's really dark" it was all i could do to keep from screaming "just pour the damn beer already!!!"

Luckily, the 2nd, 3rd and 4th pints were much easier

Here's my two least favorite ways to start a server/customer relationship:

me: Do you have a beer list?
server: Well what are you looking for?
me: Something I've never tried before.
server: Well we have um B, um, M, uhhh, C...

scenario 2:

me: Do you have a beer list?
server: well do you like light beer or dark beer?

I didn't know I had to register as liking one kind of beer.

Then they usually bring it out in the bottle with no glass.

What about stupid waiters....

What pisses me off more is getting a frosted glass. I was at very posh Italian resturant. I ask for they had beer-wise... The waiter says, Bud, Bud Lt, Miller Lite. I say what else do you have for micro's and imports. The only one he can spit out is Peroni.

I'm like how about Moretti, Becks, Heineken.... Amstel

He's like nope....

What about Serria Neveda SNPA, Anchor Steam, Widmers, Red Hook,

....Nope....

How about Sam Adams?

He's like, I don't think so, the Peroni is good.

I settle on the Peroni, but what pisses me off is the last time I was there they had SNPA. I asked again about it stating they used to have it.... In fact they had so many it was hard too choose last time.

The ass was too lazy to go find out what else they had.

When he brought the Peroni, no glass!!! I asked for unfrosted glass twice before I got a F'n frosted glass.

The bill was over 175 dollars for four and the best they had was Peroni, my ass. I should have gone to the bar myself. I didn't want to look like a dick in front of the in laws...

Good thing I wasn't paying or he would have gotten 5-10% at the most tip-wise. I told him my food sucked. Halibut topped w/ crab, horseradish & cheese. It really sucked balls... and the beer situation had me on a short fuse.

I feel pretty spoiled, the majority of the times I'm at a local pub they almost always have a local microbrew on tap. My most common haunt (Six Mile Pub) has about 12 local microbrews on tap in glass/sleeve/pint, as well as some imports (Guiness, Killkenny, etc). They also do a black and tan with Guiness and Killkenny... PLUS when I ask for a hefeweizen they actually know what I'm talking about!

A lot of the restaurants, on the other hand, are generally BMC affairs. Sigh...

Do you have a single malt whisky?
You can have a single or double it's up to you.

I'm telling you, It's this so called bad economy. EVERY SINGLE PERSON that wants a job...Has One.
The Price we pay as consumers in BAD Customer Service. When the Unemployment rate gets this low, there are not a lot of choices. The bar owner either keeps the dumb Ass that needs a recipe card for a rum and coke, or he can tend his own damn bar. The crap thing, is that the bigger the business, the worst the problem. In a VERY small local Brew Pub, it may be possible to fire an incompetent bar tender and do that job for the rest of the shift. When you are looking at large scale restaurant, you may be running 2 or 3 people short at nearly any moment. This disallows the already overworked owner / Manager to fire those who desperately deserve it.
What's the payoff? Even with Diesel at $4.79 there are more and more $40K Pickups pulling brand new 5th wheels up and down the interstate getting 8 miles to the gallon so they can go to a national park and pay over priced admission to a crappy park because there is nowhere near their $250K home to ride the 4 wheelers that they got such a great deal on at $6500 Each.
And what do we get??? A dang bar tender that thinks beer comes in Light and Dark.

God Bless this Recession.

vfinch said:

A lot of the restaurants, on the other hand, are generally BMC affairs. Sigh...

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Olive Garden lists Budweiser under the "PREMIUM" List of beer.

HAHA!!! Another good one from a few years back!! I was in a bar in madison. Not my ussually haunt but i was there for a friends birthday. They have a great big sign advertisiing there special of the night as "$1 domestic bottles". I see threw the door in the cooler that they have "spotted cow" from new glarus brewing. So, i order one and the BT opens it and slides me the bottle and says "3 bucks". Huh? i say, the sign says $1 domestic bottles!!! the brewery this was made in is a 45 minute drive away!!! it dosent get much more "Domestic"!!! grrrr

omg I almost forgot to mention...The 1st bar I went (the one that didn't know the prices) wanted $6 for a bottle of Old Peculier. I mean come on....most bars I go to the price of a nice bottle of beer is $4 at the most. But MFing $6 for one bottle....absolutely ridiculous.

RodfatherX said:

So I just got back from going to a couple bars here in the Memphis area with my brother. ...

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I haven't been in the Memphis area since '89. I was a stupid sailor, aged 21, and had a blast around town. I gotta know, is there still a strip joint by the airport called Danny's? How about Silky's by Overton Square? The Rum Boogie Cafe on Beale? Admiral Bilbo's restaurant on the river?

Curious... Thanks.

ma2brew said:

I haven't been in the Memphis area since '89. I was a stupid sailor, aged 21, and had a blast around town. I gotta know, is there still a strip joint by the airport called Danny's? How about Silky's by Overton Square? The Rum Boogie Cafe on Beale? Admiral Bilbo's restaurant on the river?

Curious... Thanks.

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There isn't a Silkys on Overton Square anymore...only on Beale Street. Rum Boogie is still on Beale. Admiral Bilbo's closed a long time ago (I loved that place too) Not sure about if there is a Danny's near the airport.....Never noticed it if it is still there. Geez....'89 I was 5 y/o then lolz

Guzzizzit said:

HAHA!!! Another good one from a few years back!! I was in a bar in madison. Not my ussually haunt but i was there for a friends birthday. They have a great big sign advertisiing there special of the night as "$1 domestic bottles". I see threw the door in the cooler that they have "spotted cow" from new glarus brewing. So, i order one and the BT opens it and slides me the bottle and says "3 bucks". Huh? i say, the sign says $1 domestic bottles!!! the brewery this was made in is a 45 minute drive away!!! it dosent get much more "Domestic"!!! grrrr

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EXACTLY!!! If you go to the Olive Garden in Chico, Sierra Nevada is not listed as a "Domestic". The Olive Garden is probably less than one mile away from the brewery as the crow flies...ridiculous!

beta pleated sheet said:

This is only a minor irritation, but it irks me when I get a glass poured with only an eenxy, see-through layer of foam. I wouldn't send it back or anything (unless it was flat or something), but it makes me want to slap whoever decided that it's okie dokie to serve a beer with no head. It's like decapitation!

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I am the exact opposite... I could care less about foam, I am paying for a 12oz glass of beer, and if there is less than 12oz in the glass, as far as I am concerned, it is fraud, and should be reported to county weights and measures.

I know I am kind of weird in the US homebrew community, but I just don't get the whole "foam" thing.

rabidgerbil said:

I know I am kind of weird in the US homebrew community, but I just don't get the whole "foam" thing.

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It's not "foam", it's HEAD.... are you saying you don't like head?

We have a restaurant here called Gators here (go figure). They have great wings and and ass load of beers on tap and in bottles. Unfortunately they are most all BMC's.

Me: Do you have a beer menu?
Waiter: No but we have a lot of beers, what do you want?
Me: How about SNPA.
Waiter: I am sorry we don't have anything exotic.
Me: Too bad, what do you have?

I finally settle on Sam Adams and was glad to get it. I thought I was going to have Bud with my wings.

Exhibt A: A smart bartender who doesn't know something asked of him...

RodfatherX said:

"I'm sorry sir we can't give out that information."

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Polite and understandable, though "I'm sorry I don't know offhand, I'll ask..." would have been better...

Exhibt B: Dumb ass bartender... (Though who knows maybe it was his first day (lol!))

Arneba28 said:

I order there house brew porter and I get "you know its dark right". Morons. I later ordered an IPA and was given a regular pale ale instead...I am very forgiving to the fact that more people are not as into beer and styles and the whole culture as we are, but is it asking to much that our bartenders and servers know what they are serving, especially when IT WAS BREWED THERE!!

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Guzzizzit said:

HAHA!!! Another good one from a few years back!! I was in a bar in madison. Not my ussually haunt but i was there for a friends birthday. They have a great big sign advertisiing there special of the night as "$1 domestic bottles". I see threw the door in the cooler that they have "spotted cow" from new glarus brewing. So, i order one and the BT opens it and slides me the bottle and says "3 bucks". Huh? i say, the sign says $1 domestic bottles!!! the brewery this was made in is a 45 minute drive away!!! it dosent get much more "Domestic"!!! grrrr

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Same thing happened to me in Fond du Lac last year. I ordered a Road Slush (another NG brew) and they tried to tell me it was imported.

BTW, I never knew that "light" and "dark" were beer styles.........

The first time I had a Fat Squirrel was in a tavern in Fondy. I had never heard of it at the time so I asked what style was it and the 'tender shrugs and says "dark beer". So I ordered it, tasted it and told him that next time somebody asks, you can say it's a Nut Brown ale, and it's awesome.

rmck1 said:

Exhibt A: A smart bartender who doesn't know something asked of him...



Polite and understandable, though "I'm sorry I don't know offhand, I'll ask..." would have been better...

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Of course, he may very well have been told that they 'don't give out recipe' information and, to a layman, that might sound like recipe information.



As for the various 'light and dark' comments: retail establishments that market to the common consumer will always regress to the mean. Given that most consumers think of beer in terms of 'light and dark' then the retail establishments will adopt this language because it makes their typical consumer comfortable. If they started in with large scale technical speak right away they risk making their customer feel stupid (or worse, look stupid) which is a sure fire way to lose a tip.

Consider this: I am pretty sure that for a wine EAC my "I like red wines" statement pisses them off the same way the 'light and dark' commentary pisses off some of you beer EACs. Know what? I don't give a crap. It typically gets me what I like and I don't really have enough interest to be 'educated' about wine. And if some bartender/waiter started giving me a lecture on wine, they'd probably end up irritating me and irritating customers tends to have a negative impact on their income.

I guess what I'm saying is this: cut these guys some slack. It's retail work where they are servicing the lowest common denominator. Adjust expectations accordingly.

kornkob said:

Of course, he may very well have been told that they 'don't give out recipe' information and, to a layman, that might sound like recipe information.



As for the various 'light and dark' comments: retail establishments that market to the common consumer will always regress to the mean. Given that most consumers think of beer in terms of 'light and dark' then the retail establishments will adopt this language because it makes their typical consumer comfortable. If they started in with large scale technical speak right away they risk making their customer feel stupid (or worse, look stupid) which is a sure fire way to lose a tip.

Consider this: I am pretty sure that for a wine EAC my "I like red wines" statement pisses them off the same way the 'light and dark' commentary pisses off some of you beer EACs. Know what? I don't give a crap. It typically gets me what I like and I don't really have enough interest to be 'educated' about wine. And if some bartender/waiter started giving me a lecture on wine, they'd probably end up irritating me and irritating customers tends to have a negative impact on their income.

I guess what I'm saying is this: cut these guys some slack. It's retail work where they are servicing the lowest common denominator. Adjust expectations accordingly.

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...ehhhh, you're talking about reality and real people. We're homebrewers.

This is why I lower my standards and do my homework when drinking out. I've come to expect nothing more from bartenders than attentive filling of my glass. I also try to put myself in their shoes. In many cases they don't make good money and probably don't get tipped well regardless of how good they are. Usually they're also just tending bar because its the job they could get. They're not interested in beer, they're interested in money...

Guys - HONESTLY - we should all know by now that, even though micros are domestic, they're NEVER included in those domestic beer specials. It's just one of those things that's understood definition is different than the literal meaning. It's cool if you want to argue the point, but if you HONESTLY expect to get a bottle of a nice micro for a buck, you're not much smarter than the bartenders you're ripping on.

I find that most of the bartenders at the places I go are pretty good. If there is a bar, I tend to actually look at the taps before I sit so I have an idea of what I want. If they are not visable, I typically ask, "Do you have any beer that isn't Miller or Bud?" If nothing else, almost any decent place can pour a black and tan. If not, just drink a High Life or something.

rdwj said:

If there is a bar, I tend to actually look at the taps before I sit so I have an idea of what I want.

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I do the same, it's just easier to know what options exist before the server gets to the table.

bmc Premium beer! that just makes my day.

on that note it is time to go to Das Bierhaushttp://www.dasbierhaus-wi.com/ Where they actually know what they are serving.

ha haahhaha "I'll have one of those premium BMC's Please" haahhahahah

The place I go has a couple of big chalk boards with all the micro selections in big letters,about six. And the one domestic in small letters, which they sell cheap. Best happy hour in Eugene OR, 4pm to 7pm nightly, last time I was there,it was $2.75 pints!

rdwj said:

Guys - HONESTLY - we should all know by now that, even though micros are domestic, they're NEVER included in those domestic beer specials. It's just one of those things that's understood definition is different than the literal meaning. It's cool if you want to argue the point, but if you HONESTLY expect to get a bottle of a nice micro for a buck, you're not much smarter than the bartenders you're ripping on.

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Yeah, seriously. Though it's a domestic, I think everyone here knows that a lot more money and effort are put into those craft beers like New Glarus. To expect a bar to sell those beers (though they're paying a premium cost) to sell them for the same price as their selling bud light is a little unreasonable. It doesn't matter if the brewery is block away or half-way around the world.

Willy Boner said:

The place I go has a couple of big chalk boards with all the micro selections in big letters,about six. And the one domestic in small letters, which they sell cheap. Best happy hour in Eugene OR, 4pm to 7pm nightly, last time I was there,it was $2.75 pints!

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I thought Happy Hours were illegal

rdwj said:

I thought Happy Hours were illegal

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No, that's lady's night ... and it's only cause they don't want you dressing up in your wife's cloths to get cheap beer.

State laws differ on alcohol discounts. In PA there's a reg that alcohol can only be discounted for 2 (IIRC) hours a day.

I had a server the other day try to tell me that yuengling was a dark beer and when I told her it wasn't she started to argue with me about it.

Weizenheimer said:

I had a server the other day try to tell me that yuengling was a dark beer and when I told her it wasn't she started to argue with me about it.

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My dad, who is a top-notch bullsh*tter and likes to pretend he knows more than most, came up to me about 3 months ago and says "Hey, just thought I'd share with you since you are getting into beer now, I found this great little microbrew that I've been drinking lately. It's called Yuengling... ever heard of it?"

I had to work really hard to not laugh in his face, but it was HILARIOUS, especially since he was acting like he was sharing a neat little secret with me.

jmulligan said:

My dad, who is a top-notch bullsh*tter and likes to pretend he knows more than most, came up to me about 3 months ago and says "Hey, just thought I'd share with you since you are getting into beer now, I found this great little microbrew that I've been drinking lately. It's called Yuengling... ever heard of it?"

I had to work really hard to not laugh in his face, but it was HILARIOUS, especially since he was acting like he was sharing a neat little secret with me.

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That's pretty funny, but you have to give him credit for trying

I'm spoiled as well. There are enough brewpubs around here that I don't need to eat anywhere else, unless I have a craving for TexMex. It doesn't bother me if the waiter/bartender doesn't know what hops are in a beer. I don't see it as part of their job, but "I don't know and will find out for you." is the correct response.

kornkob said:

Consider this: I am pretty sure that for a wine EAC my "I like red wines" statement pisses them off the same way the 'light and dark' commentary pisses off some of you beer EACs. Know what? I don't give a crap. It typically gets me what I like and I don't really have enough interest to be 'educated' about wine. And if some bartender/waiter started giving me a lecture on wine, they'd probably end up irritating me and irritating customers tends to have a negative impact on their income.

I guess what I'm saying is this: cut these guys some slack. It's retail work where they are servicing the lowest common denominator. Adjust expectations accordingly.

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Very well said, and I totally agree. However, I do have one thing that gets me in a restaurant/bar. If I go in and I ask for a beer list and they say they don't have one, I will ask what they have. When they say "we have all kinds of stuff, what are you looking for?" It ticks me off. Could you imagine if they did this with wine? Even the average Joe Winedrinker would probably be ticked.

I know I shouldn't, but I always screw with these people. What is especially funny is the places that "have everything" usually don't have more than a hefe and a pale ale at the most. When they tell me they have everything what do I want, I usually start asking them what they have in a RIS, or Belgian Golden Ale. That usually gets me a beer list.

All I ask, is to be treated like any other customer who was ordering a glass of wine. Most every restaurant has a wine list and if not, the server could definitely tell you the different types of wine they have. That is all I ask. If you don't have a beer list, at least train your servers good enough to tell me what is available.

Weizenheimer said:

I had a server the other day try to tell me that yuengling was a dark beer and when I told her it wasn't she started to argue with me about it.

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I don't know, I think Yuengling Porter and Black & Tan are pretty dark colored.

Any restaurant with a beer list usually gets me to come back, all things being equal. There's a BBQ place around here where I asked for a list and he told me they have EVERYTHING. Ok, so how about just telling me beers that are NOT BMC? Oh, ok, We have Killian's and Boston Lager. Oh... wow, you really DO have everything don't you! I do look down on people who literally think there are 15-20 different beers out there MAX. It would be bad enough if you're just completely disinterested in beer, but these people are in the service industry. I don't really like wine much but I know there are 10000s of wines out there.

I understand the "domestic" advertising reference though. See, they are really talking about BMC in order to differentiate MOSTLY from Heinies and Amstel which they serve to the people who think they're high brow and are willing to pay more. There's probably a better word or words than domestic to get this across but it won't fit on a banner so well. "macro brews"... nah, sounds too technical. "Bud Miller and Coors" should work.

When the beer selection sucks, most any place can pour a decent glass of Pinot Grigio or make an acceptable whiskey sour or margarita. I always go in expecting the absolute worst as far as beer goes, and often I'm pleasantly surprised and I get a few pints, but not always. And I'll get wine or a cocktail well before I pay money for BMC.

In my neck of the woods, "we have everything" ussually means they have both Bud light AND miller light.

I should also clarify, my post about the the $3 New glarus was ment to be more about my pet peave. I didn't actually yell at the bar tender or anything. Also, MOST bars offering a special like that with use a * to note that it dosent include certain brews. Plus, the bar/resturant we go to for fish on fridays DOES offer 2 for 1 on spotted cow during happy hour......