Message 1048 of 22774 in Behind the Bar

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>      I'd like to hear what everyone's required duties are at the end 
> of a shift, especially 'tenders who close the place down. Cheers!

Depends immensely on the type of place, mostly to do with how much traffic is 
around, and what sort of hours it's doing.

At an outside (pool) bar, type place, there's the whole lock-up rigmarole, 
which is apain, whereas most bars and clubs don't need it. In between are 
hotel and restaurant bars, where you'll have people around, even though the 
bar might be open.

At TGIs, we had to wipe down every single surface, including all shelves under 
all bottles and glasses each night. That was mostly due to the flairing ;)
OTOH I have been in places where the cash register, sample beer bottles and 
the rest of the bar-top crap was glued down so hard with old liquer I tore a 
bar towel trying to remove it from the surface.
Somewhere in between those extremes is recommended !

At a restaurant bar, the policy was to have no non-bar-certified employees 
behind tha bar area, so even the cleaners were banned from our zone. Hence it 
was all up to us, and as it opened for breakfast, it had to be done at the end 
of shift.

A bartender should not have to do main floors or toilets as part of their 
duties. (Neither should they refuse or ignore it if it needs to be done on 
special occasions!) 
Everything INSIDE the bar perimeter (including the floor) could be up to you.

Cleaning the beer taps is a specialist job, and probably not yours (but make 
sure it gets done - and don't forget the Yeast Snakes
[Dan the Melon Man] Cleaning beer drains also )

I won't list the entire boring routine which varies too much from place to 
place, but I do think it's a good thing to keep a list of those forgotten 
duties that may need to be done once a month or less, which include:
Defrosting coolers,
Wiping out beer fridges and ice machines,
Cleaning under/behind appliances, under the register,
Emptying the U-bend under sinks,
De-scaling coffee machine (yes, some places do it daily I know)
Brass/chrome polishing
High dusting, top-shelf bottle polishing
checking stock of emergency stuff like candles and first aid,
etc, 

See also a few ideas on opening shift duties...
[Dan the Melon Man] Real pointers : how to open up your shift : back to front!