Beans makes some good points here.
The ordering etiquette of guests is not always the best and it never will be.
You are dealing with people that are trained in all other kinds of fields and
most could give a rats ass the proper way to order a drink to suit us. It's
not your place as a bartender to judge them or the very least get annoyed and
upset with them. See, "you" have the power. You can control the situation.
It's almost the same way that you pychologically control children into doing
what you want/need them to do or to perform a forced magic trick.
This is not something that I knew from the beginning...I came across this
having to deal with lots of different personality types over the years.
1) Accept that there will always be arguements about what the "real" Martini
is or isn't (or any other drink for that matter).....bottomline Who cares? as
long as the guest gets what they want and are happy.
2) Find a way to make little pet peeves go quickly and smoothly for you
without emotional interuption through the night.
3) Move on. Afterall you are in the hospitality biz and your only real job is
to sell as much food and drink as you possibly can.
If it helps, lemme share a coupla things that I do:
Ordering a Martini:
When someone walks up to the bar and orders a Martini and all they say is
"gimme a Martini" I slightly let about 2 seconds go by, then smile, sincerely
look in their eyes (w/o any attitude whatsoever), and say; sure, no problem,
would you like me to use your favorite gin? See, this right away does 2
things. First, you are upselling and you are finding out if they want gin or
vodka. The point is to take their hand (not literally) and walk them through
it as smoothly and nicely as you can. It really makes a difference to just
drop the all knowing cocky attitude a lot of bartenders have.
The rocks vs Up thing:
Just from personal experience if they do not specify that they want it on the
rocks...then I always assume that they want it up. After all is the "icon" of
the cocktail world. I have never had anybody send an UP martini back and
say...oh, I wanted it on the rocks.
Dirty Martini:
If they order a Dirty Martini I always smile and say, sure, would you like it
PG, R, or X rated. (This one always gets a smile.)
MY Old Pet Peeve
The one that makes me smile the most is when someone orders a Margarita.
People see people in the movies walk up to the bar and ask the bartender for a
"Margarita" please. This is the drink that use to bother me more than the
Martini. Probably 9 times out of 10 I have to lead them through it; Sure, how
would you like that?....when I see their eyes look like a deer caught in the
headlights I start leading them thorough....rocks? frozen? Up? Salt? No Salt?
Well? Gold?....by the time they get the drink they always say to me that they
didn't realize that there were so many ways to get a Margarita in a
appreciative tone of voice.........my only hope is that the next bar they walk
up to that they will carry that knowledge with them.
Hope some of this helps,
Cheryl
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You Have The Power - 2005.02.19, 00:13 - Cheryl Charming 