Message 9598 of 22774 in Behind the Bar

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You really are on some sort of trip about this aren't you?

Look, what I'm seeing in the posts here is a complete inability to distinguish 
between consuming large amounts of alcohol on a regular basis and taking a sip 
of something to figure out what it tastes like.

It's sounding like the old temperence battle cry, where there was no grey area 
between abstainence and alcoholism. No-one is saying you have to get sloshed, 
just that it's a reasonable request for a server to know what they are serving.

To consume or not to consume is a personal choice. Fine.

To refuse to allow a drop on your tongue, unless you've got a full-blown 
allergy, is pointless. To make a scene about it is unprofessional, and to 
continue to say you'd take your tutor to court for insisting you learnt what 
you were supposed to be doing is silly. 

> and you do NOT have the RIGHT to try to 'force' me to drink.

My perogative as a trainer however would be to say "this person does not have 
the attitude to become a professional bartender, or the motivation to learn to 
do so."
I offer a learning experience, you refused it, offering no good explanation. 
Bad student. But no 'forcing' - you have the RIGHT to choose to fail.

There is no way you could pass the wine-tasting segment with that willful 
behaviour. Requirements are on the curriculum. Instructions in every wine 
tasting book. Wine goes in mouth at some point. Laughed out of court.

> And what on earth about not choosing to drink compares to any of 
> this?

Because running to the authorities when you are asked to do something you 
don't feel like doing, without having any actual reason to refuse, is the 
behaviour of an employee I can't imagine keeping. 

You may just as well choose not to get your hands wet - it's a choice that 
makes just as much sense to me. You may think you have the "right" to keep 
your hands dry, maybe you do. Maybe it's even technically possible to carry 
out your duties like that, but it doesn't help you be a great bartender on the 
team.

Turning your "RIGHT" not to know what your drinks taste like into a crusade is 
just pointless.


A much better question, and possibly more to the point of folk who would 
actually ask that question, would be "Can I be a non-drinker and be a good 
bartender?" where being a "drinker" is a behaviour, implying actual 
consumption on a semi-regular basis.
That's a different, and possibly more enlightening topic of discussion.

Ranting about never, ever, under any circumstances letting a drop of the 
demon-liquor pass your lips just seems to make your job harder.

.dan.