Sometimes it’s funny, sometimes it’s annoying. It really depends on the situation. Yesterday I was BURIED in the Tiki Bar. The deck was jammed, so my service printer was non-stop. I was carrying on conversations and making drinks for the 25 or so people hanging around the Tiki Bar, and I was eyeballing my stock because if I ran out of something the Tiki Train would derail for sure. I was working alone. But, things were being handled. I’m no slouch as a bartender, so I was in my zone.
Along comes what I’m sure is a nice older guy. First of all he is in the server pick-up window. That is where the servers pick up their drinks and where I try to pick up the servers (kidding TikiWife!); strike one. He is a little difficult to hear and understand; Strike two. I greet him as I am making a large order. He orders, wait for it, a beer and a white wine. I smile and say “It will be a moment, please.” Luckily, I was wearing sunglasses because I’m sure my eyes were saying “Are you kidding me? Do you see me buried here? Now you’re going to make me guess what kind of beer you want?”. I deliver my order to the service window and ask him if he had a particular beer or wine in mind. He answered “Any beer and a dry white wine.” Thanks for specifics dude! At this point I had about 3 orders in front of him (one with 3 mojitos) and didn’t really want to make the poor guy wait so I sent him to the main bar, where two bartenders who were much less busy could assist him. “Sir, as you can see I’m very busy and have several orders to make before yours. if you’d like you can walk over to the main bar and they can get you taken care of more quickly.” He smiled, thanked me, and went to the main bar. Problem solved. Everyone was happy. I chuckled to myself as I made mojitos for bikini clad moms having a girls’ day at the beach. Maybe the bikinis kept me smiling, but in this case I found the whole situation quite amusing.
Today’s Lesson: Make your life and your bartender’s life easier by being ready to order, especially if the bar is very busy.
Have You Had Your Tiki Today? 