Service At Its Worst

By Jeremy Sherk

I went for some late night drinks at a trendy lounge the other night and was shocked at the brutality of the service.

Now, I’m not one to focus and dwell on the negative, but there’s some good lessons to be learned from my experience so I wanted to share them with you.

It was towards the end of a night and this bartender was manning the entire bar and lounge floor. She was obviously stressed because it was written all over her face and her whole demeanor was unpleasant.

Lesson #1 – Your customers don’t care how stressful your evening has been, they will offer you zero sympathy. In fact, allowing your stress to show and permeate your experience with a new customer will have the opposite effect, it’ll make them tense and uneasy in your presence. This will then often perpetuate your stress.

Anyway, I wasn’t getting any service at our table and I needed a drink. So I walk up to the bar, hoping to get my order in.

It was a service bar that she would come behind to make drinks, then take them to the tables she was serving. I’m waiting patiently and she rushes back behind the bar and glances my way. We make eye contact, although she doesn’t acknowledge me. No “What can I get you?”, no “I’ll be right with you”, nothing!

Lesson #2 – Even if you’re crazy busy, acknowledge a customer who is waiting. That will ease their tension and impatience. There’s absolutely nothing to gain by not acknowledging a waiting customer.

So she proceeds to start making drinks for an order at one of her tables and I finally broke my silence by saying, “Excuse me, can I order some drinks?”

She replies, “I’ll be right with you hun”, as she races off to serve the drinks she just made. When she returns, she starts making another order of drinks. As she’s facing the bar shelves with her back to me she says, “What can I get you?”

Lesson #3 – Look the customer in the eye when speaking to them. Give them your full attention.

In this bartender’s case, she wasn’t even facing my direction when speaking to me. It took me a moment to realize that it was me she was even talking to. Was she trying to save time? Was she too busy to even turn around and face me when asking what I wanted? Gimme a break.

To make long story short, I eventually got my drinks. I asked for a Crown & Ginger and she gave me a Crown & Coke so I had to go up and ask for another, can you believe it? Her demeanor throughout our entire interaction was “why are you inconveniencing me?”

Lesson #4 – The customer is never inconveniencing you. They are the lifeblood of the industry and the reason you can stand behind the wood and make so much cash.

Now, I’m a patient and understanding guy. I’m not the kind of person who looks for wrongdoing and reasons to criticize. In fact, I’m more understanding than your average customer because as a bartender I know what it can be like.

Although I’m willing to forgive bartenders who exhibit poor service, this bartender was just digging a deeper hole by the minute. My entire experience with her was negative and she did nothing to redeem herself at any point.

We had a couple rounds and I closed the tab. I don’t think I’ve ever written in a zero as a tip, but I just couldn’t bring myself to give this bartender a gratuity. Just as you should recognize good service with a good tip, there are times when not tipping is necessary to make a point.

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