Couples Behind the Bar
When starting out at any new job, getting the lay of the land is critical. In the bar trade this is especially true when learning the habits of regular customers or fellow bartenders. One word of caution is warranted in this regard. If you learn there is a couple working behind the bar with you, QUIT! Don’t give me that, ‘oh service people hook up all the time, it’s part of the trade to get involved with co-workers.’ Sure, if we’re talking servers, management, or back-of-the-house staff. But behind the bar is a different story. Bartenders run registers and handle large amounts of cash. We’re tasked with running a bar which is like being a rower on a crew team, everyone needs be rowing in the same direction. The bartenders who get into a relationship behind the bar row in their own direction and cost everyone around them money.
A Word to Fellow Bartenders
Love Affairs don’t come cheap. As a staff you’ll all be subsidizing the Affair in multiple ways. Does one of these lovers have even an ounce of seniority behind the bar along with a closing shift or two? Well guess who will be the last bartender cut before the closer finishes up for the night? Yep, you guessed it, their better half. Does one of them hate working one side of the bar or some shift-related side work? The staff will be asked, as a favor of course, to pick up this slack where ever this Love Affair leaves it laying on the floor. And to repeat: if anyone is banking on lucrative shifts as a non-closer …that’s in serious jeopardy. You’ll be cut whenever the Love Affair mandates that any of you be cut, so the Love Affair can stay working together as late as possible. Oh, you didn’t hear the Affair is saving up for a romantic getaway? So everyone better be on high alert as there will be double the amount of shifts that need to be covered. Ain’t love grand?
A Word to Management
Do you employ this Love Affair with the knowledge that the rest of your bar staff is paying for it? May you have a thousand call-outs reign down on your week of scheduled shifts. The Affair now works all closing shifts that either is scheduled for, making sure that the rest of the bar staff is cut before them. And it’s no coincidence that a group of regulars only come in on the nights when both are closing down together. Better check that cash register, hombre. Odds are your bar’s profit margin is walking out in the belly of those regulars and the closing couple’s cash tips. You got a decision to make. Either schedule them away from each other or find some credible reason to part ways with one of them. If the other threatens to quit, let them know that Delta is always ready when they are.
Trust is an essential ingredient for any prosperous bar. Nobody should be granted special privileges which violate a bar staff’s mutual trust in one another. As a manager or bartender you should be aware of the havoc a Grand Love Affair can wreak behind the bar. If management turns a blind ear to your concerns as a new bartender, then be prepared to quit. We’ve discussed previously how to go about preparing a rainy day fund for just such an occasion.
