Sometimes my job means cracking a code and figuring out what a server means when they key in an odd drink request. Most people who don't know much about bartending think that the number of drink recipes out there are far too intimidating and that's what they comment on - "I don't know how you know all those drinks and how to make them - I could never do that." - that type of thing. The fact of the matter is that you don't have to remember every drink recipe out there. As one former coworker put it, recipes are the least of your worries really. There are around 40 drinks that one would need to know how to make, that number being compiled from a list that I put together with my good friend Chris, who used to work with me. I'm not saying that there aren't loads more recipes out there, but those aren't the ones that come up very often, if at all.
Being a seasoned professional, I expect servers to have a basic knowledge of cocktails and I don't really care how many nights a week they work and what else they want to do with their life. That being said, it's often frustrating at my current place of employment because the service staff - for the most part, is severely lacking in that respect. I shouldn't have to tell the same veteran servers things like a gin & tonic or vodka & tonic gets a lime, basic rules/choices for martinis, the differences between the wines we offer by the glass. But I do - and for the most part, none of the servers retain even the simplest of instructions, which means that what I remind them of today, I will often remind them of later, that same day - and tomorrow.
Sometimes this is annoying, but there are times when it's very, very amusing. I've gotten to the point where I'm pretty good at deciphering what a server has communicated to me and getting right to what it is that they want. I'll give two examples of this...uhm...talent:
On my bulletin board I have a drink ticket that reads as such:
1 bourbon
rocks
not quick
cherry
W.T.F.? - that was what I thought on a busy Saturday night when I read this ticket. I thought maybe I was supposed to wait a few minutes before I made this drink, because it says, in plain english, "not quick" - surely I don't want to make this drink right away right? Then again, it's Saturday night and that means a sense of urgency that's usually a bit more intense than a week night. I ask my manager, who just happens to be the sister of the woman who rang this drink, what, pray tell, her sister might have meant by these instructions. She has no idea. Says she'll send her sister to me to explain. Fine - until I get an explanation, "not quick" means I'll wait.
A few minutes later, up walks the server who rang this odd request. Here's what she said:
Server: "oh...I do not know....that man from my big party in back room...he was drinking at bar before everybody coming"
My mind goes back to ninety or so minutes earlier when I had a gentleman sitting at my bar and having a cocktail while he waited for the rest of his party to arrive - ah, got it - the guy was drinking
Knob Creek bourbon...and yes, it was on the rocks and with a cherry. Problem solved. Chuckle saved.
The next example is perhaps my all-time favorite. It was given to me by a coworker who was working a large party and she was a bit in the weeds, or flustered. "Can I give you this list of drinks I need for the party and you make them for me - I'll ring them up as soon as I can?"
I limit the amount of verbal orders I take - generally the rule is that if you need something, you ring it up. If you make exceptions on a regular basis there are servers who will abuse this and see you as a pushover for any and all shortcuts that will save them time and cause you problems. I've learned how to spot the ones who don't abuse making a rare exception to the rules.
Having said that, this is the list that Julie, the server in this part of my story, gave me one night:
1 gl KJ Chardonnay
1 vodka & tonic
1 vodka martini, rocks w/an olive
1 Jack Daniels
Cider box
None of this posed a problem until I got to the last one - huh? Cider box? That's a new one - and I rarely have to consult a book on how to make a drink. C's.....hmmm, nothing under Cider Box, not even close. One more try looking under A, for Apple Cider - I got nothing folks. I wait for Julie to return to the bar, and this is where, with my years of experience, I break through and crack the code:
Me: "Jules, I made your drinks, but I'm coming up blank for the Cider Box...can you ask them how that drink might be made?"
Julie: "I guess, I mean I figured you would know....he just said he wanted Jack Daniels, cider box"
Ah....now I think I've got it! I'm guessing the guy said "Jack Daniels, side of rocks" - and I was right. This particular episode made for quite a few laughs for quite some time. That's all for now!
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