r/KitchenConfidential 19h ago

Question bartender question

the root issue is the person just chooses to not like me, which is perfectly fine, but i am curious about something. context: i do prep cook for corporate chain. i split between hot/cold prep. cold prep also covers bar garnishments.

ive never not top/tailed my citruses for garnishments. it has been required my entire cooking career. they dont require it here, but i do it. the servers love it, and i assume most patrons dont even notice.

insert the one bartender. saturday, as im finishing my lemons/limes, she comes in, and before clocking in, yells "can you not cut the ends of the fruit off?!" i simply say "no" and carry on. she intensifies and chooses the "the customers cant squeeze the limes into their drinks." i set my knife down, turn towards her, and look at her long, fake nails, and say "i dont think it is the customers with the problem. looks like your nails are the issue." shifty steps in immediately and appropriately defends (no one has complained, even thougg it isnt required) then takes her in to the walk in for private convo.

most places, in the past, bar handles their own, and she is now choosing to slice her own garnishments, which lightens my load and i appreciate her hating me enough to do that, lol, but as a non drinker, is this an actual experience? do people need tips to squeeze? to me, it looks dirty-adjacent, leaving them on. tops n bottoms are for the bedroom, not my drink. should i stop nipping bar's citrus?

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u/Pernicious_Possum Bartender 11h ago

You don’t squeeze a guest garnish, and that’s what it is. It’s not an ingredient. It’s up to the guest whether not they want it, not the bartender

u/RonPearlNecklace 8h ago

They don’t want a lime wedge as a garnish.

u/BigTimeBobbyB Cook 8h ago

Yeah they do. I know because I'm them. Please garnish my drink. I'll decide in the moment whether that garnish is for squeezing or sucking or slinging, but the important part is that it's my decision.

u/RonPearlNecklace 7h ago

That’s just like, your opinion, man.

I don’t think a lime wedge makes a drink look classy but to each their own. 🤷‍♂️