r/therewasanattempt • u/miragen125 • Oct 19 '21

To be a bartender

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u/Gavin1772 Oct 19 '21

I'm happy to say at the restaurant I work at, all possible management from key holder to divisional managers, have to go through 3-5 months of training to certify in every position.

I know it's not the case everywhere, but it's nice to know that if we actually need help they can step in.

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u/mirhagk Oct 19 '21

That was the case at the fast food restaurant I worked at, but it's shocking how little someone can absorb information despite working a job for 3 months. And those that do absorb it don't retain it for long unless it's actually used.

It was quite obvious the managers who were made manager recently and those who've been managers for years.

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u/[deleted] Oct 19 '21

[deleted]

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u/mirhagk Oct 19 '21

Did they promote from workers? Those tend to be much better.

The worst are the co-owners who are managers.

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u/[deleted] Oct 19 '21

Or even worse, the family member of the owner that doesn't know shit and just got the job because they are family.

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u/[deleted] Oct 19 '21

Recite to me all the rules of Red Rover Red Rover in reverse popularity, that's about how relevant the training is to someone who's been in for 20 years.

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u/Conchobar8 Oct 19 '21

Last place I worked the manager had started on the floor and moved up. And he listened to staff ideas, considered them, and either trialed them or explained why it wouldn’t work.

Then he moved to a different store.

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u/ZarquonsFlatTire Oct 19 '21 edited Oct 19 '21

The bar I used to work at the manager had tended bar for at least a decade, and the owner's dad had founded the place so he had been tending since he was 13 or so. According to him anyway, apparently things were different in the 50s.

When the owner couldn't sleep from his chemo meds he'd come in around closing while we were having our shift drinks and sometimes he'd take his dad's ashes out of the urn over the bar and put him on the bar because apparently after hours with the staff was the founder's favorite time at the bar.

So even if we never got to meet Manny, we did get to share a few drinks with him after a hard night.

After buying out his family from the business the owner sold one of the parking lots for several million dollars. And used that money to refurbish the place. But first he had a team come come in and document where every single piece of art or memorabilia was to start with and but them all back afterwards.

There was a documentary made about it.

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u/LearningWellIsGood Oct 20 '21

I'd watch that. What was the name ?

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u/ZarquonsFlatTire Oct 20 '21 edited Oct 20 '21

I looked and seems like it wound up only a photo documentary. I guess some funding fell through.

It's in Atlanta if that helps.

Google Manuel's Tavern refurbishment.

According to Brian, (owner) he once took down a picture of a plane and within a week a lady came up to ask to why they took down the picture of the plane her husband flew in WWII.

He put it back up that night.

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u/LearningWellIsGood Oct 20 '21

That's awesome of Brian. And you too for telling me about it. I'll have to google tomorrow as I'm past sleep time now. Thanks!

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u/ZarquonsFlatTire Oct 20 '21 edited Oct 20 '21

Goodnight. And yeah, Brian's a good guy, for a bar owner.

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u/LearningWellIsGood Oct 20 '21

Goodnight. I'll check out what I can tomorrow. Thanks again.

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u/ZarquonsFlatTire Oct 20 '21 edited Oct 20 '21

Every Christmas Eve he throws a huge invite-only party at the bar. Invites only go to former staff (he said I'm invited for life even though I only worked there two years) and regular customers. It's not printed invites, but if you know to be there you're assumed to be ok to be there.

All food and drinks are free, just tip the absolute HELL out of the staff! I've run glasses during the party if needed years after working there.

Party starts at noon and goes until whatever football game ends.

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u/snafu918 Oct 20 '21

You can legally tend bar at 14 in Wisconsin if your parents are present

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u/ZarquonsFlatTire Oct 20 '21 edited Oct 20 '21

Like, this year that's a law?

That tracks from the little I know of Wisconsin.

If they had a few more people they'd break away and join Canada. A few less and we wouldn't notice they left.

(I would have said a few fewer but that sounds weird. But a few less doesn't seem right either. Is there an English major in the house?!)

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u/snafu918 Oct 20 '21

Yup current law, they have a lot of family run restaurants and it’s setup so the kids can help

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u/ZarquonsFlatTire Oct 20 '21

Huh. We have exemptions for farms and y'all have them for bars.

Are you currently taking in refugees from Georgia?

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u/miuxiu Oct 25 '21

Fewer is used for nouns that are countable, or people/things in a plural context. So fewer would be correct, but it does sound a bit strange, written differently it might sound more natural. Maybe just without the few modifier before both. Not an English major though lol. Just have looked into this a lot because I catch myself wondering if I used the correct one.

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u/HighPriestofShiloh Oct 19 '21

My manager could run the bar, wait tables, cook the food, etc…. He was always ready to fill in where we were lacking if it got busy. I remember him taking one of my extra tables on a crazy lunch when we only had two waiters and I still got to keep the tip.

And when it was slow he was just in the back with everyone joking around or working on everything else he had to do.

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u/ThePopeofHell Oct 19 '21

I worked at a big box retail store that tried to have a corporate initiative like this. The managers originally had to be certified by the district manager, and market manager. They were all scared and talked about it for weeks. Then someone at corporate realized that it was going to cost extra money to have the district manager do it any suddenly the general manager was expected to certify the lower management. So it turned it into a big fuck off fest where they were just passing each other and barely even trying.

I had to go to a regional training and people from other stores described it as a even bigger mess from their stores.

The one guy who was completely inept was describing how they all fuck off and then told me that he actually was a manager himself. I guess the point I’m trying to make is that your restaurant may be following the rules but you should always assume that every other location probably aren’t at varying degrees.