Tips for servers

I have been bartending a long time and have come up with some helpful “suggestions” for the servers of the world that don’t understand how they make my job more stressful than it needs to be. Here are a few pointers from all the bartenders out there to all the servers:

1) Don’t ring in your order at the POS at the bar and then stand there and wait for it. We have 3 to 5 minutes to make your drink. We will try to get it out to you as soon as possible but pressuring us by standing there staring at us doesn’t work. You forget that we have a job that is far more stressful than yours. We not only are making your drinks but we are also waiting on guest, which is your sole job.
2) Don’t refuse to help us when we ask you to run drinks or check on out orders. My theory has always been if you are too busy to help me while you are standing there staring at me, then I am too busy to make your drink and I promptly move your order to the end of the line. Hey….. I have 3 to 5 minutes…. Remember?
3) Please look at the tickets before you snag a drink. Just because it looks the same as your order doesn’t mean it is yours. Take the time to look at the ticket to see if your name is on the top. When taking the someone else’s drink because a habit for you, we have to inform a manager that you are either to over whelmed in your section to take the time to do your job right our that you just don’t care. Either way, your mistake is costing them money.
4) I have one waitress in particular that always has drinks missing. It never fails that she will say “Well, it isn’t on my table”. I finally told a manager to watch her and her tables to see if she was giving away free drinks or drinking them herself.
5) My pet peeve is server’s calling my name for something while I am talking to a guest. Number one rule of thumb… my guest are ALWAYS more important than you or your needs. I tell my servers to go behind my guest and hold up their dollar bills so that I know they need change. If they call my name, I ignore them. If they persist, I excuse myself from my guest for a minute and take that opportunity to give that server a quick lesson in manners, and then advise them to go find a manager to get them change. They leave pissed but generally, it doesn’t happen again. Do us both a favor and bring a bank.\
6) Stop complaining about having to tip us out. At Red Robin, the servers have to tip out 3 % of their sales. It is divided up between the bartenders, the expediters, and the busser’s. We make the same $$ an hour that you do but we don’t have the same amount of tables as you AND we have to split the tips between the other bartender(s). I have to chase some servers down to get my tip out a and that is crap. What if you have to chase down your guest to get them to tip you?
7) And the number one No-No of all time… DON’T GO BEHIND THE BAR!!! There is thousands of dollars of inventory behind the bar and we are responsible for every ounce of it. Nothing gives you the right to endanger my job. When I worked at O’Charleys, we had bottles of liquor disappearing at an alarming rate. The bartenders were catching hell, so I decided to hide in a corner of the restaurant after we closed and see what happened. Sure enough, I watched a server got behind the bar and make himself a little drink in a to-go cup. He lost his job the next day. DON’T GO BEHIND THE BAR!!!! EVER!!! FOR ANY REASON!!!! Get it? Got it? Good.