For anyone who has ever owned or worked in food and hospitality or is just plain fed up with idiots in charge, poor service or the lack of interest, pride and or quality displayed in the service industry in general these days.
I have been in the business literally since I was too short to see the bar top, having grown up as a small child and into my mid adult life in a family owned saloon and there after continuing to bar tend and manage other establishments over the years. Maybe we were “Old School” but I was taught under the philosophy that “The customer is always right”, that every customer is greeted with a smile and some “excited to see you” energy! Not this stale, I don’t even want to be here crap that I am seeing more and more these days. As a bartender, waitress, hostess, manager, whatever your position, you are the draw! Anyone can open a building throw some pictures up and buy some booze but how are you going to make your place one step above? The "Dumbing down" of America is happening before my eyes and it’s frightening. Money is tight for a lot of people and for the most part they are thinking a lot more about where they are putting it. Most likely they will drive a little further just to get the best bang for their buck, to go see that bartender treated them like kings for the 33 minutes they sat as his bar. People just don’t seem to care anymore and it makes me sick. Yes I have been in the business many years and yes I am extremely critical because I do take pride in my work, not to mention I truly love it but, let me tell you a story……
Besides for the usual crap service I see pretty much across the board EVERYWHERE lately like bartenders that stand with their backs to you or don’t make eye contact with you AT ALL!…. Or worse yet they flat out see you but won’t service you because they got a text message or were otherwise distracted by something! How is a place to make money? How are they (the bartender) to make money? The more drinks you sell the higher the gross for the establishment and server both, bartenders still work on tips right? More drinks, more tips! Better service, better tips! Jeez, it’s like its some big secret.
Let’s not even get into absentee owners and or managers because that’s really where it starts right? Lack of proper training and disciplines, employees left to make critical decisions, inventory, and the whole operation is affected negatively. I can’t even imagine how some of these people even got there job other than to say there must be some even bigger idiot appointing them.
I recently attended a huge event in Downtown Detroit and purchased an all inclusive package from a large hotel chain located inside a struggling Detroit automotive headquarters. Here we are with this fabulous event in our struggling city in a place that is unmistakably “Detroit” with people from all over the world and the entire place had their heads so far up their asses the lumps in their throats were their noses! From the moment we arrived it was a mess! Enter the restaurant that at this time (morning) was sectioned off for the all inclusive guests for their breakfast. Hostesses stand…… Wait to be seated….. No one there for 12 minutes before we were finally sat. Yes it was a buffet but we were not greeted by a server at all! We actually had to get up and go find one to get our coffee. All over the room people are rubbernecking for a glass of water or ketchup which by the way I asked for but never received even after several attempts. Then waiting to sign the bill…… OH MY GOD! If I wasn’t an honest person I would have just walked! No one would have noticed anyway, they didn’t care. Next we go to the main bar across from check in. We sit down and the bartender is behind the bar with what looks like the manager who later I confirm in fact is. They both look at us…. No smile, no greet, no personality or friendliness at all! They were in the process of opening but, wouldn’t you as a manager say to your bartender to "go help the customer"? Yes they were opening, but LATE! All they had to do for me was first of all of course acknowledge my presence then let me know what was up you know? “Were running a bit late, can I get you a soft serve of some kind until we open?” and so on. NOPE, Nothing. Once the bartender did finally assist us she didn’t have what we ordered and had to go to storage to get mix, well we must have really put her out and caused her a lot of trouble judging by the attitude she copped and then strolls away like she’s walking in the park. After a time she strolls back with the mix and hastily prepares our drinks. She immediately goes for well liquor and begins filling our glasses. I stopped her and told her “I don’t want well liquor I want top shelf!” She snaps at me with “Well you didn’t ask for it”. Ok, now I knew I must be dealing with either an amateur or a poorly trained bartender because HELLO? It’s called an Up Sale. DUH! This trend continues from one aspect of the operation to another, it was truly astounding how sloppy and embarrassing to me as a Detroiter the entire operation was, I could go on and on but then I saw what made it all clear. Shit rolls down hill right? Well in this case it really does. We are seated in a private VIP balcony area which is set up like a garden on the roof. Leading out from the building is a split staircase right and left with about a 3.5 foot ledge and a grassy area in front. Remember the gentleman from earlier behind the bar thought to be the manager? Turns out he is “It!” The Hotel Manager, the man in charge, in his suit and shiny shoes comes lumbering out the door and instead of using the stairs steps off the ledge down into and then across the grass like some kid in a diaper. I laughed out loud and was really kind of confused by what I had just seen. I look around the room to see if there was anyone else who had noticed, there were a few but most people were busy enjoying the event. Personally I just can’t help but notice….. It’s in my genetics. Anyway……. I watch him walk around like la di da I’m the manager and then get this, when he walks back in the building, he tromps across the grass again and, jump’s up on the ledge! HA HA HA! Are you kidding me? The stairs were literally 10 feet to his right and 10 feet to his left but no, Here is a grown man in a suit wearing a name tag that says Hotel Manager on it, too brain dead to realize something as simple as tact, style and projection of professional image. Now people have noticed and are commenting, pointing and giggling….. Detroit and people all over are struggling but Detroit through all the difficulties this country is having still has to be “Detroit” with all its bad press and an image of a dirty dank city where people are shot for their shoes…. Which it isn’t all! As a person in the service industry, quit often we are the first people strangers to our city will come in contact with, any opportunity I have to change a person’s opinion about us I seize. Friendly, attentive, outgoing and personable service to a stranger could completely change that person’s otherwise negative opinion of our city and send them home with good things to say about Detroit. You never know, you could literally be the only person in our city they more than two words to, like "yes please" and "thank you" This particular operation failed to do that on so many and too many levels. All I could think was this place is doomed, this city is doomed, and America is doomed as well because these idiots are everywhere! They are in our restaurants serving us food, in our schools teaching our kids, in our auto shops fixing our cars and in our governments, our foundations and causes. Sad….
I guess I’m just fed up with it all, the attitudes, the carelessness and the crappy personalities I see employed in positions where you need exactly the opposite. There are a lot of good people out of work these days so, in my opinion, it’s time for many establishments to “clean house” and get themselves some fresh happy faces…... That is if they want to prosper. Or in some cases, even survive.
Well thanks for reading my little vent session and oh yeah, by the way……. When we were leaving from our stay, we called ahead to valet before packing, coming downstairs and checking out, a solid 20 minutes. Yet we still stood at the valet stand 43 minutes for our car. It was clear they had lost it. I have never seen such a pathetic display of confusion as I did that weekend.

Anyone have something to add? Shoot me an email, I'd love to hear your stories and how you handled it.

Email: bartenderdave313@gmail.com or post your stories to my blog at - http://bartenderdave.blogspot.com/