RAISING THE BAR

by Dale DeGroff

By honing the skills of acting and diplomacy, bartenders can increase the house’s bottom line and their own.

The title of this article hangs on plaques behind neighborhood bars all around the country as a gentle reminder to tight-fisted clientele. In the pubs of Ireland and England, however, a few pence change on a pound may be left as a courtesy but dropping a couple pounds on the bar is rare. The tradition is to offer to “stand the bartender a short one” in lieu of a gratuity. Only in the last five or six years in the style bars of London’s West End and Soho has tipping slowly begun to gain some ground.

Not so in the United States where the act of tipping began over one hundred and fifty years ago. The tradition coincides with the explosion of restaurants and the emergence of the bar/saloon culture in the industrialized Northeast. Up until then, inns and taverns were primarily for travelers. In that agrarian society, most people either produced their own food or had easy access to those who did. The “restaurant” had yet to emerge. When the restaurant and bar trade became established the waiter/customer dynamic was too reminiscent of the servant/master relationship of the Old World. It was undemocratic and tipping became a way of saying to the server, we are equals!

To this day the tipping tradition is strongest in the suburban/urban centers. There are still a lot of people who don’t tip at all and they are usually from rural farming communities where dining or drinking outside the home is a rare event. But there are the others…

Advice to a young bartender: never get angry over tips. Even if you are in the business for the money alone and on the way to another career, the bitterness that simmers inside over small gratuities or no gratuity will only compound the problem. There are rude and unpleasant customers and that comes with the territory. As a bartender, one of the tasks you’re hired to perform is to make friends for the house. If you own the joint and you want to toss someone out, no problem. If you’re a hired hand, making friends out of even difficult customers is one of the ways you earn your keep. Some customers will never be friends, but unless they are dangerous or disruptive, it is the boss’ call to toss them.

I have managed three bar staffs now, including a very large one at the Rainbow Room Promenade bar in New York City. Experience is not the primary qualification.

I look for quick learners with great personalities—all the rest I can teach. I can never overcome a bartender’s inability to cope with the array of humanity that belly-up to the bar. That employee belongs in another profession with less person-to-person contact. I teach the craft—that is how I earn my keep.

The ideal barman both masters the craft and is confident enough in his own identity to project a different persona as each customer requires—outgoing and conversational to one, quiet and attentive to another. It is truly a combination of acting and diplomacy. A bartender who is good at it while mastering the technical aspects is a marvel to watch and an engine that drives profits.