Bar Etiquette, Part 2

A bar is a public space. Please refrain from behaviors you would not do in other public spaces, like the library. These include: yelling, throwing food, and being intimate with the person you either came with or just picked up-we really don't need to see you groping each other, thanks. Remember, there are both people who work at the bar, or who are patrons, who will be subjected to your behavior. This is a great circumstance for the golden rule: If you don’t want people at the table next to you screaming and hollering, you really shouldn’t do so either.

Keep your hands off the server. If you are trying to get their attention, saying “excuse me” works wonders. You do not need to grab, poke, or prod the server to get them to look at you. Also, please refrain from putting your arm around the server, or similar grabs. Unless we are close friends, grabbing me is intruding on my personal space, and I am not pleased. Remember, folks, three-foot bubble of personal space. If the music is incredibly loud, or the server is distracted, and “excuse me” does not work, then you may tap the server on the shoulder. However, like I said, do not grab.

Please pay attention to the person who gets your drinks. If you are sitting at a table and the server comes to check on your table, that is the ideal time to order a new drink. Five minutes later when the server is walking past your table to check on another is not. This rule also applies when you are sitting at the bar. If you are sitting at the bar and facing away from the bartender (such as being turned around to talk to someone standing away from the bar) do not be surprised when the bartender lacks the psychic insight to know when you want a new drink. When ordering a new drink, face the bar/bartender long enough for them to give you the new drink and take the money for the drink. The bartender has other customers and would rather not yell to get your attention so they can give you the drink you ordered thirty seconds ago. Bonus: if you really want to talk to your friends, move to a table. Then you can all face each other and a server can take care of you.

Please pay attention to your surroundings. This particularly applies to people who are standing because they sometimes stand in the middle of a walkway or in front of the server’s station. Key indicators that you are in the way: being repeatedly asked to step aside, or you are standing in front of a computer screen. Please realize that the only way, especially at the bar where I work, for a server to get a drink for a customer is for the server to enter that drink into the computer. Please be courteous enough to take a few steps to the side where you are not interfering with the server’s job. Ditto this for the portion of the bar-often marked with vertical rails-where the server picks up their drinks.

Run a tab where you start it. If you start a tab at the bar, please stay at the bar. If you start a tab upstairs, please stay upstairs. If you start a tab at a table, please stay at a table. The key point here is that when you run a tab, and we run your credit card to close it, one person gets the tip. This means starting a tab with a bartender, then moving to a table and adding to that same tab while a waitress serves you, means the waitress gets stiffed. Of course, a lot of co-workers will divvy the tip with cash, but it’s a hassle. Please close out your bar tab before moving to a table, or consider tipping each person cash. This means you’re acknowledging that two people, not just one, took care of you.

Last, but not least: If you get cut off, don’t throw a fit. It’s in the bartender or server’s best interest not to cut you off. The more drinks you order, the more tips we get. So, if we say you’ve had enough, please accept that. We’re saving you money, throwing up, a worse hangover, etc. Also, being cut off does not necessarily mean we want you to leave. Most of the time we’re more than happy to bring you a glass of water and let you stick around. Limiting your alcohol does not mean we don't like you, it just means you've had enough.