(Just to clarify – for the
purpose of this post I am encompassing a lot of different roles as “Bar Worker”
to make things easier. I am more than aware that there are numerous roles with
various titles within the industry and those that work in pubs and bars.)
The other week I was stood at
the bar of one of my favourite pubs vaguely watching one member of the bar
team with interest. He was bouncing from table to table, glass collecting but
also taking the time to speak to each group; compliment somebody’s shirt,
talk to them about the wine they'd just had, regale them with the same story of his new hat that he’d already told
everybody.
Amused I turned to the manager
and asked “What on earth is he doing?”
They glanced at their member of staff, sighed deeply and said “I think I just pay him to chat to people.”
Though this may not sound
desirable, each table or group left in this worker’s wake were vsibly happier;
probably more likely to stay for another drink. He is well loved and rightly
so. Despite the manager’s wary exhale they know that he is actually a terrific
asset.
There is so much more to working in a pub than beer knowledge.
As a regular pub visitor I
have, on occasion, come across service that I have perceived as poor. There
have been various reasons for this conclusion; shortness, a dismissive attitude
or lack of engagement. Sometimes my automated reaction will pass judgement
immediately and if it is a place I am visiting for the first time then this may
affect my extended view of the pub.
Still, leaning against bars or
sitting alone in pubs, I can’t help but pick up on staff. It can be a very difficult job but there are many traits
that make for truly terrific bar workers.
There is the rapport with the
regulars. This doesn't refer to preferential treatment and queue jumping. It
relates to the affinity with the knitting group, folk singers, tea time crowd
and the last orders wanderers. It is creating an environment where customers
will aim to come to the bar on certain days or at certain times just to be
served by their favourite bar worker, lamenting the days when shifts have been
changed or holidays are being taken.
At the same time they can work
with new faces with politeness and/or enthusiasm. They can also juggle the
large groups who all order different drinks, one at a time. They can do this
with controlled smiles. And that group might not order a single beer.
On top of that there are basic
cellar skills, stock control, cleaning rituals, perhaps orders of food to
negotiate. There could be knowledge of different measurements, different
decriptions used by different customers, different glassware and the
preferences of some for certain styles. Some will be placing orders, taking
deliveries and sorting invoices. I could go on. There's a lot it.
All this on top of a certain
amount of knowledge of the products being sold, just in case questions are
directed by people who aren't sure what they actually want to drink.
More and more I am seeing this
as the focus of criticism from people existing in a small Beer Bubble. Bar
workers at establishments across the country are being criticised for not
having perfect knowledge of every single beer and brewery in the country.
There will be reasoned argument
that it should be part of the job to know the products you are selling but this
is poppycock. Yet still I see these posts of outrage and attempted affirmation
from others on social media. "Tell
me I'm wrong but I'm in a pub and asked about a beer and they didn't know the
answer - how can this possibly be?"
This sort of viewpoint isn't
applicable to specialist beer bars or brewery taps, where the product on sale
is the focus. Here one would expect the bar workers to have a reasonably good
knowledge of the beers, perhaps even detailed. But in a humble pub or bar setting that
might offer a variety of different services, this needn't be the case.
Worryingly, many of the
complainants I see seem happy to exchange good customer service with decent
beer knowledge, as if bar workers should be judged on such.
My three worst experiences with
bar workers stick with me due to how shoddy they were. One was at a brewery tap
in Liverpool, one at a well known Craft Beer house in Manchester and one at one
of a chain of beer bars in London, the latter being five years ago and
inspiring a rant about the increase in surliness behind new beer bars acrossthe country. Not one of these incidents had anything to do with the knowledge
of the beers available. I'm sure every employee involved could have told me
about the products on the bar in great detail.
Would people really rather people had that knowledge rather than a decent attitude towards work?
Do these people even spend
times in pubs?
I imagine a time when that older
group in the pub, who come in specifically on a Tuesday afternoon for two halves, a G&T
and a pot of tea served by their favourite member of staff, find that they are
being served by a splenetic beer expert unwilling to engage with them. Their
previous favourite staff member has been dismissed due to a poor Trip Advisor
review from a disgruntled beer advocate who was furious they couldn't
discuss the alpha acid levels of Ahtanum or hadn't had time to learn the
back-story and beer styles of a new brewery never seen before in the pub.
I can only assume that the
attitude sometimes comes from newbies and kids, introduced to
beer through craft beer and railway arches, used to places where the beer is
the focus. They take that experience into every pub that offers a range of
modern beers expecting the same levels of knowledge. But being a great bar
worker involves so much more. There are so many other great qualities in the
very best. Yet we wonder why more aren't choosing it as a career path whilst
simultaneously expecting them to know everything about everything.
I wonder how many of those kids
expect the same bar workers to know all about the 40 gins, 60 whiskies or 80
different spirits behind some bars now. If that expectation level is not the
same then realise you are blinded by your own passion for beer. If the
expectation level is still the same then re-evaluate how you look at the
industry.
I've also no doubt that some of
these comments are derided from the Xander Harris experience of bar work -
"We're the future of this country and you keep the bowl of peanuts full."
"We're the future of this country and you keep the bowl of peanuts full."
None of this is to say that
poor attitude to beer does not exist. My least favourite phrase I come across
in pubs is "I don't know, I don't drink the stuff." It
is ignorant at best to not learn the basic styles or colouring of beers to
offer some form of weak guidance - or at least offer tasters. I'm also not
doubting that there are some amazing bar workers out there who manage to do it
all, including having clear taste profiles of everything on offer. "Well
in my local pub there's this great person who..." Yes, yes. Have
a day off.
For others, there are still
analogies one can make if still unsure. I don't walk into Tesco and ask the
very first employee I see to tell me about the ash content and origin of their
own brand cat food. I don't scold them for not having that information to hand.
Likewise, in my day job we have a range of speciality products and individuals
don't have knowledge of them all. As a team we do. Expecting technical advice
on specifics from everyone you meet is not how the majority of industries
work.
There will be some reading who
are still sure that they don't look down on bar workers ("I worked behind
one as a student, wah, so how could I possibly, wah.") There'll be some
who expect expertise and knowledge of every brewery and every beer from the
other side when, as somebody who spends much of their spare time with their head in the
industry, I only know about 10-15% of those things myself from this country alone. I
implore the rest, who can take five minutes to try and think of others, to
understand how much more there is to this job. There is so much more to the pub
than beer. There is much more variety in the pub clientele than beer drinkers.
It is time to step out of your personal bubble and start recognising
that.
That particular bar worker I
was observing at the beginning of this post doesn’t have extensive beer
knowledge. He has been known to direct people to me if they have a particular
question about a beer that he isn’t too sure on. This is not to his detriment.
For many, he is the reason they return to the bar time and time again. There is
so much more to these jobs than extensive beer knowledge.
Pleasant service or beer
knowledge - I know which one I choose.
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