Bad pints and ignorant barmen.

Karl Hungus · 16-06-2006 12:57AM

Can't really say I've been served a bad pint, so never sent one back under those circumstances, but I was once served a pint of Bulmers instead of whatever it was I ordered, yet the barman insisted that I asked for Bulmers, I told him that I do not drink cider, so there's no way that I'd order one.

I'm afraid that's all I have to offer on that. Even working as a barman in one of the biggest dives in Galway, I've not had any really maliscious stories.

HelterSkelter · 16-06-2006 01:01AM

Hail 2 Da Chimp wrote:

Aslo just after thinking, got a bottle of bud on sat night. It was opened in front of me but was as flat as a pancake with lots of drit floating in it. It was full of small particals floating around, anyone ever seen this before?

People think they are safe drinking bottles but it is very easy to put the cap back on. I used to work in a bar and lots of times if someone ordered the wrong bottle of beer and exchanged it, the original bottle would get a cap straight from the bin hammered on and put back in the fridge!!

Patricide · 16-06-2006 02:01AM

CreepingDeath wrote:

Serving a pint from the slops tray is nothing.... I got that beat.
15 years ago ( God I feel old saying that now )..... I worked in a well known South Dublin pub, over the course of 5 years. (refuse to say where exactly)

At the end of each night, when the pub was cleared, the slops were poured into a bucket. It was brought out to the yard, and a funnel placed in a keg.
The slops were poured into the keg.... pure 100% slops in that keg.
That keg was tapped on it's own line.... ie. there was a special tap for slops in the lounge.

Whenever non-locals asked for a Guinness, we'd pour the first 3/4 with guinness. Let it settle..... then top up the rest with the slops tap.
Everything went into the slops tray, lager, smithwicks, bulmers, guinness.
Don't blame the barmen... its the managers who are to blame.
They gave grief to the barmen if they produced too much waste, or didn't shift the slops.

I'd say this was an extremely uncommon practice, as I kept my eye out for other bars where they used one tap to pour guinness, and another to top it up. Think it was just down to one God awful manager.

JESUS H CHRIST, if i knew how to do a shocked smiley id do it right here.That is honestly the most wrong thing i have heard in quite some while.

The Bollox · 16-06-2006 02:13AM

Hail 2 Da Chimp wrote:

Aslo just after thinking, got a bottle of bud on sat night. It was opened in front of me but was as flat as a pancake with lots of drit floating in it. It was full of small particals floating around, anyone ever seen this before?

yeah that happens, if you mistakenly open a bottle of booze when the customer wanted a pint, or vice versa, you are told to get rid of it by the end of the night, so a cap is taken from the bin and put back on the bottle, or the pint is put to the side, and the next person to ask you for that beer gets the opened one

the_syco · 16-06-2006 02:30AM

padi89 wrote:

Theres a guy i go on the piss with,hes a barman.Always when we are out he orders bottles of beer and proceeds to clean the top of the bottle with his t-shirt before drinking.He says its because he has seen rats piss etc at different places he works.Sounds sick but i cant imagine wiping a bottle top with a tshirt will save you from killer rat piss?

He speaks the truth. And, well, put it this way: its better than thinking "oh, its wet, must be cos its cold...".

=-=

Having been a lounge boy, if someone asks for a change of a pint there and then, the pin is changed. The minute they walk away, we will no longer change it, unless we know them. Why? Because we've often had people try to change a full pint of guiness that has been on the table so long, the head is yellow, ffs! Also, people sometimes order a few pints, and an hour or two later, come back and say their pint is flat, and they want it changed. Yeah. F**k off, tbh.

The Bollox · 16-06-2006 02:35AM

the_syco wrote:

He speaks the truth. And, well, put it this way: its better than thinking "oh, its wet, must be cos its cold...".

=-=

Having been a lounge boy, if someone asks for a change of a pint there and then, the pin is changed. The minute they walk away, we will no longer change it, unless we know them. Why? Because we've often had people try to change a full pint of guiness that has been on the table so long, the head is yellow, ffs! Also, people sometimes order a few pints, and an hour or two later, come back and say their pint is flat, and they want it changed. Yeah. F**k off, tbh.

thank you, that's what I am talking about, bowsies who chance their arm! of course there are genuine people who do get a bad pint, and if I feel they are genuine I will give them a fresh one

nesf · 16-06-2006 02:40AM

Eh, taste your pint before you leave the bar tbh. Easiest way to get rid of a bad one tbh. Generally they'll change it if you've had the pint less than 10 seconds before handing it back.

R0ot · 16-06-2006 03:52AM

Im a bartender and most of the time people complaining about bad pints are talking through their arse! Seriously so people just take it in their head that a pint is bad and won't be convinced otherwise, ive given many a replacement out of courtessy (spelling?) but if someone ever give me **** about it id evict them from the place within a second, because your blaming the bar tender for something he/she has no control over. So next time you think you got a bad pint, walk up to the bar say in a calm and polite voice that your pint is off accept the replacement and then stfu and drink it.

Red Kooga · 16-06-2006 04:13AM

CreepingDeath wrote:

I'd say this was an extremely uncommon practice, as I kept my eye out for other bars where they used one tap to pour guinness, and another to top it up. Think it was just down to one God awful manager.

Speaking as an ex-barman I can tell you that thats an all to common practice.

projectmayhem · 16-06-2006 04:24AM

hence why i ask for strange german beer in bottles

theCzar · 16-06-2006 04:33AM

bad pint... you mean non-alcoholic?

Depends on the bar, a local should replace the pint and certainly almost always will. I have seen cases of refusal though.

The problem is I drank a lot of Fosters in my student days and now my tastebuds are so banjaxed I can no longer tell the difference between undrinkable swill and non-fosters.

super_furry · 16-06-2006 07:47AM

kc66 wrote:

Iv seen places put drink back in the keg but that was to return it to Guinness for a refund!

A place I worked in as a lounge boy used to do that alright.

r3nu4l · 16-06-2006 08:26AM

Never been refused but had to argue with a barman to get the pint replaced. I was very polite saying that my guinness tasted a bit strange and he attempted to just top up the head.

I said that it wasn't the case of it having no head (which it didn't!) but the overall taste. He just looked at me as if I was personally insulting him or something. So I asked him again for a replacement from the other tap but he just looks at me again and says "No-one else has complained". Then his mate comes along asking him what the problem is, takes one look at the pint and then pours one from the other tap. Perfect

I think the first barman would have refused me if the other guy hadn't been there.

sham69 · 16-06-2006 08:41AM

As far as I know you can't put beer back into the kegs anymore but it was common practice about 12 , 13 years ago when I was working in a pub.
Bottles are always being re-capped. Years ago if you saw individual drip trays for each beer you knew there was trouble. A lot of places run off the beer (first pull) into a glass and then top it up when someone asks for a pint.
Happened me in Quinns of Drumcondra and the barman had the cheek to moan when I asked for a fresh pint. With regard to changing a pint for a customer I never had a problem doing it, at the end of the day it is not coming out of my pocket and if its **** I will change it.
I have to say things have improved over the past 10 years but I am sure there are still sneaky things being done at the end of the night......

Slunk · 16-06-2006 10:12AM

Anytime I get a pint bottle of bulmers I scratch the gold foil around the neck or peel some of the label off so as they cannot fill it back up from the tap and re-cap it at the end of the night as had been done a few times before. A few friends got bottles are were dead flat, bring them back up and they change them no bother because they know to well your right, they'll just give it to someone else.
As for a bad pint, seen a few people going up in the local and was changed everytime without question, even the barmen agree that the pint in the lounge is horrible and sometimes go into the bar for you to get it without you even asking.

Earthhorse · 16-06-2006 10:25AM

padi89 wrote:

Theres a guy i go on the piss with,hes a barman.Always when we are out he orders bottles of beer and proceeds to clean the top of the bottle with his t-shirt before drinking.He says its because he has seen rats piss etc at different places he works.Sounds sick but i cant imagine wiping a bottle top with a tshirt will save you from killer rat piss?

So basically, when he's on a night out, your mate covers his t-shirt in rat piss. Smooth.

Degsy · 16-06-2006 10:36AM

When i used to live in drumcondra i used to drink in kennedy's a lot,i mean three or four times a week and i allways thought it was good enough place untill two incidents marred it for me.First time,i saw the owner fishing lemons out of an empty glass,rinsing the under teh tap and putting them back on the chopping board with the others.Second time really pissed me off,i got a pint of smithwicks as i drank in those days only to discover what looked like a good sized lump of black snot going up and down inthe pint.I brought it back and you know whatthe barman said to me?Its a hop.A ****IN HOP!!!I was so angry i nearly threw the pint over him on the spot,and never went back.Not a million miles away in Fagan's i think they put the staff through college to teach them bad manners and how to be surly,its quite unbelievable.
http://dublinpubscene.com/thepubs/fagans.html

gimmick · 16-06-2006 10:48AM

I used work in a number of bars in Cork, some great, others awful. One in particular, across the road from me, this fella, a complete twit was always trying to screwa free drink out of ya. This one time, he had his stout finished, and there was just foam left at the bottom of the glass. He saw a dead midge in there, and then asked for a new pint. I asked him why he drank all of the pint if it was there all along, and he said it only landed in there just before he finished it!

Needless to say, I didnt replace it, but generally I would if the person hadnt drank most of it already, or if it was from a tap which had history.

But I have some horror stories from a bar I used work in on the western rd in Cork. Any Cork, or UCC people will know it.

Oh, andRe wiping the top of a bottle, well look at that logically. How long has that bottle been in transit since the factory, to the bars fridge? There is a good chance the top of it will be at least dusty, possibly dirty, and yes, even a chance of rodent urine. Wiping it is just a small precaution.

dl · 16-06-2006 11:06AM

CreepingDeath wrote:

Serving a pint from the slops tray is nothing.... I got that beat.
15 years ago ( God I feel old saying that now )..... I worked in a well known South Dublin pub, over the course of 5 years. (refuse to say where exactly)

At the end of each night, when the pub was cleared, the slops were poured into a bucket. It was brought out to the yard, and a funnel placed in a keg.
The slops were poured into the keg.... pure 100% slops in that keg.
That keg was tapped on it's own line.... ie. there was a special tap for slops in the lounge.

Whenever non-locals asked for a Guinness, we'd pour the first 3/4 with guinness. Let it settle..... then top up the rest with the slops tap.
Everything went into the slops tray, lager, smithwicks, bulmers, guinness.
Don't blame the barmen... its the managers who are to blame.
They gave grief to the barmen if they produced too much waste, or didn't shift the slops.

I'd say this was an extremely uncommon practice, as I kept my eye out for other bars where they used one tap to pour guinness, and another to top it up. Think it was just down to one God awful manager.

This practice still goes on so be aware if the pint seems a little off... keep an eye on the bartender and ensure your pint is topped off with the same tap!

First pint of the day from a tap can be dodgy... I find that this goes for any beer as it has been sitting in the line since the night before! Also as mentioned earlier... warm/hot glasses are not helpful either.

Mossin · 16-06-2006 11:57AM

Originally Posted by CreepingDeath
At the end of each night, when the pub was cleared, the slops were poured into a bucket. It was brought out to the yard, and a funnel placed in a keg.
The slops were poured into the keg.... pure 100% slops in that keg.
That keg was tapped on it's own line.... ie. there was a special tap for slops in the lounge.

Whenever non-locals asked for a Guinness, we'd pour the first 3/4 with guinness. Let it settle..... then top up the rest with the slops tap.

This was not uncommon practice in pubs throughout the country. I have been working in bars since I was 11. [what a long 10 years]

But it is not the only way I have seen publicans re-use slops.
Again refilling the keg, but use a splitter on the fob, and connect the slops along with a good keg together, thus when you pull a pint you are getting a 50-50 split of good and slop.

Also with Pint bottles of Bulmers, I know of a pub where they re-use the empty bottles by refilling them from the tap at the end of the night, this only serves to create flat tastless drink.

In regard to the refusal of bad pints, I never have a problem as people are paying enough money for the drink in the first place, and the least they expect is that they get what the ask for.

In certain places, and at certain times, it is possible to have gotten a bad batch of a drink from the brewery, very rare let me assure you but it does occur.

In my local, a certain group of customers wouldn't drink the Budweiser. They kept saying it smelt bad, we got 5 different Guinness "experts" out to test the lines, the coldroom, the glasses etc... and found nothing out of place, but still the customers complained.
This comes down to the placebo effect, when you are told by someone that something is bad, even if you dont necessarily think so, the more they tell you its bad the more likely you are to believe it.

Dyr · 16-06-2006 11:58AM

CreepingDeath wrote:

Serving a pint from the slops tray is nothing.... I got that beat.
15 years ago ( God I feel old saying that now )..... I worked in a well known South Dublin pub, over the course of 5 years. (refuse to say where exactly)

At the end of each night, when the pub was cleared, the slops were poured into a bucket. It was brought out to the yard, and a funnel placed in a keg.
The slops were poured into the keg.... pure 100% slops in that keg.
That keg was tapped on it's own line.... ie. there was a special tap for slops in the lounge.

Whenever non-locals asked for a Guinness, we'd pour the first 3/4 with guinness. Let it settle..... then top up the rest with the slops tap.
Everything went into the slops tray, lager, smithwicks, bulmers, guinness.
Don't blame the barmen... its the managers who are to blame.
They gave grief to the barmen if they produced too much waste, or didn't shift the slops.

I'd say this was an extremely uncommon practice, as I kept my eye out for other bars where they used one tap to pour guinness, and another to top it up. Think it was just down to one God awful manager.

I'd heard myth of a slops tap in a place i drank in years ago but was never sure...
Some bars will fill a keg up with slops to send it back to the brewers as a bad keg and get a free one back, but i'd say even thats rare nowadays

Siogfinsceal · 16-06-2006 12:01PM

In my local they are always okay about changing the pints - customer is right and all that so that fella was a bit out of order. was it a pint of guinness by any chance? If so ring guinness - they will send someone out to check the quality of the drink in that pub - i think most of the other drink companies are the same and its anonymous they dont announce who they are when they go in to the pub or anything.

skibum · 16-06-2006 12:37PM

Bambi wrote:

Some bars will fill a keg up with slops to send it back to the brewers as a bad keg and get a free one back, but i'd say even thats rare nowadays

All returned kegs are tested and if they are any way iffy you don't get any credit on your account. Years ago it was an un written "trade discount" but that has been all stopped now.

The Bollox · 16-06-2006 12:56PM

Earthhorse wrote:

So basically, when he's on a night out, your mate covers his t-shirt in rat piss. Smooth.

I'd rather have my t-shirt covered in rat piss than my lips, but each to his own

The Bollox · 16-06-2006 12:58PM

Siogfinsceal wrote:

If so ring guinness - they will send someone out to check the quality of the drink in that pub - i think most of the other drink companies are the same and its anonymous they dont announce who they are when they go in to the pub or anything.

they don't announce who they are, but you can smell them a mile away (not to say that they have b.o.)

Earthhorse · 16-06-2006 01:29PM

Marts wrote:

I'd rather have my t-shirt covered in rat piss than my lips, but each to his own

And I'd rather remain rat piss free but, like you say, each to their own.

Cianos · 16-06-2006 01:42PM

I always wipe the top of the bottle before drinking from it. Rats piss can carry Weils disease which can easily kill you. I've heard stories of people getting it from bottles before

I'm suprised at the amount of stories here. It's not like these publicans are giving us booze at bargain prices! And they have the cheek to serve us waste?!

I actually get an unsatisfactory pint more often than one that is of good quality. Semi-flat or tasting slightly off. Not enough to bring it back, but I think Irish people just dont complain enough when it comes to these kind of things.

hullaballoo · 16-06-2006 03:05PM

I don't know where most of these urban legends come from, but most of the tripe in this thread is completely made up. There are certain things that publicans can do that they will get away with to a limited extent. Things like refilling kegs and sending them back to the breweries as bad kegs and such things, but you can only send back so many.

Other things like replacing bottle caps can be done too, but there isn't really anything wrong with that. If you open a coke, and the customer ordered a diet coke, so you replace the lid - it's more than likely that the coke will be used quickly before it goes flat.

If it does go flat, the customer will let you know, and you will replace it.

Re-serving slops doesn't happen anymore. It just doesn't. No publican would be able to get away with it given the H&S and quality controls, as well as customer assertiveness. So, whatever happened in the 1980s is long gone.

Serving from the slops tray is another fallacy. How could anyone think even for a second that they could get away with that? Most people keep an eye on their pints as they're being served, so I don't believe that for a second.

With regards to bad pints, it is standard practice to change a pint where the customer has a complaint irrespective of whether you actually believe it or not. It's just customer service. If I ever caught one of the barmen under me refusing to change a pint, I'd be having a long chat with them about it. To be honest though, it's never happened.

That said, I must admit that I've found a number of places around where the bar staff and management and the rest all seem to have it in for the customers. There is a particular place in Bray that is notorious for having the worst staff in the country. They think they get away with it because the place is busy, but that's just because there isn't really anywhere else to go at the moment. Their monopoly will be short-lived based on their current standards.

The only thing you can do about bad bar staff is complain to the management. If they give you the same sort of stuff, then you just have to take your custom elsewhere, and try to take your friends' custom with you.

natter · 16-06-2006 03:06PM

Its nuts that any place would give you hassle for wanting to change a pint. In the bar I used to work in our boss would has us all told to change any drink for a customer and applogise for the inconvience and all that. She wanted to keep the customers happy and thats the best way to make money not scrounging to sell every last drop of drink.

Calibos · 16-06-2006 04:25PM

hullaballoo wrote:

I don't know where most of these urban legends come from, but most of the tripe in this thread is completely made up. There are certain things that publicans can do that they will get away with to a limited extent. Things like refilling kegs and sending them back to the breweries as bad kegs and such things, but you can only send back so many.

Other things like replacing bottle caps can be done too, but there isn't really anything wrong with that. If you open a coke, and the customer ordered a diet coke, so you replace the lid - it's more than likely that the coke will be used quickly before it goes flat.

If it does go flat, the customer will let you know, and you will replace it.

Re-serving slops doesn't happen anymore. It just doesn't. No publican would be able to get away with it given the H&S and quality controls, as well as customer assertiveness. So, whatever happened in the 1980s is long gone.

Serving from the slops tray is another fallacy. How could anyone think even for a second that they could get away with that? Most people keep an eye on their pints as they're being served, so I don't believe that for a second.

With regards to bad pints, it is standard practice to change a pint where the customer has a complaint irrespective of whether you actually believe it or not. It's just customer service. If I ever caught one of the barmen under me refusing to change a pint, I'd be having a long chat with them about it. To be honest though, it's never happened.

That said, I must admit that I've found a number of places around where the bar staff and management and the rest all seem to have it in for the customers. There is a particular place in Bray that is notorious for having the worst staff in the country. They think they get away with it because the place is busy, but that's just because there isn't really anywhere else to go at the moment. Their monopoly will be short-lived based on their current standards.

The only thing you can do about bad bar staff is complain to the management. If they give you the same sort of stuff, then you just have to take your custom elsewhere, and try to take your friends' custom with you.

Gotta agree with all those points. Worked in the Bar Trade in Bray (I wonder is it the 'Notorious' Pub Hullabaloo is talking about) for nearly 10 years up till '99. We used to have to do the old, 'refill an empty keg with slops through a funnel' trick. This was to be sent back to the breweries for credit rather than retapping though. I cannot believe any pub would knowingly do that except in error. Even that stopped before I left the Trade. The brewies started testing every returned Keg and barely anyone would get through for credit undetected, so it eventually just wasn't worth the hassle anymore.

I'd love to know what bar you are talking about hullabaloo? You say they get away with it because there is no alternative. The only pubs in Bray that do not have a similar or viable alternative are maybe the certain pub that serves underagers and the one or two 'Scumbag' pubs. ie Obviously the scumbags would have to put up with bad service because they aren't going to get served anywhere else, ditto underagers.

Bad pints and ignorant barmen.

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