Now ye're talking - to a country barman

Stephen15 wrote: »

Would you consider buying or taking over the pub once the owner retires or if it's ever a possibility?

Not a chance. There is just too much work involved. I'm hoping to be a paramedic in the near future.

beertons wrote: »

Auld boy comes in and asks for top shelf. What have ya got?

Jameson, powers, paddy, Most auld me drink whiskey and water. It would be rare they would drink something else from top shelf.

RasTa wrote: »

How much is a pint of Guinness?

What would be the average weekly takings? Say during a decent week.

Guinness is €4.20 , lager is €4.60, powers is €3.60. They would be the most popular drinks. A mineral is €2.50. Baby is €1.80

the purple tin wrote: »

Om your night off would you go to your workplace for a few, or go somewhere else?
The last person you barred, what was the reason?

The odd time. The wife is nervous driving over from where we live to collect me. It's a dark tight road.

It's being years since i barred someone. Prob ably would have being barred for getting agressive when told it was home time.

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

Interesting to hear you talk about the alcoholics, like they are all the same. Would you hear the reason why they turned to drink or would their stories just be the same old bitter and twisted nonsense?

If a family member came in and pleaded with you not to serve their relative. Would you?

I worked as a barman in a Greek holiday resort many lives ago. There were very few punters whom I wasn’t delighted to see go home after their week/two weeks away. How do you manage to cope with the same faces, year after year, boring the pants off you?

Still waiting to hear if you’d ever run your own bar?

Do you know all the tricks for scamming the place? Can you give us some examples please?

If the owner has the till covered by a camera or two, how does it make you feel as the employee?

Have you had many trying to sue the owner for some spurious negligence claim?

There are 3 alcoholics that drink in the bar. 2 of them have no children or wives. One of them had a wife but left her years ago. His 2 children are in their 20s now.

They don't say why they drink. They don't admit to being alcoholics just "good pub men"

If there as found kids at home and the money was being wasted on drink I prob would stop serving them if a family member asked.

I wouldn't run my own bar. Too much hassle involved. I hope the be a paramedic soon and out of the pub game.

99.9 % of the customers I look forward to seeing. They are sociable drinkers and I enjoy the banter. They don't drink themself stupid like people do on holidays. It's also nice to see their kids grow up and head on to college, emigrate etc.

The most usual scam involves working with a customer. They hand €5 and get the change of a €50. The barman gets 25 and the customer gets €20. A few pints would not be rang through the till so it balances at the end of the night.

I've never stole myself. Eventually you will be caught.

I know where all the cameras are. It's not just a barman that could steal money from the till. Could be a customer running in behind the bar when a barrel is being tapped, a family member, money paid out by the boss that was forgetting about etc. I have no problem with cameras being anywhere in the bar

No one has tried to sue in any of the bars I have worked in.

allthedoyles wrote: »

I know many ladies that bring the shoulder of Caot Morgan in their handbag and top up every now and again.
Do you watch out for this kind of thing ?

That only happens when a bus pulls in on a mystery tour. We keep and eye out then. It's a huge problem with the younger generation and mostly women.

clio_16v wrote: »

Have you ever had someone **** their underpants and stuff them down behind the toilet? Think it has happened in every pub I worked in

Used to happen lot back working in the city. I still dont understand how a gorwn man can do that.

frag420 wrote: »

Having worked in a bar in the north west that had questionable clientele I want to ask the barman from here on in known as Norm about the fights he witnessed, the various nuances only seen and recognised by a barman, They say a drunk man(as I am now, lets be honest) speaks a true man!what did you see or hear that made you really think that you should intervene, be that personally or with the help of third party such as the police. Don't mean to sound cocky when I say only seen and heard by a bar person, if you worked in a bar then you know what I mean, if your credit or debit card bills reads like a list of random people but are in fact bars...you too know what I mean.

Some of the things i witnessed included...

A guy takes one of those old heavy glass ashtrays with the jagged edges and smash it into his brothers jaw because they both fancy the same pregnant woman who is already with someone else!!

People selling the meth that they get on prescription in the bar,

Hopeless alcoholics.Those that just do the rounds, bar to bar, the same short sweet drink, be it vodka lemonade, gin and orange, whiskey 7up, in and out, buy drink, bam , on to next place...

I could go on but would love to hear some stories from the op...

The bar in Limerick was a bit rought and I would have seeing a lot of fights. I never intervened in fights, I just let them at it. Most times the family would break it up anyway.

There was an auld lad that drank in the bar. He died a few years back. He would get viagra on the medical card and sell them in the pub.

THere was another alcoholic he would look at the paper for horse races with a low number of horses. He would then to to 4 to 5 different bars and give a different tip in each bar. He would call to the bar that he gave the tip for the winner to and ask for a pint for giving the tip. It worked for a short time but I thought it was genius.

THere was a lot of lads barred from TOp Shelf in Limerick as they went mad from it. THe biggest nuisance was try to spot there friends calling to the bar to get them a small one. If we missed it then chances were there would be an argument.

flatty wrote: »

My question is about Guinness. In some places its lovely, in others undrinkable. Why is this?
Also, in the UK, why is it usually worse, and why is it nearly always nice in some pubs and nearly always rotten in others (as a rule of thumb, when I go into a bar, if a good few people aren't drinking Guinness already, then I drink lager)

It can be a number of reason but if you have a

Good Glass Washer
Good Stock rotation
Proper cold storage room
Lines cleaned reguarly
A good flow

You will be ok. THe glass washer really does make a huge difference. Pubs often skimp on this.

the_syco wrote: »

Quite often, the kegs may not be changed correctly. When I was a loungeboy 20 or so years ago, there'd be one way to change the all kegs, and another way to change the Guinnes kegs. This would be because the gas in post pints would not be in Guinness. Doing this badly would mean a bad pint.

Added to this, most barmen will pull all pints from the one tap, as that tap would be most used, and thus would be chilled. Next time you're getting a Gunness, feel the base of the tap; if it's not cold, ask them to use one that is, or goto another pub.

=-=

My question would be about the smokers; when the ban came in, was there much of a reduction in people smoking, or indeed people coming to the pub? Or did you just work around it?

In the local down where my grandfather used to live in Scartaglin, Lyons, there'd be a section out back on the way to the toilets that you could smoke in, or over in the Brown Flesk Inn in Currow there'd be what can only be described as a possible outhouse due to the size where'd have to cram into to smoke.

I didnt see any reduction in the amount of people smoking. ALthough it did ruin a good game of 45. Most bars worked around it. Others still allowed some smoking.

I dont think there was a reduction on the amount of people coming to the pubs either when it came in. Generally speaking people are either pub drinkers or home drinkers in local bars. Id say well over 90% of the people I serve would only ever drink at home on Christmas Day.

allthedoyles wrote: »

Does your pub water down the vodka especially for the ones that have had one too many ?

Have you ever caught anyone reaching in to top up their pint ?

We dont water down anything and the customers in the bar dont really drink so much that we have to stop them.

In the city bar I came across people trying to top up their pint. They got barred on the spot.

NinetyTwoTeam wrote: »

there were 3 pub break-ins around my neck of the woods recently and they seem to be on the rise. do you ever worry about that happening with a pub, shop and post office connected and it being so rural?

I do, Its always on the back of my mind. If it does happen we just hand over the money. No point being a dead or maimed hero.

Flesh Gorden wrote: »

- In an average month, how many people do you get coming in asking for donations for whatever charity event or fundraiser they are doing?


(I overheard a pub owner who was well used to them, turn down a fairly annoying woman
with the fantastic offer of no cash donations, but she can have free use of the lounge for a quiz night)


- Do ye leave the till open at night with a small sum of cash inside?

(Odd question, but I know a former bar manager who used to do this in case of a break-in
that could cost a few thousand in damage from someone trying to force open the empty tills)

About 3 a week. ANything local would be sponsored. Anything not local but trusted and worthwhile would also be sponsored. But there are some ridiculous requests. Donkey sanctuary's in other countries are popular at the moment.

Every bar I have ever worked in left the drawer of the till open at night for that reason. Usually only coins left in the till.