WARNING: Controversial subject” TV show “reveals” 4 ways a bartender can rip you off

As you know, the temptation to take money that is not yours in this industry is one of the biggest issues for managers and owners and can destroy a career if trust in a bartender is lost. That is one of the reasons why BartenderOne stresses the importance of work ethics and honesty as a key element in any bartender. However, our friends at ABC have a very different opinion. Keep on reading, this concerns you

An ABC show airing tomorrow (10 p.m. ET) at ABC is bringing up a very relevant subject for all of us in the industry: The ways some bartenders and bar owners rip off their guests.

For this purpose, ABC hired Jon Taffer, who has owned more than 600 bars and clubs during his career and is the host of Spike TV’s “Bar Rescue where he travels the country, helping to turn struggling bars back into booming businesses but who comes down to this show with a very harsh reality:

“In the bar business, sometimes people are losing so much money. They can be losing $10,000 to $20,000 a month. Their house is on the line. They get desperate,” he said.

Among the tricks bartenders use to cheat customers according to Taffer are pouring less than the full amount of liquor charged for, watering down drinks and even secretly giving a cheaper brand than the one ordered when the guest cannot tell the difference between top-shelf vodka and the cheap stuff.

“If you come and say ‘Let me have a Johnnie Walker Black on the rocks,’ I’m not going to mess with that. I’m giving you Johnnie Walker Black,” he said. “If you come up to me and say ‘Let me have a Grey Goose and orange juice,’ that’s the ticket to pour you the cheapest vodka I’ve ever had.”

According to Taffer, these are the most usual ways bartenders rip off their customers:

Sometimes bartenders will pour cheap liquor into an empty premium bottle, Taffer said, or they’ll add water to a half-finished top-shelf brand.

“Either you’re getting diluted [liquor] or you’re getting a different brand altogether,” he said. “It’s the epitome of desperation. It’s stupidity.”

It could be the bartender doing the switcheroo on his own, or the owner telling the bartender to be dishonest, or both, Taffer said. In the end, those who do it do so to try to make more money off each drink.

Crushed ice, meaning the ice that comes out of those large bins behind the bar, means less liquor, Taffer said, while cubed ice allows for more space for liquor and is a better deal. But a half jigger of booze poured over crushed ice appears to look like more booze than a full jigger poured over cubed ice, he said.

Don’t be impressed if your bartender can pour a drink a foot away from the glass, Taffer said. He is just cheating you out of booze by creating an illusion.

“This idea is holding the arm up high in an exaggerated pouring motion, you think you are getting special treatment, you are only getting a special show. No extra booze, maybe even less,” he said. “When you lift that arm, you create an illusion of quantity. … Not only are you not special, you’re the exact opposite. I’m ripping you off.”

When a bartender holds the bottle over your glass for a long time, he is obviously giving you something extra, right?

Wrong, says Taffer, but you’ll tip him as if he did.

“The truth is they hold their finger over the air hole on the spout, which reduces the flow to a trickle,” he said. “They hold the bottle instead of the glass so you can’t see how little is flowing out. … Then they quickly add the mixer and plop in that straw.”

That little red straw is the key to fooling you into thinking that weak drink the bartender just gave you tastes strong because, Taffer said, unscrupulous bartenders will keep those straws in a glass of vodka hidden under the bar.

“The bartender draws a swig out of that vodka and your first sip tastes strong,” he said. “You are convinced, even though the rest of the drink is weak.”

The only thing the bartender can’t tamper with in a bar, Taffer said, is bottled beer.

“Unfortunately bottled beer is your safest bet,” he said. “It’s prepackaged. It’s sealed. You see it opened in front of you.”

Original Source:

ABC News Online

http://abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/ways-bartender-rip-off-order/story?id=20940303