I was a pub landlady AMA

[betlynchiamnot]

If anyone is interested, I was a pub landlady until about a year ago.

AMA :-)

Did you drink on the job?

No, I hardly drank at all while I was a landlady and especially not if I was working apart from maybe a glass of champagne on New Year's Eve. Now I can take it or leave it.

Why are you no longer doing it?

That's quite a big question to answer. Ultimately the business failed, to go a bit deeper into it I had a baby, thought I was superwoman and that I could do it all but turned out I couldn't!

Do you have any crazy/funny stories?

Do you miss it?

Do you ever go back to visit for a drink or dinner?

What do you do now?

Sorry, that sounds as though it must have been an awful time.

What were the best aspects of the job?

I work in a restaurant and the bar licence holder regularly drinks at work, he is an employee same as myself. Management do nothing about it. Is there anything else I can do, am sick of it.

I don't miss it, although when I left I did say I'd never work in a pub again but now I am working in a pub part time, just until I get DC grown up a bit then I'll think about doing something else.

My memories are quite tainted because of the way it all ended unfortunately.

I've never been back in the pub I ran, a previous landlady used to occasionally call in and it was really awkward so I wouldn't do that to the new owners, although it would be lovely to see some of the old regulars.

The best aspect was when you could see all your hard work paying off with customers enjoying themselves and of course getting good reviews was always a buzz.

I did become very fond of a lot of regulars and staff . And of course being your own boss is satisfying but stressful.

@ssd that's a tough one. I would allow bar staff to have a drink at the end of their shift if a customer had bought them one but in my mind if you're working you shouldn't be drunk. It sounds like in your case the management don't have a policy in place, are the owners approachable? Could you ask them to clarify their position on drinking whilst at work?

Is your manager making it difficult for you to do your job or affecting customers?

Did you live in the premises ?

@peppapigisapest yes we lived upstairs in a flat, again not ideal with a baby.

Trying to think of any funny or memorable stories that won't be too outing!

What are the worst/cringiest things customers have done whilst drunk?

Oh gosh my memory has gone, the only example of the worst things customers did is really grim and I'm not sure I can post it on here.

There was once when I'd left a side door unlocked but closed as I was waiting for a delivery, we were quite obviously closed and I was pottering around in the kitchen when I heard voices so went to check and found about 8 people using the toilets! We were on a tourist route so people did expect they could just walk in and use our loos!

And a similar one, I had moved all the furniture to shampoo the carpets, so there was furniture piled up, there wouldn't have been anywhere to sit, but a couple walked in through the back door, stood at the bar until I went over and they tried to order drinks, some people's awareness of their surroundings really shocks me.

It also amazes me how customers ask really personal questions when you're behind the bar, I guess some of them I would see more often than my family so maybe they felt they could!

Did you ever have to channel your inner Babs and shout "GET OUTTA MY PUB!"?

@Badgerah haha no luckily I didn't. I've never actually barred anyone, I found that if someone was being a drunken idiot you could just tell them they couldn't have anymore to drink or give them the money back for the drink they had and take it off them, they'd usually get in a huff and leave.

Then you'd hear from someone else that they had decided to 'bar themselves' or boycott I guess you could say, they'd always end up coming back in eventually, sheepishly asking if they were ok to have a drink. Very satisfying to say 'of course, I didn't bar you!'

How did you handle people who were clearly alcoholics and harming themselves by continuing to drink? I'm not being judgemental just curious as I'm sure it's a hard part of the job.

What's the mark up on beer? I've always wondered that.

Are you able to tell when someone is drunk and when someone may seem drunk due to disability? Some pubs can't tell if my son is drunk or it is his Cerebral Palsy!

@memaymamo to be honest with you I find that alcoholics are not the customers who would make a nuisance of themselves so you perhaps wouldn't even notice, they make it seem very normal and of course we only see what they are drinking while they're in our pub. We have a responsibility not to serve someone who is drunk but it is really hard to distinguish that if someone is sat quite happily causing no problems.

I was aware of one customer I was pretty sure was an alcoholic and he has 2 young children which was really sad to see. At the end of the day sadly if someone wants to drink that badly they will do whether that's in the pub or at home.

Do you remember drunk people when they come in again?
I get paranoid if I can't remember part of a night out that I might have been embarrassing and bar staff will remember me if I return!

Why did the business fail? What lessons would you say you have learned from this experience?

Did you have any regulars you chatted nicely with, but you actually disliked them?

@Noloudnoises in a free house pub you'd be buying a pint in at about £1.30 (if I remember correct, with my baby brain!) Pub companies charge their licensees a premium so there costs would be more.

Then you have to consider all of the overheads such as wages, gas, electrics, wastage and VAT bills.

Don't even get me started on wine, pubs can't buy it any cheaper than you can in the supermarket unless they are part of a chain with buying power or buying in massive bulk, sane with spirits too tbh!

@tinytemper66 I would like to say that I would, but I ran a village pub and generally we knew everyone who came in but I imagine it's a lot harder in a busy town or city pub.

We once had a customer with Tourette's come in and his first words were 'well you can f#%* off' luckily the person he was with quickly explained and we soon got used to him!

@ASauvignonADay Yes if the person behind the bar is sober they will remember!