To complain to bar manager about staff member hitting my hand?

[slurpysue]

Went to a cocktail bar and it was my round, so ordered 6 drinks. Card was on tab for payment.

The bartender was making two drinks at a time and lining them up on the bar. He had made four drinks so I thought I’d save time waiting and carry over the finished drinks to the table when he finished making the last two.

As I went to take them, the bartender then physically smacked my hand away and shouted at me that he is NOT FINISHED. He then chastised me to say that I do not take a drink from his bar until he tells me he has finished it. He then proceeds to make the other cocktails before tastIng it with a straw to test it’s right. Then he said I can take them over.

AIBU to complain to the bar manager? It’s fair enough to tell someone hang on sorry I need to make sure it’s right. But to shout at someone and whack their hand? I don’t think so.

telling you now you can take your drinks, who made him king of the bar?

His employer made him the king of the bar.
Would you help yourself from the serving hatch in a restaurant by taking your schnitzel before the mushroom sauce and vegetables have made it to the plate and then it turns out to be a vegetarian option destined to a different table altogether?
Customer might be the king... Until they start fucking up your business, that is.

Surely making all the drinks and tasting the last one defeats the purpose of tasting? If he tastes it and finds it lacking is he going to pour all the drinks away and start again?

Just sounds like something done for effect.

That's normal. Fresh straw, dip in drink, finger over the top to hold the contents, drop the liquid in your mouth, bin the straw.

Tasting a cocktail is fairly standard practice and the mark of a good mixologist who knows his craft.

Honestly I don't think the bartender did anything wrong here. Op should have asked before taking them over.

No I wouldn't. Would I take some fully made cocktails with absolutely nothing further to add on just sat there, off the bar to my table and come back for the rest of my round? Yes I would. Would I expect not to be hit? That would also be a yes.

A business that condones it's staff going round yelling and hitting customers deserves to be fucked up. If he didn't want his precious creations to be removed from the bar until he said so, he could have handled it a lot better than losing his temper. Bet he wouldn't have hit a blokes hand like that.

Honestly I don't think the bartender did anything wrong here. Op should have asked before taking them over.

He HIT her ffs. No bloody need for that. But yes, it's all her fault, his precious craft got spoilt, maybe a good whack will learn her eh? 🙄

I don't frequent cocktail bars these days but surely it's perfect normal to wait at the bar until all the drinks are ready, and to pay for them before taking them? I'd signal to a friend if I wanted some to be collected, not leave and look like I may not pay. What would he do then - he'd have to leave the bar and go out into the room to find you if you didn't return.

I think you were wrong to try to take the drinks and he panicked, thus smacking your hand accidentally, or was annoyed and more forceful than he intended. Personally I doubt I'd complain - unless he had been unreasonably rude or forceful.

I’ve read some shite on here in my time but essentially hes a customer service staff member, not Gordon fucking Ramsey.

This is not a performance of Shakespeare, he’s serving some drinks and if they were not completed to his satisfaction it’s up to him to politely say ‘sorry, I haven’t quite finished can you just leave them’.

Shades of Rowan Atkinson wrapping a present in Love Actually.

He HIT her. Thats unreasonably rude and forceful

Mixologist!

She had a bank card linked to a bar tab, if she'd gone off they'd have got the money from her card.

Honestly, mumsnet of all places, the number of women on here fully prepared to excuse a mans anger and violence. He did it "accidentally", "he didn't mean it" "maybe he was a bit more forceful" so don't complain, don't make a fuss, don't be a difficult woman 🤦‍♀️

Exactly, as a woman I wouldn't step foot in this bar if it was near me and I saw this incident on SM.

Reminds me of ‘sandwich artist’

I would have lost my shit on the night. He hit you? He would have been wearing his precious cocktail.

I'd complain hard and demand a copy of the CCTV footage.

I'd also seriously consider reporting to the police. If he thinks he can hit someone in that capacity I can only imagine how he behaves outside of work.

I would have told him off there and then are you fukcing crazy ?? ( him not you )

He sounds really rude, I wouldn't like to be hit/ shoo'd back like a naughty child

He is not just a “customer service member” He is clearly someone who has taken years to honing his skills and likes the drinks that he serves to be perfect, that’s his craft just like cooking is Gordon Ramsey’s.

Also as a bar manager if that happened in my bar, I would have of course given him a verbal warning if I had seen it or a complaint was made to me.

Some people think that working in a bar is not a difficult job, you are quite literally working with the public on their best and worst days, it is hard graft.
I was almost attacked two weeks ago for taking someone’s drink off of the bar who had come in from somewhere else highly intoxicated and managed to get someone else to buy them a drink. The general public are rude especially when they have had one too many.

Definitely complain.

I’ve met a few men like that. They’re always from a culture that thinks men get to tell women what to do and if they see a woman without the supervision of a male companion then he’s in charge of you.

Complain to the bar and perhaps he’ll be less horrible to women for a while.

He will have put the straw in, put his thumb over the end sticking out to draw up some drink and then taste it abc throw the straw away it’s a common thing for bartenders to do

He hit her, @OriginalOrchard. There's no excuse for that. Weird to see you trying to manufacture one.

Where did you see me manufacturing an excuse?

Wrong is wrong and I as I said, it would have been dealt with in an appropriate manner.

That's what they do lmao how else are they supposed to check the cocktails are right? Have you ever ordered a cocktail before?

Of course he’s there to serve customers, it’s literally his job. Same as anyone working in the hospitality industry. It’s a drink combined with a few theatrics, that’s it ultimately.

You almost being attacked is a very different situation to a woman who’s trying to take the drinks that she’s ordered to a table because she thought he’d finished and getting slapped because some self important dick thinks she shouldn’t take them quite yet. I don’t care how stressful your job is, you don’t slap people.

I say that at someone who’s worked in various bars as well as prisons and secure units so has met a fair few challenging people and managed to never be abusive to any of them.

These replies! I’ve worked in a bar for years, in clubs and was a bar manager, never ever was it ok to be angry or slap someone’s hand wtf! I’d say excuse me I’m not finished yet with a smile, you should definitely complain