The Glass Is Half Empty

Dave and I stopped for dinner on our way home last night - We sat at the bar because we needed to drop off a demo cd for the band. We got to chatting with the bartenders. One was a friendly lady. The other was a man who seemed nice - but really really efficient. He skirted from one end of the bar to the other. He filled an order that the other bartender had already taken, but wasn't finished with yet... You know the type.

The restaurant's owner was also skirting around - from upstairs to down - back to front. It was a busy night.

The male bartender filled an order for a glass of red wine and two mixed drinks. He left them at the bar and skirted somewhere else. The server came up to retrieve the drinks and said to the female bartender, "Can you put a little more wine in that glass? I don't think it's full enough."

The bartender looked, just as the guy bartender skirted past. "It's fine!" he committed... and kept going.

The female bartender simply opened another bottle of the same wine, looked at me and asked, "Do you think that's enough?"

Well, the glass WAS half empty. I suggested a little more might be nice.

She added to the glass. "I always get in trouble for adding too much alcohol... My boss says that if we only give them a little, they'll buy another."

"Do you weigh your bottles at the end of the shift?" I asked.

"Not here, we don't." she said.

Oh. That's interesting, isn't it? Underprovide to over sell. I swear that from now on, I will order only bottled drinks from that restaurant!!! (although my personal martini was fine). If an establishment is going to do that, shouldn't they just use smaller glasses? Or etch a line somewhere that says "FILL LINE" like they do at the coffee places?

The other bartender looked on from the end of the bar, then disappeared. Dave and I paid our tab and left.

The male bartender was near the door as we passed. He was talking to the owner, "I keep talking to her about portion control... but she's not listening..."

Wow.