I think I set a new record tonight.

[Duggeh]

It took me 41 minutes to get a drink at the main bar.

Im not saying anything else.

[hr]

IMAGE:www.thismanwillkillyou.com/bunf/AGM-duggeh.jpg

[Don]

I'm afriad I can beat that, after the 2004 Campus MovieFest when a tonne of people went to the Union after the showing of the winners in Younger Hall, there were only 2 members of bar staff working, and a shitload of people in the main bar, I was almost an hour getting a drink!

[hr]

Daz, makes your whites #gggggg

[n01]

bitch bitch, whine whine

i'm tired of hearing this shit. people are constantly moaning and being rude to the bar staff. it's not as if we're serving you slowly on purpose... and it's not as if we are in control of how many people are working behind the bar.

[hr]

What if all the world's inside of your head. Just creations of your own?
Your devils and your gods, all the living and the dead
And you're really all alone? You can live in this illusion
You can choose to believe. You keep looking but you can't find the woods
While you're hiding in the trees

[DrAlex]

If anything, it's the Union's fault for only employing a tiny number of staff members. It's not fair to the customers and it's not fair to the (obviously overworked) bar staff.

[hr]

http://standrews.facebook.com/profile.php?id=37100343

[flarewearer]

Quoting n01 from 10:19, 11th Feb 2006
bitch bitch, whine whine

Nobody was bitching / whining or even suggesting that it was the bar staff at fault. It's perfectly obvious, and has been as long as I can remember, that the union bar, despite it's length, has too few tills, too few beer pumps and is usually understaffed.

[hr]

image:www.magnificentoctopus.com/x/elgar.png

[McK]

Quoting n01 from 10:19, 11th Feb 2006
bitch bitch, whine whine

i'm tired of hearing this shit. people are constantly moaning and being rude to the bar staff. it's not as if we're serving you slowly on purpose... and it's not as if we are in control of how many people are working behind the bar.

[hr]

What if all the world's inside of your head. Just creations of your own?
Your devils and your gods, all the living and the dead
And you're really all alone? You can live in this illusion
You can choose to believe. You keep looking but you can't find the woods
While you're hiding in the trees

The poster didn't mention the staff. Dealing with rudeness to the barstaff is just part of the job. I put up with it for years. If you don't like it, get a different job which doesn't require customer service of any sort.

[Si]

Last night was pretty ridiculous though. I'm not blaming the bar staff at all though. I thought they did an excellent job considering the circumstances. All I am saying is that something needs to be done to sort out problems like this.

[Rennie]

I can't believe this is still a problem. People want jobs. The union want staff. They clearly have the capacity and the funds to take on extra staff (i.e The size of the main bar, and the money to pay staff wages).

But they don't. Why? And why do the existing bar staff (n01) get so defensive. No one's saying you're shit! If you're so overworked, why don't you have a word in the manager's ear and suggest a few changes that would improve the situation.

The union's methods of advertising for people are piss poor. The union website (which is a joke in itself, and no, I don't want to help writing it, thanks), and a little a4 notice at the front door aren't exactly great methods of recruitment. I remember the days when the union was vastly oversubscribed for bar staff, and they used to have a list of extra people who wanted to work.

[DrAlex]

Quoting Rennie from 20:58, 11th Feb 2006
And why do the existing bar staff (n01) get so defensive.

If I had to deal with, what I can only imagine, is constant rudeness and bitching by unsatisfied customers blaming me for my employer's laughable "business plan", I'd be pretty defensive too.

Also, I would imagine that more staff behind the bar, besides leading to shorter queues directly, would probably encourage revenue because you'd get more people actually ordering, instead of getting discouraged by the line and leaving early.

[hr]

http://standrews.facebook.com/profile.php?id=37100343

[barbiedoll]

[b]Quoting DrAlex from 22:18,


Also, I would imagine that more staff behind the bar, besides leading to shorter queues directly, would probably encourage revenue because you'd get more people actually ordering, instead of getting discouraged by the line and leaving early.

[hr]

http://standrews.facebook.com/profile.php?id=37100343

the problem is that behind the bar is not as big as you would think and when there is alot of staff behind there it doesnt help, it takes longer, because generally everyone wants the same and there are only so many taps behind the bar and you end up having to wait to get to pull the pints and get the spirits (does that make sense?) and everyone gets in each others way, its counter productive. If people want to be served quicker they should not make a big fuss, and not stand and bitch about how long they have been waiting and flapping about doesnt help either as it just gets the staff aggrivated. I reckon people are just going to have to be patient, we work as hard and as fast as we can

[flarewearer]

It doesn't matter how many staff you put behind the bar; when there's only (correct me if i'm wrong) 3 tills that look like they came out of noah's ark and, 3 sets of beer fountains (which aren't always being used) and 2 sets of optics it's always going to take ages to get served.

[hr]

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[Dom]

The queues for the main bar on Friday night looked terrible, so I queued at the bar in Venue 1 instead. There I scrummaged for between twenty and thirty minutes in a desperate attempt to reach the front. There were at least five bar staff *working* at the time, although I obviously use this word loosely. Urgency was completely absent behind the bar.

The attitude of the staff, although friendly, was so casual that they might as well have been pouring a pint in a quiet pub on a Tuesday afternoon. I wouldn't have minded the long wait if I'd seen the staff trying to get through the queue as quickly as possible, but they weren't. After all, I've worked in a pub, bar and nightclub myself. Granted, they must be accurate with drinks and cash, but I have never been to a bar or nightclub where the staff have been so laid back.

Is it an inability to work fast under a slight bit of pressure? If so, you're in the wrong job. Let's face it, if you find bar work too stressful, God help you for the rest of your life.

I do not agree that the Union should employ more staff. They have enough. If these people practised good customer service skills, for which they are paid, we would all be happy campers.

[Duggeh]

I said i would say any more, but I feel I have to. I find bashing the bar staff to be inexcusable. The union is a busy place, and as such it will take time to get served. What I'd like to see is peopel who go up to get served actually being polite. While I was waiting in this instance, there was a guy and a girl behind me to the left, who were openly disscussing how they could go about pushing in front of me, which they rudely and overtly managed to do. Utterly disgusted by this degree of bad behaviour i said "Did your mothers teach you no fucking manners?" to which I recieved the reply "I'm an American."

Now I suppose I've opened up the American bashing. But I was intending to appeal for manners and patience. I hate the silent war that there is when its busy, I'd rather wait 40 minutes without a rugby scrum then 20 minutes with one.

[hr]

IMAGE:www.macintyre42.plus.com/images/tb2-100.jpg
Duggeh: Master Of Ceremonies

[Dom]

Quoting Duggeh from 12:50, 12th Feb 2006 I'd rather wait 40 minutes without a rugby scrum then 20 minutes with one.

[hr]

IMAGE:www.macintyre42.plus.com/images/tb2-100.jpg
Duggeh: Master Of Ceremonies

Hmmm, each to their own, but I doubt I could remain friendly after waiting 40 minutes for a coke. Not to mention missing 40 minutes of a £4 bop.

[barbiedoll]

Quoting Dom from 03:04, 12th Feb 2006

The attitude of the staff, although friendly, was so casual that they might as well have been pouring a pint in a quiet pub on a Tuesday afternoon. I wouldn't have minded the long wait if I'd seen the staff trying to get through the queue as quickly as possible, but they weren't.
Is it an inability to work fast under a slight bit of pressure? If so, you're in the wrong job. If these people practised good customer service skills, for which they are paid, we would all be happy campers.

I really hate it when people say the staff aren't working as fast as they can. I was working in the bop and the main bar and the bar staff were getting through the customers as quick as they could. It was the busiest night that we had had in a long time and so of course the queues were longer than normal. And really how can you say that the staff were so laid back, I'm guessing you had had a few to drink and so decided that because you had to wait the staff obviously weren't coping under the pressure. It seems to me that people are never hapy unless they are complaining about something and it always seems to be the staff in the union that get most of it, and if that is all you have to complain about then you must have a pretty good life.

[munchingfoo]

No, i think your error is believing that you see how all the union staff work at all times just because you work there.

Yes - you me be good at your job but there are atleast a few who are so fucking useless I can't believe they ever get to continue working there.

Defending people just because they work at the same place as you is a honourable thing but in this particular case it is most certainly the wrong thing.

Anyway, this thread is about the incompetence of those in charge generally, not the bar staff themselves.

[hr]

Tired Freudian references aside - your mother played my mighty skin flute like a surf crowned sea nymph trying to rouse Poseidon from his watery slumber!

[Dom]

Quoting barbiedoll from 14:09, 12th Feb 2006
And really how can you say that the staff were so laid back, I'm guessing you had had a few to drink and so decided that because you had to wait the staff obviously weren't coping under the pressure.

I don't drink. Your point is rubbish.

[Dom]

Quoting munchingfoo from 17:39, 12th Feb 2006
No, i think your error is believing that you see how all the union staff work at all times just because you work there.

Yes - you me be good at your job but there are atleast a few who are so fucking useless I can't believe they ever get to continue working there.

Defending people just because they work at the same place as you is a honourable thing but in this particular case it is most certainly the wrong thing.

Anyway, this thread is about the incompetence of those in charge generally, not the bar staff themselves.

Agreed foo, they should (a) know how to employ the right people; and (b) be able to motivate these people to work hard and fast.

[paw paw]

Stop moaning! i dont work for the union but i can tell you that even on a busy night i wouldnt be working at the speed of light just so that i could get through the work a little quicker...your forgetting that the staff are there from 8 and 9 at night till nearly 3 on a friday, so why should they have to make their work more difficult by tiring themselves out. People should just learn to push in if they are that desperate for a drink! works all the time

[flarewearer]

I know it, you know it, we all know it... The only solution is coin operated, self service kegs located at strategic points throughout the union. This, and only this, can save the hard pressed professional drinkers of st andrews from the inadequacies of the union's alcohol distribution and dispensing apparatus.

[hr]

image:www.magnificentoctopus.com/x/elgar.png