Monday, July 23, 2007

How not to run a bar

The following is pretty much a verbatim account of a series of interactions I had with the staff at one of my less-favourite Beijing nightspots a few months back.


"My god, this beer's really warm. Didn't you get it out of the fridge?"

"Yes, it's from the fridge."

"Well, why's it warm, then? Did you only just re-stock it?"

"No, I think the beer's been in there all day."

(No sign yet of actually wanting to solve the problem.)

"Well, could you check and see if there are any colder beers in there?"

"No, they're all the same."

"What? They're all warm?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Well, the Chinese don't keep beer cold, do they?"

(Now, this is just way inappropriate and facetious - and just plain bullshit. This is a foreign bar, so we hold you to a higher standard. And besides, while it may be true that many smaller Chinese shops and restaurants are very niggardly in their use of electricity and tend to use chiller cabinets for storage and display only, without plugging them in, such places are a smaller and smaller minority; these days in Beijing, at least in the summer, most restaurants - and all bars - keep their beers chilled; the majority, in fact, keep some in the freezer chest to bring them quickly to a deep chill.)

"Your fridge doesn't appear to be switched on."

"No."

"Why not?"

"I think it's broken or something."

"It looks to me like it isn't plugged in."

"Oh, you could be right."

"It's, like, 8.30pm now; you've been open two hours, and you haven't noticed this yet?"

"I guess not."

"Well, how about you plug it in right now? And put one or two cases of beers in the freezer for now, until the fridge actually starts to get cold? Hey?"

**************************************
I hasten to point out that this was in a foreigner-owned, foreigner-run bar. The above exchange took place with two foreign staff (and, I think, co-investors) behind the bar. So, the lack of instinct for customer service or even basic common sense that I so often decry in this country is not exclusively a Chinese failing.

Ah, and the clincher. When I mentioned this problem to the Big Boss a little later, he said,
"Oh yeah, I guess I forgot to do that. You know, as a bar manager, I have so many things to think about."

No, you don't. Not an overwhelming number. And making sure you have a supply of cold beer to sell to your punters should be just about your Number One Priority.



Can anyone guess where this was??

2 comments:

Froog said...

Yes, that's right, it was D-22 - only saved from being the city's worst music bar by the existence of the execrable New Get Lucky.

Anonymous said...

ha! wow. that is pretty ridiculous. and while I'm not a beer drinker, i do think a major reason for running a bar is to serve beer. hence, having servable beer available would be a top priority for a bar owner/manager, no?

on a similar and unsimilar note, a friend recounted to me how at one point when she had a local Chinese roommate she would come home everyday after work and reach for a nice cold bottle of water from the fridge only to find it lukewarm. She would inspect the fridge and all appeared to be functioning, plugged in, humming, normal.

quite the mystery.

then, one day, she arrived home before her roommate (normally, she would leave before her roommate and arrive after her) and found the fridge unplugged! Shortly thereafter, her roommate arrived home, walked over the fridge and plugged it in, as though it were her daily routine.

mystery solved. everyday, roommate would unplug the fridge in the morning and replug in the evening. I hesitate to even imagine what horrors might have been growing and my friend might have eventually consumed in any produce or meat left in there all through the hot Beijing Summer Days!!