Here's How You Can Get Served First at the Bar

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    1. Get off your phone. Bartenders agree that eye contact is vital when getting served quickly. “If you’re texting/phoning/checking your numbers on Twitter I won’t serve you till you’re ready to give it your attention,” Cohen says. “It’s only polite!” What you’re trying to do is be seen to get seen to. “Smiling or saying ‘hi’ when I look at a customer keeps them in my head and helps me keep track of who’s next,” says Bryce. A look can help change your bartenders mentality and help them pick you to be next!
    1/7 1. Get off your phone. Bartenders agree that eye contact is vital when getting served quickly. “If you’re texting/phoning/checking your numbers on Twitter I won’t serve you till you’re ready to give it your attention,” Cohen says. “It’s only polite!” What you’re trying to do is be seen to get seen to. “Smiling or saying ‘hi’ when I look at a customer keeps them in my head and helps me keep track of who’s next,” says Bryce. A look can help change your bartenders mentality and help them pick you to be next!
  • 2/7
    Don’t try and outsmart your bartender with the queue order. “Any bartender worth their salt can remember exactly in which order customers arrived at the bar,” Wringley says. “My inner monologue when bartending usually ran something like, ‘her then him then him then her… he’s a dick, skip him, then her, TIPPER – she’s first’ and so on”.
    2/7 Don’t try and outsmart your bartender with the queue order. “Any bartender worth their salt can remember exactly in which order customers arrived at the bar,” Wringley says. “My inner monologue when bartending usually ran something like, ‘her then him then him then her… he’s a dick, skip him, then her, TIPPER – she’s first’ and so on”.
  • 3/7
    Make sure you know what you want. Have a look at the bar taps and fridges for what’s on offer, try to grab a menu if you’re in a cocktail place. Always make sure you know what you want before your order. And never, ever wait till the last minute to get your order in from friends from a round. Listen to Cohen: “If you’re slowly getting your orders from your friends while you’re ordering, I will literally climb over the bar and shiv you with a bar spoon.”
    3/7 Make sure you know what you want. Have a look at the bar taps and fridges for what’s on offer, try to grab a menu if you’re in a cocktail place. Always make sure you know what you want before your order. And never, ever wait till the last minute to get your order in from friends from a round. Listen to Cohen: “If you’re slowly getting your orders from your friends while you’re ordering, I will literally climb over the bar and shiv you with a bar spoon.”
  • 4/7
    Sort out how you make your order. As our bartenders put it, the manner in which you get your first round can affect where you land in a queue for your third and fourth. “If it’s not the first time I’ve served you,” Cohen says, “and I know your order is garbage or you’re going to take forever, that’ll get you dropped quickly too.” Structuring your order and being aware of how long it takes for certain drinks to be made can save you lot of time while waiting for a drink, and earn you your bartender’s favour at the same time.
    4/7 Sort out how you make your order. As our bartenders put it, the manner in which you get your first round can affect where you land in a queue for your third and fourth. “If it’s not the first time I’ve served you,” Cohen says, “and I know your order is garbage or you’re going to take forever, that’ll get you dropped quickly too.” Structuring your order and being aware of how long it takes for certain drinks to be made can save you lot of time while waiting for a drink, and earn you your bartender’s favour at the same time.
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    There’s a hierarchy to cocktails.
    5/7 There’s a hierarchy to cocktails.
  • 6/7
    Tips always help. “It’s good policy to tip big on your first drink,” Wringley says. “If you’re in a pub rather than a bar, buy the server a drink instead. The bartender will remember you and bump you up the queue. ”
    6/7 Tips always help. “It’s good policy to tip big on your first drink,” Wringley says. “If you’re in a pub rather than a bar, buy the server a drink instead. The bartender will remember you and bump you up the queue. ”
  • 7/7
    But the most important thing is, be nice or leave. All of the bartenders agree: Be nice and get served quickly. Be a dick and you may as well leave. Cohen provides his handy list of no-nos: “Any sort of finger clicking, shouting, pushing, or general rudeness gets you dropped.”
    7/7 But the most important thing is, be nice or leave. All of the bartenders agree: Be nice and get served quickly. Be a dick and you may as well leave. Cohen provides his handy list of no-nos: “Any sort of finger clicking, shouting, pushing, or general rudeness gets you dropped.”

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Our mates at Buzzfeed talked to four bar workers and asked for advice on getting served first and making sure you don’t piss them off.

Felix Cohen runs the Manhattans Project and has been tending bar for 11 years. David Wringley runs bars for Tonkotsu restaurants and has been in the business for a decade. Laura Ryan Bryce has been working in Revolution Bars for close to five years, and Tom McKay worked in Wetherspoon’s pubs for four years.