An Amusing Start for 2012

[Seshat]

I didn't know what grenadine was until this post: and would have assumed - based on the name - that it was alcoholic. It sounds like a liquer's name.

[42_42_42]

We make our own grenadine for use in drinks. Basically, you just cook down pomegranate juice with sugar until it's thick and syrupy. If you really reduce it, it becomes pomegranate molasses, which is a great barbecue sauce base for grilled lamb.

That Shirley Temple lady was an idiot. You'd told her that it contains 2 ingredients: Sprite and grenadine. If she didn't want the grenadine, she shld've just ordered a fucking Sprite!

[Scorpodael]

But the amount always spins me for a loop. I have had one friend tell me that you can NEVER tip less than 10 dollars on delivery. So I just give what I think is fair, and if I get a look, I give more. But I just don't get it, at all. Maybe because every job I have worked has banned gratuities.

I usually go with this general guideline - 20%+ for amazing service, 15% standard, 10% for poor service, 5% for being an asshole (while not at least being entertaining with it) And 0% for punching me in the face.

[PepperElf]

"Can I get a virgin Shirley Temple?"

You'd be surprised at how crazy some people are.

I use to drink something similar back in my military rating school when I didn't want (or couldn't afford) booze. Not exactly a ST but something close with just soda, juice, and lots of grenadine syrup.

One of my friends took a taste of my drink and ... somehow he mistook the syrup to be alcohol and thought I had a very intoxicating drink.

Although come to think of it ... he wasn't exactly a bright lad.

[Marszenka]

I don't drink. I would have no clue what grenadine was either; it sounds pretty fancy. XD Granted I probably wouldn't be in a -bar- since the no alcohol is for religious reasons, but I suppose if I was stuck with friends 30 years from now that idiot could be me.

Major exception being that I always tip a bit over 15 percent. >_>

Also, this is strange -- I worked in a trading post in Arizona over the summer, and we had a pair of Italian tourists try to do the SAME THING on jewelry. We had some leeway with the prices, but they were haggling the same way (I'm not sure if they didn't want to split a bill, but they were definitely trying to buy something for two or three dollars below what it cost). Thing is, though, I've been to Italy. Quite a lot. And as with most places in Europe there's some room for haggling in like, street markets, it's still not as rampant as you'd see in places like Cairo. And I was never aware of it being the norm in a brick-and-mortar store.

Maybe there's a region in Italy where this is common? I don't know. More likely it's just a weird coincidence but it is odd -- I've never had people from other countries try to haggle that way and I've served quite a few. *shrug* Who knows.

[Gravekeeper]

Some day when I'm fat and rich, I want to swing by your bar and just spend the evening watching for my own amusement. ;p

[El Pollo Guerrera]

Some day when I'm fat and rich, I want to swing by your bar and just spend the evening watching for my own amusement. ;p

Ditto.

GK, I need to buy some lotto tickets...

It's An Outrage!

For SOME REASON, he really hasn't been coming around as much as he used to.

Knowing your signature, I'm guessing he realized he's pissed off a god and is now worshiping at another temple.

Let us know if he converts again!

[Jester]

Maybe there's a region in Italy where this is common?

I would have no idea. But one thing I should mention, that I forgot to mention in the OP, is that these four people were all quite well-dressed. Definitely more upper class. Amusingly, one of them asked me why we didn't have some drink I had never heard of. I told them that we didn't have it because it probably wasn't the biggest seller in this area. They countered by telling me it was very "chic."

This is Key West, not Miami. We were shorts and sandals, and "Key West formal" is considered nice sandals and shorts. We refer to plastic cups as "Key West crystal." Etc., etc. We are laidback island that is more about substance than style, about weirdness than what's hip. Chic? Right state, wrong town. South Beach we ain't.

Knowing your signature, I'm guessing he realized he's pissed off a god and is now worshiping at another temple.

Let us know if he converts again!

Oh, there can be no question that he knows not only that he fucked up, but that he pissed me off. What he may not know, though, is that he is NEVER getting another free drink at my bar. At least, not from me. If one of the other bartenders want to comp him a drink, that's their business, but if he's going to be such a fucking asshole and basically take money out of my and my coworker's pockets, all because we didn't treat him like the King of Siam, well, he's not getting any more freebies or gifts from me. He'll get the standard local discount we give everyone, and that's only because if I didn't put that on his bill, he'd bitch and moan. Beyond that, he gets NOTHING from me. Good service, good food, well-made drinks, not a damn thing free. Fuck him. He's a douchebag.

[Mr Hero]

Ditto.

GK, I need to buy some lotto tickets...

Be sure to order them at 11:59pm right before the deadline. And when you order tickets, be sure to specify you want the winning ticket. As I understand, that's how things work when ordering tickets from GK.

[Becks]

Fuck him.

No, thanks.

I still have some standards left.

[XCashier]

Some day when I'm fat and rich, I want to swing by your bar and just spend the evening watching for my own amusement. ;p

Same here. Either Jester's bar or customersruinmylife's bar.

Or perhaps they could open a place together?

[Jester]

My bar is really not that amusing, GK. It is fun, certainly, but I would like to point out that it took me TWO MONTHS to come up with the same amount of stories you get in a SINGLE WEEK.

Most days are just a fun day at the bar. Also, I should point out that if you sat watching one EVENING, you wouldn't see much of me, since I am the day time guy, and never really work much past 7 in the evening, on the BUSIEST of my shifts.

[Aisling]

...who makes a Shirley Temple with Sprite? It's supposed to be ginger ale. No wonder the darn things are always too sweet for me nowadays.

[Jester]

Aisling, realizing that there may be variations on this drink, I turned to what I consider to be the preeminent source of all bartending knowledge on the web, webtender.com. I did this to prove you wrong.

And I failed.

Not only did they not have both versions listed, the only version they had listed was your version, with ginger ale, not Sprite.

Which is weird to me, because my whole life, I was led to believe, both as a child drinking them and later a bartender making them, that Shirley Temples were SPRITE with grenadine.

Webtender says you are right, and in the light of such, I must abandon what was going to be my well-worded argument, and humbly concede.

Once again more proof that Mr. B was right: you DO learn something new every day!

(NOTE: I should point out that Webtender also lists the Shirley Temple as "non-alcoholic" cocktail, containing ginger ale and grenadine, thus indicating that grenadine is by definition non-alcoholic. Though of course there can be alcoholic versions of it.)

[NateTheChops]

Appletini for me. Don't much care how it's made so long as it's got vodka in it and it tastes like apple flavoring.

And if I have money to go out I have money to tip.