Secrets Of Bartenders

9.

“I have trained a lot of bartenders over the years. Every last one, without fail, unless they had a ton of prior experience, of course, would get stage fright the first night on the bar. The concern was the same every single time. ‘What if I screw up? What if I make the drink wrong?’ It’s kind of like test-taking anxiety when your mind goes blank. So I would tell them, ‘You know what the drink looks like, right?’ Followed by a head nod, I would continue, ‘Put in the drink what you think goes in there or get pretty close until you learn all the recipes and if anyone notices, you simply tell them, ‘this is my version.” It will make the guest feel special that you took the time to do something just for them and who knows? You might create something pretty sweet in the process.”

“The point of that exercise was not to be deceitful to the customer, but to get the bartender to relax so they could focus on the task at hand and learn to do it the right way that much faster without anxiety. Those who actually had to use that line would come back to me and say, ‘I can’t believe that worked.'”
—Rhonda Stephens