...are part of the job, regardless of what anyone tells you. White collar pencil pushers will try to cut costs by telling you that you can't but you can, neigh you must buy your regulars drinks. It's an age old custom and a great way to show your customers you appreciate them.
Buy drinks often and with no expectations attached. If the place you work for has a problem with this, either do it anyway or find a new place to work. And none of this 'Manager approval' bullshit either. If you have to walk over and ask a manager to approve and then input a comp into the POS* system, well, it looks poorly for you and for the place. Chances are though if you're in the kind of place that employs this system they won't get that anyway, so move on.
Now, buying a drink is no substitute for listening to your customers when they want to talk, but buying drinks is a way to let people know you appreciate their business and also, their company. Now as far as not expecting anything back, there is a subtle paradigm here. If you buy a regular chances are they will tip you better - however do not think if they are already tipping you good they should tip you better after you buy them. Some people treat this as a type of race or 'one-up-man-ship spectacle' - in simplest terms the tip should not necessarily increase everytime you buy them another drink. This being said however, sometimes it does. But take this on a day to day basis. Once someone tips you one amount don't expect them to match it every time. If you do that will begin to become apparent in those oh so subtle ways we humans communicate, and you will alienate people you generally like. If you are the type who really only looks at the gig for money and don't care about your regulars as people anyway, then you shouldn't be in the business in the first place. Go sell children in Bangladesh.
Now, you may ask, if you 'do it anyway', is that technically stealing?
Well, I suppose what follows is a great example of what my friends and I call 'if you've convinced yourself, that's great' but here's my answer to that one.
IT'S A BAR.
You are actually doing the owners a favor by incurring good will in the name of the establishment - this is how you acquire and maintain regulars. Regulars mean repeat business for the establishment and repeat business means CONSISTENT INCOME. Period. For You and the bar. If the owners/operators do not want consistent sales, THEY should not be in the business.
It all comes out in the wash, believe me. It may be a different case in places like TGIFuckface's or Appledrool's, but those types of establishment's have no business being discussed in a blog about bars and bartending other than for the purpose of making clear they do not belong here. If you're bartending at one of those, quit now, it will only make your life better, sooner.
About three years into my five year gig at the hotel the management came under the idea that they should all of a sudden not allow us to buy regulars drinks. Now, this is even worse than opening a place with that policy, as most of my regulars were I's regulars and thus consistent customers of the establishment for over twenty years. How insulted would you feel if the place you've been going and having comps for that long all of a sudden said - NOPE, no more comps.
A little Insulted? Maybe.
Very insulted? Yeah, probably. Not that the free drink is the point, but when you're out with friends, you buy one another drinks, because you are friends and buying drinks is a friendly thing to do. A bar you feel at home at and frequent on a regualr basis you may do so for several reasons; atmosphere, good prices, good selection of imbibes,attractive staff, etc. However the one reason above and beyond all of these that seals the deal is the bar you choose to frequent you do so first and foremost because you feel friendship there.
In the situation related above, the staff and I of course fought to retain our rights to buy drinks for our regulars. In the end, my saying 'Never underestimate the power of complacency' rang true, just as it almost always does, and the management completely forgot about what was once such a 'hot idea'. Too busy cheating on their spouses and getting blitzed on a bevy of chemicals themselves, eh? But this was of course a privately run franchise, and as such not under as close corporate scrutiny as a lot of other places are.
Another thing to remember with buying drinks is don't 'play games'. If you buy someone you normally do not, they now may begin to expect it, and you have put yourself in a place where the aforementioned scenarios of one-up-man-ship may escalate. Try it once, maybe not the next time, and then do a 'here and there' trial. If you particularly want to endear yourself to the person, don't buy after they tip you - do it before.
Finally, remember to keep what you do and who you buy to yourself as far as discussion with customers or other staff. The people you work closely with are one thing, but if you begin bragging or offering helpful hints to just anyone all out clusterfuck will occurr. Someone else may begin buying a regular more than you, or you may hear about them making more on a tip from a person you considered 'your' customer. This can only lead to trouble, so heed early. In the end there are two types of people you buy drinks for as a bartender: those who you do it for because you genuinely want to do something nice for them and those who will tip you better because of it. Try your best to keep those worlds separate, even if the people come in and talk to one another.
Now you know, AND KNOWING IS HALF THE BATTLE.
........
* Although, in many cases if You are behind a bar with a 'POS' or Point of Sale system like Aloha or Squirrel instead of a honest to goodness cash register, well, you might be in the wrong place to begin with. Of course, that is not always the case, as the bar I worked in at the hotel for five years had a POS and was the shit, still adhering to an old world system in everything else, ie no meaured pouring spouts, no minimus, no ever present manager needed for comping, etc.
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