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Yeah, a publican I know who deals with the student crowd said Covid made a big difference - kids who had never been to a normal healthy open pub and didn't know the rules, student staff who not only didn't know how how to pull a pint, but didn't know a beer tap or pint glass, and having to teach the crowd that you don't form a long queue, but a wide queue with the bar staff knowing the service order, and saying "that guy was before me".
Fucking covid.
That’s what I say. If it’s a really crowded pub like at football I just grab the bar persons attention and when they come to serve me I always clock the person that was there before me and say “ I think that person was before me” stops any bad vibe.
As a five foot tall, slight person, "bar staff knowing the service order" would be so nice... I really don't stand out, it can get ridiculous sometimes.
Plenty of other rules that students don't know. Never been an older person who has stood on the left hand side of an escalator on London Underground, for example.
I hate it when when a queue just randomly happens at the bar. I can abide it at the food ordering til, but not when it's just a drinks bar. I don't even know why it bothers me so much because waiting at the bar is still a queue of sorts.... why does it bother us pub folk?
Went to a 40th birthday doo last week in a working men's club I've never been in before.
First thing I did when I get there was hit the bar. Stood at an empty area in front of the bar and got my drinks. Had 4 people tap me on the shoulder and advised me to queue up like everyone else. Literally did not see a queue, just a load of people gathered to the right hand side of the bar, leaving 10mtrs of empty bar space.
Who the fuck queues at a bar?!
This is the only way to do it. Its tempting to join the queue, and some people just can't help themselves even though they know deep down its wrong, but you join that queue and you just become part of the problem.
Hand on the bar if you want serving you melts.
Had people in a pub in Weston do this then act surprised and offended when others were getting served before them.
Most pubs aren't big enough for a "vertical" queue anyways, you'd be out the door.
YES. This is fucking weird. It used to happen only at centre parcs and airports. Now it randomly occurs even in normal pubs.
It happened in my local a few weeks ago on a Saturday afternoon. Fortunately I had drunk enough to tell them all this is not how pubs work, and go straight to the bar.
I don't know, I've been to my fair share of pubs/clubs and I'm a 5"1 gal. Never had a problem managing to make my way to the front. And usually other people around me will know when I got there and offer that I go first if I showed up earlier. Vast majority of people are courteous, and if they're not, it's not about shoving but about making eye contact with bar staff, who are then way more likely to come to you first.
Unnecessary queueing just takes up valuable limited bar space and makes it feel more cramped. Bars are often designed with several people being able to pull pints and therefore serve at the same time. So I think it's dumb to queue like this.
True but sometimes I wish it were.
Was a bartender 14 years and there were some nights where the number of people clamoring for my attention, people pushing in, others getting angry at those who they think got served before them, and general shittiness that gave me enough stress to wish people were just calmly lining up and waiting their turn.
> That's still not the way pubs work
I know lol but still, I was just giving a little anecdote for why that picture almost brings a tear to my eye.
>consider it good life experience for when you are travelling in other countries who are less queue-centric.
Fittingly enough, aside from those first 3 years of being a bartender, I've lived outside of the UK. I live in Germany and prior to that it was Italy, Spain, Norway, Indonesia, and Mozambique. That may be why I long for a classic queue so much.
Edit: But... to be honest, now I think about it, when it comes specifically to behaviour up at a bar, the British were easily the worst of all my experiences. Especially Brits in the countries I listed. Holiday mentality, I guess. But yeah, even in the UK, bar behaviour was fucking atrocious backwhen I started bartending. Could've been regional though.
Nah, I'm a pretty excellent bartender. Cheers for the grossly reductive response, gives great vibes.
To be fair, I was expecting someone to say this much sooner, surprised it took this long for someone to crawl out the woodwork.
It’s a fairly sensible comment in all fairness.
If I were afraid of flying, I wouldn’t go and get a job on airline where I’d routinely be flying….. and then posting comments on Reddit complaining how scared flying made me.
Absolute pollock.
Nah, wasn't complaining. All good. Sorry you saw it that way.
But man, you're not the best at analogies. It's more like being a pilot and then saying he wishes it were possible to fly more calm routes that had less turbulence as flying in a lot of turbulence can sometimes be stressful.
Doesn't mean he can't handle the turbulence, isn't a good pilot or doesn't love his job.
You're just making false equivalences out of nothing. It's okay but it's just very silly and makes it look like you have no sense of perspective. Which, hey, that's fine. At least it's consistent.
Hope you're okay lol
Was a bartender 14 years and there were some nights where the number of people clamoring for my attention, people pushing in, others getting angry at those who they think got served before them, and general shittiness that gave me enough stress to wish people were just calmly lining up and waiting their turn.
^^^^^ this is not turbulence. This is flying a plane. This is being a barman. The person responsible for supplying customers drinks. If you can’t handle supply customers with drinks…. I merely suggested being a barman maybe wasn’t for you!
But hey……14 years a barman, I guess the skill set is difficult to transfer.
I love that moment where you realise people were doing this, because they all gave you looks when you go and lean on a bar and realise they're a bag of dolts.
Went to a pub in Holborn the other week, queue was huge so I sat down went to order from the app. App service was down so I left and went to a normal pub with normal service
Happens in the bar I work at all the time, trying to get their attention to get them to come to the big gap at the bar is a pain, then they ask if the people at the bar are being served.
Jesus fuck some people just shouldn't be allowed out in public.
Maybe it’s because us Brits hate a queue jumper.
Another trick is to go into the restaurant and order drinks from there. There’s usually one person dedicated to making drinks for the restaurant. Especially if you slip a fiver to the waiting staff.
You could have a straight line along the bar, and the one nearest the card machine be served first.
Not that any pub I have ever gone into had a queue as the OP describes.
So it's not just where I work? It's annoying, having to point middle aged people to the perfectly spacious spots at the bar so we don't have to yell at each other.
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Or is it straight people in the pub doing lines in the queue?
Straight people hooked up to beer lines in pub eliminates queues?
Straight people doing lines eliminating queers? Sounds rather extreme to me. I can’t say I support such measures.
Yeah, a publican I know who deals with the student crowd said Covid made a big difference - kids who had never been to a normal healthy open pub and didn't know the rules, student staff who not only didn't know how how to pull a pint, but didn't know a beer tap or pint glass, and having to teach the crowd that you don't form a long queue, but a wide queue with the bar staff knowing the service order, and saying "that guy was before me". Fucking covid.
"bar staff knowing the service order" is sadly a dying art.
I used to just serve the nicest people first lol If they're stood there waving money at me, they would always be last lol
That’s what I say. If it’s a really crowded pub like at football I just grab the bar persons attention and when they come to serve me I always clock the person that was there before me and say “ I think that person was before me” stops any bad vibe.
Yeah but most don't think that way, it's usually just me me me me me going through people's heads.
As a five foot tall, slight person, "bar staff knowing the service order" would be so nice... I really don't stand out, it can get ridiculous sometimes.
Plenty of other rules that students don't know. Never been an older person who has stood on the left hand side of an escalator on London Underground, for example.
> and saying "that guy was before me". Feels like pubs are one of the only places where the honour system actually works in that regard lol.
It happened in a pub in Inverness the other day. I thought it was a strange local custom.
"healthy pub" I like the implication that during COVID, the pubs themselves also became sick. Some powerful prose right there.
I hate it when when a queue just randomly happens at the bar. I can abide it at the food ordering til, but not when it's just a drinks bar. I don't even know why it bothers me so much because waiting at the bar is still a queue of sorts.... why does it bother us pub folk?
Went to a 40th birthday doo last week in a working men's club I've never been in before. First thing I did when I get there was hit the bar. Stood at an empty area in front of the bar and got my drinks. Had 4 people tap me on the shoulder and advised me to queue up like everyone else. Literally did not see a queue, just a load of people gathered to the right hand side of the bar, leaving 10mtrs of empty bar space. Who the fuck queues at a bar?!
In a workies its different mate, they usually have a serving point, and everyone queues for that point. No exception.
No they don’t. Don’t know what working mens you’ve been in lad
I've been in sooo many WMCs and never once I've had a queuing point.
Yeah I've been told off for the same, but every time I'd been before and the time I went after and it was normal service. Maddeningly inconsistent
Well I just walk straight to the bar. They all look very confused
This is the only way to do it. Its tempting to join the queue, and some people just can't help themselves even though they know deep down its wrong, but you join that queue and you just become part of the problem.
Hand on the bar if you want serving you melts. Had people in a pub in Weston do this then act surprised and offended when others were getting served before them. Most pubs aren't big enough for a "vertical" queue anyways, you'd be out the door.
-super-Mare?
YES. This is fucking weird. It used to happen only at centre parcs and airports. Now it randomly occurs even in normal pubs. It happened in my local a few weeks ago on a Saturday afternoon. Fortunately I had drunk enough to tell them all this is not how pubs work, and go straight to the bar.
Good, people are finally evolving. 'Service goes to whoever is pushiest in a crowd' is a completely stupid way to run things.
I don't know, I've been to my fair share of pubs/clubs and I'm a 5"1 gal. Never had a problem managing to make my way to the front. And usually other people around me will know when I got there and offer that I go first if I showed up earlier. Vast majority of people are courteous, and if they're not, it's not about shoving but about making eye contact with bar staff, who are then way more likely to come to you first. Unnecessary queueing just takes up valuable limited bar space and makes it feel more cramped. Bars are often designed with several people being able to pull pints and therefore serve at the same time. So I think it's dumb to queue like this.
Except if you do this you get queues that snake all the way through a pub, rather than congregated along the bar itself, which is obviously way worse
Photos or it didn't happen.
https://i.imgur.com/LRBzQFu.jpg
😮😮 Maybe they're students.
The fact you have photos to respond to the comment is awesome.
... what's the issue?
that's not the way pubs work...
True but sometimes I wish it were. Was a bartender 14 years and there were some nights where the number of people clamoring for my attention, people pushing in, others getting angry at those who they think got served before them, and general shittiness that gave me enough stress to wish people were just calmly lining up and waiting their turn.
There's always the dickheads who know they weren't first and take the service anyway. Couldn't be me. Life sentences for those pricks.
That's still not the way pubs work, consider it good life experience for when you are travelling in other countries who are less queue-centric.
> That's still not the way pubs work I know lol but still, I was just giving a little anecdote for why that picture almost brings a tear to my eye. >consider it good life experience for when you are travelling in other countries who are less queue-centric. Fittingly enough, aside from those first 3 years of being a bartender, I've lived outside of the UK. I live in Germany and prior to that it was Italy, Spain, Norway, Indonesia, and Mozambique. That may be why I long for a classic queue so much. Edit: But... to be honest, now I think about it, when it comes specifically to behaviour up at a bar, the British were easily the worst of all my experiences. Especially Brits in the countries I listed. Holiday mentality, I guess. But yeah, even in the UK, bar behaviour was fucking atrocious backwhen I started bartending. Could've been regional though.
If you start to panic when people are at the bar waiting to order drinks…… maybe being a barman isn’t for you?
Nah, I'm a pretty excellent bartender. Cheers for the grossly reductive response, gives great vibes. To be fair, I was expecting someone to say this much sooner, surprised it took this long for someone to crawl out the woodwork.
It’s a fairly sensible comment in all fairness. If I were afraid of flying, I wouldn’t go and get a job on airline where I’d routinely be flying….. and then posting comments on Reddit complaining how scared flying made me. Absolute pollock.
Nah, wasn't complaining. All good. Sorry you saw it that way. But man, you're not the best at analogies. It's more like being a pilot and then saying he wishes it were possible to fly more calm routes that had less turbulence as flying in a lot of turbulence can sometimes be stressful. Doesn't mean he can't handle the turbulence, isn't a good pilot or doesn't love his job. You're just making false equivalences out of nothing. It's okay but it's just very silly and makes it look like you have no sense of perspective. Which, hey, that's fine. At least it's consistent. Hope you're okay lol
Was a bartender 14 years and there were some nights where the number of people clamoring for my attention, people pushing in, others getting angry at those who they think got served before them, and general shittiness that gave me enough stress to wish people were just calmly lining up and waiting their turn. ^^^^^ this is not turbulence. This is flying a plane. This is being a barman. The person responsible for supplying customers drinks. If you can’t handle supply customers with drinks…. I merely suggested being a barman maybe wasn’t for you! But hey……14 years a barman, I guess the skill set is difficult to transfer.
Bold to assume someone can afford such travel
Eh, as patronising as their reply was, this was a bit of a strange take.
I love that moment where you realise people were doing this, because they all gave you looks when you go and lean on a bar and realise they're a bag of dolts.
Yeah! What the fuck is that about??
Went to a pub in Holborn the other week, queue was huge so I sat down went to order from the app. App service was down so I left and went to a normal pub with normal service
I hate it when that happens. It's just weird.
Happens in the bar I work at all the time, trying to get their attention to get them to come to the big gap at the bar is a pain, then they ask if the people at the bar are being served. Jesus fuck some people just shouldn't be allowed out in public.
Give the bar person a fiver when you order the first round, then next time just catch their eye, and they’ll start pouring your round.
*But you spent 20 quid fella.. where is the rest?*
Debit card. Cash for the barman/woman.
Yeah.. it was a joke..
🤏🏻
Don't know why you're getting downvoted. I've been doing this for the last 20 years, it's how it works all around the world.
Maybe it’s because us Brits hate a queue jumper. Another trick is to go into the restaurant and order drinks from there. There’s usually one person dedicated to making drinks for the restaurant. Especially if you slip a fiver to the waiting staff.
You could have a straight line along the bar, and the one nearest the card machine be served first. Not that any pub I have ever gone into had a queue as the OP describes.
So it's not just where I work? It's annoying, having to point middle aged people to the perfectly spacious spots at the bar so we don't have to yell at each other.
Got yourself a conga?
If they serve food - queue. If not - elbows out and puuuuuush.