Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Hold The Ice?

Every now and then I get someone who comes into the bar and orders a drink with light or no ice. I am not talking about the people who order a shot of something "neat" (aka without ice and in a nice sipping glass). I am talking about the people who think that the less ice they have in their drink, the more alcohol their drink is going to have. I have news for these people out there. If you order a drink without ice, you are going to get the same amount of alcohol. Your drink is just going to have more non-alcoholic mixer/juice in it and it's going to be warm. Gross. And I am going to assume you are cheap. Weak.

So about a month ago, I had this thuggish-type guy at my bar who ordered a Tokyo Tea without ice. A Tokyo Tea is a green Long Island: vodka, gin, rum, triple sec, Midori and sweet and sour mix garnished with a lemon wedge. The drink alone isn't exactly what I would consider tasty or refreshing so without ice it would seem to me that the drink would be downright disgusting. But hey, who am I to judge? Different strokes for different folks. I am the bartender. I will make you whatever you want to drink and charge you appropriately for it. Just make sure to leave me a tip and we're cool.

My thug guy must have liked his drink because he ordered two more over the course of the night and paid for each one of them himself. You know those types (mainly girls but I have seen guys do it too) who order their first drink and then spend the rest of the night getting someone else to sponsor their liquid thirst. If this guy was a cheap bastard on a budget, I didn't know it because he paid for all of his drinks and tipped me pretty decently.

Who am I to hate on a guy who enjoys warm Tokyo Teas? This guy just was out of the norm because most people who order drinks without ice are in fact cheap.

4 comments:

ShakenNotStirred said...

I love knowing that they think they are "screwing the bartender out of extra booze" when they are really only screwing themselves with a warm drink that is much better cold!

Anonymous said...

I think I waited on that dude too once upon a time. Maybe he just doesn't like cold cold drinks.

I guess there are exceptions to the rule. You usually know right after the transaction - how they complain and how they tip...

Anonymous said...

working in a small dive bar, i often find that many people who request no ice do so because they have sensitive gums/teeth problems.



of course i don't deny that there are the jerks who think they are going to get more liquor. obviously, i've come across that breed far too many times myself. just wanted to point out another possible reason for the no ice request.

Cielo Gold said...

Interesting perspective. I never thought about someone not wanting ice in their drink because they have sensitive teeth/gums.

I honestly think the people who have me hold the ice in their drink are the ones who are looking to get more liquor. I think the whole ordering the drink by calling it a "strong island" instead of a long island kind of gives that away.