Our bar is very big and very busy (we call it "high volume") so we have an enormous staff. something like 10 bartenders and roughly 20 servers on the payroll at any given time. this is not to say that we have every single staff member on all the time...we typically on a weekday evening have 2 bartenders and 4 servers.
generally, staff is hired as servers first and then some are promoted to bartender and some continue to be servers. the reason bartending is considered a "promotion" is because you make 3 times the amount of money as the servers, there is more responsibility and more priveleges as well. i worked at the bar for about 6 months before i was offered my promotion and i happily took it. it was a huge transition going from no responsibility and decent money to what i do now. (not that i'm complaining).
BUT it's always so funny to me to watch servers (particularly ones who haven't worked at a bar/restaurant like ours before) fumble and stumble all over their serving responsibilities and then ask to be promoted to bartender. this is just NEVER going to happen.
because of the disconnect between the servers and the bartenders...(we really dont interact all that much and the bartenders are ALWAYS busier than the servers so we almost never talk to the them) there has recently become a sort of "we bartenders" and "you servers" which has created a little bit of tension between those of us who are still really close with the servers (like myself...my best friend is a server)
it sucks that this tension exists between the staff because last year we had a totally different vibe in the bar. granted we had a totally different staff (our "turnover" rate for staff is out of control...most of the girls we hire work there for 2 months or so and end up quitting...there are a fair few who end up staying for more than that...and we've all worked there for over a year)
i miss the way things used to be but i'm hoping that this tension doesnt continue forever...maybe it's just a bump in the road?
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