Karaoke Forums

Went to a show on Saturday night - waited at the bar five minutes before finally giving up and sitting down thinking we would get table service. Waited at the table for 15 minutes, then 2 of the people from our table then went to the bar to see if we had to order from the bar. Server working the floor was oblivious; bartender was busy chatting with some friends, couldn't prepare two drinks in a row and hand them to someone.

I didn't really want to, but I finally mentioned to the host that it was like trying to pull teeth out of a hen to get any service. He didn't express complete surprise but immediately approached the bartender and the server.

This is a relatively new show in an area that is DEAD in a downtown area at the far end of town from the sports facility but next to a theater ((plays, not movies)). So, the draw is the show only and minimal to no incidental walk-by traffic.

I don't know if there was some sort of sabotage going on by the servers who perhaps don't like karaoke and want it to fail? Or if they seriously hired these two servers who really are not servers at all, but people who will occasionally remember that someone sitting in the place wanted something to eat or drink.

I am just curious enough that I plan on calling the owner today to find out if he/she realizes that they are losing probably a potential 20-30% by having these two 'servers' working on karaoke night.

I have had to, on a few occasions, meet with owners/managers at my own shows in the past when I thought that perhaps a server's attitude or ability was impacting the bottom line and thankfully appropriate action was taken.

Just wondering, is this common? Are others of you with shows experiencing this type of thing, where servers just aren't cutting it, and may be impacting the take on karaoke night? And how do you deal with it if you are?

(Next time I frequent the show in question, the first thing I will ask the bartender is are they interested in making money off our table? If not, then we will just order water all night. If they are interested in waiting on us, they can look forward to making money for the place and some good tips....seems pretty simple to me.)

Seems simple to me also Karen. Been there left that. First of all, I thinks it's great you pay attention to that at your own gigs, and say something to the owner if you feel it's below par. Not only would it make me never come back there for karaoke, it would make me never come back period. We go out to watch hockey games and or whatever too. Not just for karaoke. Lose me one night, and you've lost me 7

I agree that it can make or break a show, even with a good host. We are in a small place and the bar tendress has the brains to realize that our success equals her success and vice versa. She doesn't sit behind the bar waiting but hustles all night. We get paid only if we bring in a certain amount of money and she has made sure we bring it in as she deosn't want us to leave and her go back to nights with 4 people in the bar. We know she is the reason we get paid sometimes so we work together. She will even tell us when drink sales start to lag with, "Get em thirsty," which means jump in and sing a dance song.

We have tried lots of karaoke shows and never gone back because we couldn't get waited on nor treated in a welcoming manner. We just quit one job because they were mainly just throwing karaoke at the wall to see if it stuck but it wasn't a karaoke-friendly atmosphere. We have built up a place before but didn't think we could succeed without the bar behind us. It is everything.

I've seen were bartenders who don't appreciate karaoke can really hurt the show

Unfortunately, poor service seems to be norm these days.
When I was in the business, I ran my butt off and so did everyone I worked with. If we didn't, we knew we would be replaced pretty quickly.
I wish owners would get on top of it again. With the downturn in economy and people needing work, you would think that the competition would pick up and people would start acting like they wanted to work.
Sadly, I've actually heard staff talking about getting together and "ganging up" on the newbie who works like they mean it and getting them fired. The reason? They make the others look bad and they might actually have to get off their duffs and work!
I've actually been a victim of this kind of thing in the past and I've seen it done since I left the bar business. I just wish owners and managers would be a little less blind and see what's really going on before firing someone who's new...
One venue I work at, it certainly isn't because of the staff and service that people come. Karaoke carries the whole night. I've watched the staff stand at the bar chatting while people come in, wait, and then leave after getting no acknowledgment that they're even there, all the while the staff are chatting up a storm or texting on their cell phones.
The other issue I see in this bar is that there are 2 staff on. One is a bartender and the other is supposed to be on the floor. What ends up happening time and time again is that both end up behind the bar, getting in each others way and slowing the whole process down even further. When I was bar tending and running a bar, I had a rule. The bartender ONLY goes behind the bar. Everyone has their job on the floor and has no business behind the bar. If the bartender can't keep up, if becomes apparent pretty quickly and is an indication that they may need to be replaced.
Sometimes what I see makes me want to go back into business just long enough to clean a place up! Maybe I should start a business on that premise!

Karen, you know they looked at you, and thought you were just a youngian with a fake I.D.........

I had that very thing happen to me at m Tuesday show a couple years ago. Really great place, and the owner is the most awesome person ever! But she had this gal that was her "main" bartender work most of the tuesdays. The bartender was actually very fast and very good at her "job". However, she didn't like karaoke, and would make comments about how loud, bad, offkey,,etc. the singers were, and she wasn't really quiet about it either. When this gal got fired ( for another reason ), the place actually got busier!! and much more fun.

I agree, that it's a "partnership" between owners, staff and KJ in order for the entire night to succeed. In this economy these days, we ALL should be working towards a common goal, and put our own personal opinions aside.

That's my Johnny.

In direct contrast to my initial post is my Wed night bartender Randi. She is REALLY amazing - first thing she does is come and greet me with a big hug, tells me 'we're gonna slay 'em again tonight," laughs, heads in the direction of the the bar and picks up any glasses or dishes, straightens chairs, says 'hi' to the regulars coming in, and is back at it. She is youthful, attractive, and all bizness. Ironically, some of my regular Wed singers were with me at the original place on Saturday night - every one of them said, "Wow, they need Randi here." I remind her every Wed as I'm walking out after the show how much I appreciate her work ethic.

PS: Randi sent me a "Happy Mother's Day Text."

Looks like that mic has been dropped a few times.

It's important that on KARAOKE night the singers TIP the bartenders.

I've had in the past REGULAR SINGERS who were ....CHEAP and did not tip very well and some nights not at all . This is a sure way to get the bar staff against karaoke

Agreed. It works both ways, one hand washes the other. Bartender gives good service = customer should give good tips = bartender loves customer!

same thing for host,,,, Host gives singer good service = customer comes back again = $$ in pocket of bartender and owner who gives good service!

It's really that simple.

That's it in a nutshell - we all do good work, everybody is happy, customers love the good service and tip well. Why, once in a while I'll even get a tip!

And yes, BFFL, my 58s get new hats regularly - this one is in need, I see. Thanks for reminding me!

k

I made a mistake once and went to the bar owner about a server who was dragging us down. Funny thing is I like her but she was complaining to customers about tips (?!), was slow to get things and in general had no hustle or passion for the job.

Well the owner lit into her, threatened to fire her and really rode her (@$%&#!) whenever he was there and made things worse for her. He hired another server intending to train her up and then fire the first one. I felt horrible for it. He went away on vacation for 10 days about a week after he started riding her.

I had a chance to apologize and work her through some of the things she was doing wrong. She started making money, started being happy and really got a good head of positive steam. He came back from vacation ready to fire her and we're turning $6K nights because she's on the ball *and* we had a 3rd server. He comes over to me and thanked me for pointing things out and he knew he'd get her turned around.

The owners are great to me, but they're rough on the other staff.

The bartenders I work with know they need to keep the patrons happy or they won't be tipped. Sometimes it gets over crowded and it is hard for them to keep up. The regulars are cool about it and even try to help out by bringing empties to the bar. It's hard to predict some nights how busy it will be, so it's hard to staff for it. Some times you loose customers because they can't get a drink fast enough, but it isn't because the bartenders there aren't hustling. They are just under staffed. A lazy bartender is just irritating!

If the bartenders are smart they would never say anything negative about the entertainment. Why drive away perfectly good tips? dumb dumb dumb

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[updown]~*~ MONKEY BUSINESS KARAOKE~*~ [/shadow][/updown][/glow]

I know it's not rlated to karaoke, specifically, but this is definitely a contributer to the downfall of many bars:
Tonight was a great example of the poor kind of work ethic seen these days and of the saying "when the cat is away, the mice will play".
I went to our weekly pool tourney held during the off season at a local bar.
Every Tuesday, during the tourney, the staff is supposed to play classic rock and nothing else... no rap, dance, thrash, etc because it drives the pool players away. Well, tonight the two (count 'em TWO!) staff members on decided to leave the hockey game blaring away for 2 customers who were watching it. Normally, the bar owner will leave the TV on, but play the music. We asked 3 times to have the music turned on and were refused and/or ignored. Finally, the music came on at 10, but it was all rap and the kind of music they aren't supposed to play.
Add to that,that it took the staff 3 and a half hours to walk the less than 20 feet to where we were to clear old drinks out and ask if we wanted anything to drink at 11:00 pm. This, despite being told by one of our crew that there were people wanting drinks right when we got there at 7:30.
Apparently they were too busy holding up the bar and texting. One of the players commented that the owner should fire the staff and use the money saved to repair it so it can stand on its own.
The only reason I even stayed was because I was one of the people running the tourney, but given a choice I would have left as would have everyone else. We are having a meeting with the owner tomorrow.
I know I won't be going back next week unless there is a HUGE change. We have our choice of a few bars in town who would love the extra business on a slower night like Tuesday.

****tell the owner *******

I may have told this story before, butt, here it is again..

Poor service can be described in several ways.

1) KJ responds to a song slip with, "God I hate that song"..

2) Wait staff refuses to service tables in a timely manner..

3) Sound out of balance/off key/too low/too high

4) Drinks are watered..

5) Song book weighs 45 pounds, printed in comic sans 5 point font, No lights to read book

6) If food is offered, it is delivered cold and squashed..

7) KJ sings every other song, (It's all about him/her)

Feel free to add your own items..

"My venue" has been out of a popular liquor every Tuesday for like a month. They get their liquor delivery on Wednesday or Thursday. This is stupid on so many levels. If a drink sells for $5 and it takes $2 of liquor to make it ... maybe they should freaking buy a couple more bottles so it doesn't run out on a busy night?

Then on Thursday every other week, they have the slowest bartender I've ever met. Owner's daughter, of course. Well, he has 4 daughters who all work for him, but this girl is the only one who can manage to get backed up with only 20 customers in the whole bar. I worked really hard to get people to come on Thursdays when they gave me that night. After two times of getting 30 singers, with another few dozen people playing pool and doing other things not related to karaoke, and then watching big groups of people leave because they could not get a drink, I stopped trying to get people to come on Thursday anymore. Why should I bother if they can't get served?

And Saturday is my other day for karaoke. They want me to switch to Friday a few times this summer for the convenience of bands. I said no, that will hurt both days, and I have been working uphill on my other nights already. If they mess with the busiest night of the week I will quit.

Oh, and one more thing, while they do not close early, sometimes the bartenders will get in a hurry and start putting chairs up way too early. Last call is at 2:30 AM, closing time is 3:00 AM. In my opinion that means there should not be a chair put up until at least 2:30 AM, and later than that if customers are still finishing their drinks. Even if the bar is not functionally closed early, when you start putting chairs up, a customer who walks in is likely to walk right back out.

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Jeff Wheeler, moonlight DJ/KJ

You have my sympathy on this situation. Nepotism is the worst. I have taken to calling owners/management when I have this kind of experience at a bar...and i also post on yelp....so nobody else has to deal with it. However, if it is where my gig is located, I move heaven and earth to make the owner/manager see what harm poor service creates. It's like kissing the cream --- potentially the 30% of your take -- goodbye, watching it walk out the door.