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Ask a bartender a question

• seltzar 5y ago
  Fuck this asshole
• CobsterLock 5y ago
  What kind of forum is this? Super cool perspective
  • smnrchrds 5y ago
    Its name is an anagram of Scott Alexander, Slate Star Codex, and Astral Codex Ten, so it is probably a forum for Scott's disciples.
    • thaumasiotes 5y ago
      > Its name is an anagram of Scott Alexander, Slate Star Codex, and Astral Codex Ten That would be difficult, since those three phrases are not anagrams of each other. Where is the 'n' in 'data secrets lox'?
      • BBC-vs-neolibs 5y ago
        https://www.datasecretslox.com/index.php/board,12.0.html https://www.datasecretslox.com/index.php/board,12.0.html
    • _Microft 5y ago
      It's an anagram of "Slate Star Codex" but not of the others.
    • dri_ft 5y ago
      It's the forum that frequent commenters on Slate Star Codex set up to chat while Slate Star Codex was on its NYT-induced hiatus. It seems to have developed a life of its own and is still in use even now that Slate Star Codex is back as Astral Codex Ten.
  • Cthulhu_ 5y ago
    Looking at the home page it's a nice small forum, reminds me of 'back when' before the big social networks took over. I've been active on and running them for close to 20 years now. But the activity of that one also wanes and waxes, and the community is mostly active on our Discord channel now. But, I and the other 'regulars' have changed too, we don't have the mental energy, time, arsedness and powers of concentration anymore to read and write multi paragraph essays in threads spanning the ages. Thankfully there's a lot less drama and crazies as well. We've seen some shit.
    • canadianfella 5y ago
      What is arsedness?
    • CobsterLock 5y ago
      That small forum feel was what I appreciated. I thought they all disappeared by now, so it surprised me that the this post was added recently.
  • silveraxe93 5y ago
    In a big nutshell: There was a blog written by Scott Alexander called 'Slate Star Codex', which was read by a lot of big tech entrepreneurs. Last year the New York Times wrote a piece on it, and told him they would reveal his name. Scott took issue with being doxxed (too much to unpack in this, but caused a bit of a stir including here in hackernews) and took down the blog in protest. The blog had regular open threads for discussion, with some quite active regulars in there. datasecretslox was created for some of those to keep that space for discussion. Lately Scott moved to substack and writes at AstralCodexTen.
• ginko 5y ago
  As a non-American outsider, one thing I find so strange when visiting the States is the, how shall I say, "attitude" of bartenders. Everything else is extremely customer focused, but for some reason ordering a beer at a bar feels like having to play a constant game of favorites. This hasn't happened to me anywhere else. And I try to be polite and tip well in the US.
  • soneil 5y ago
    I used to work in a coffee shop in a touristy town, in the great white north. There was a theme - milk the tourists but butter the locals. That guy that comes in for the same simple drink at the same time every morning, is worth more than someone who buys all the foof and never comes back. Plus he's going to keep us going all winter, and you're not. So there is a game of favourites - that local is near-on a thousand bucks a year. Plus tips. So if I get the chance to start his drink the moment I see him out the window, I'll take it. You might wait an extra 30 seconds. The change he drops in the jar will probably add up to a car payment over a year. I can easily imagine bars are a similar situation but more so. The regulars are probably spending a little more than $20 a week.
    • xyzzy_plugh 5y ago
      > That guy that comes in for the same simple drink at the same time every morning, is worth more than someone who buys all the foof and never comes back. I'm this guy. The interaction with a coffee shop changes once they start treating you as a regular. The arrangement is somehow more mutually beneficial than the simple exchange of money for goods. Sadly, I find fewer and fewer shops have this attitude. In my current city, I notice the hot shops have a wild rotation of baristas such that by the time they remember my order (it's a black americano, not rocket science) they've moved on. Small, family owned-and-operated shops are by far a better experience than any chain, even of their coffee isn't quite as good as a Blue Bottle or a Philz.
      • mkw2000 5y ago
        There are not many things better to me then walking into my favorite coffee shop and having my drink ready for me by the time I make it to the counter
• leodriesch 5y ago
  This was a great read. I do some bartending in a very modern bar in Germany and it is sooo different :) I also see the point where he says that he wants his regulars to come in, but also doesn't want them to come in for their own good. Pretty hard to serve these people so your bar makes money, knowing that it doesn't do them well.
  • sharken 5y ago
    Not a bartender, but i do wonder if tipping the bartender is more of an American thing. Will definitely think about tipping the next time I'm at a bar.
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• jfoutz 5y ago
  I love dive bars. All of my training is focused around persuading a machine to do what I want. I get pedantic. I think this is rooted in the computer not doing what I want all day, and me, little by little finding the correct path. Lawyers and combat veterans are the absolute best to interact with. Lawyers will give you 6000 reasons why that blue car is actually red. Sometimes they get lucky, and strike upon a workable solution. Combat veterans believe what they believe for a reason, someone might die. They've really _really_ thought it through. Lawyers and combat veterans don't get mad. They really want to either win or communicate the point, respectively- unless you're a complete asshole, don't do that. Being an asshole will get you kicked out, or your ass kicked. Drunken dive bar patrons genuinely want to help improve your understanding of the world. They're bored. They're literally killing time. Grad students and post docs are kinda shitty. I enjoy hearing people be passionate about things, but they have a zealotry that can be hard to take. there's a deep commitment there that gives zero space for beliefs that disagree with their own, especially when drunk. But you can learn a lot of high level perspective. Sports fans and enthusiasts are beyond my bar skills. They require an encyclopedic knowledge of whatever they're into. it's hard (for me) to keep a conversation rolling. Machinists are pretty cool, they've become assembly programmers worried about crashing heads. I get of easy, I just rerun my program. They trashed a 5k piece of steel, and possibly damaged a very expensive machine. There are lots of folks in dive bars. Most of them are willing to shoot the breeze. It can be a very mind expanding experience. On the other hand, at a dive bar, you're probably interacting with the alcoholic version of X. That also applies to you. You'll find people that are more open and willing to talk and argue about whatever in a consequence free (unless you're an asshole) environment. But you also need to think hard about your level of consumption. It's probably not great. Dive bars are a funny thing. they're a social space I haven't found replicated anywhere else.
  • chrisseaton 5y ago
    > they're a social space I haven't found replicated anywhere else Sounds a lot like many pubs.
    • koolba 5y ago
      A dive bar is literally a pub.
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• hoseja 5y ago
  What an awful, prohibition-warped system.
  • imglorp 5y ago
    Wait til you hear about State Stores. The day after Prohibition, our state passed a law to explicitly make it as expensive and inconvenient as possible to obtain alcohol. Plus there's always a kickback somewhere: so they invented a system where the State would do the selling of liquor, bars could sell one six pack, and beer wholesalers could sell only cases. The liquor system persists, with its original mandate, having no legal competition. The beer system is loosening slightly: until very recently, it was literally impossible to buy, say three six packs, anywhere.
    • Telemakhos 5y ago
      I moved from a western state where hard liquor is sold openly in the grocery stores, to an east-coast state with state-run liquor stores that have a monopoly on hard liquor. The east-coast state-run store prices are two-thirds of the western grocery store prices. Part of this is that the western state, despite having open sales, also imposed very high taxes, while the eastern state that restricts sales has low taxes. In the end, the eastern state sold me more liquor at lower prices until I realized that I was drinking too much and quit. Everyone I knew back west drank; few do out east.
      • bsenftner 5y ago
        I'm a new Colorado resident; I was quite surprised when I saw a full bar at many coffee shops. Asking what's up with the hard liquor, they said it was for shots in ones' coffee, want one? Wow! Growing up in Iowa, with State Liquor stores, and then school in Massachusetts where the puritan attitude still prevents liquor sales on Sunday, and then California where pot is preferred over booze... Colorado has shots in one's coffee from franchised coffee shops, what a world.
        • tclancy 5y ago
• ms123 5y ago
  If anyone wants to visit a virtual dive bar, take a look at https://midnight.pub https://midnight.pub
• koolba 5y ago
  This was a fun read. > However, I do judge you by your drink order. We all do. I give all respect to the patriots that drink their liquor with no mixer. Whiskey on the rocks- not all heroes wear capes. I don't trust rum drinkers, they don't like booze. A good buzz should be earned, not delivered in a sugar slurry. If Socrates worked in a dive bar, I’m sure he’d agree.
  • smcl 5y ago
    Yeah I firmly believe you are free to enjoy whatever alcohol you like, the way you prefer to drink it without worrying about getting made fun of. That said, if someone going to offer opinions like this I think they can expect a bit of push back so I don't feel too bad about writing the below :) I imagine if someone seriously believes whiskey on the rocks is a drink for grizzled hard-men and that rum is for fancy lads[0] who can't handle alcohol then they're not particularly well versed with spirits, and are just repeating something they heard and thought sounded cool. Whiskey on the rocks is usually very easy going - and if you had something like sweeter like Eagle Rare, or delicate like Redbreast that's possibly one of lightest spirit-without-mixer drinks you can get. Then again, they might have just been joking. [0] = I've used male-centric terms here because I cannot think of more suitable gender neutral ones, but I hope the intent is well understood :)
    • adamors 5y ago
      Ice makes the whisky lose its taste, so that whole line is nonsensical to me. He thinks people who don't like the taste of whisky are heroes without capes?
      • smcl 5y ago
        I dunno, while ice definitely takes a lot out of a whisky it leaves something there and is still IMO a totally acceptable way to drink it (particularly if it's a hot day or if it's cask strength). But I agree it's an odd selection for the "hero" drink :)
        • 5y ago
• WesleyHale 5y ago
  > Short aside: this is why a bartender can kick you out of the bar for any reason. That reason is that you were drunk. I never understood this. You serve someone until they're too drunk to deal with and kick them to the street where they'll likely get arrested for drunk and disorderly conduct. Why not give them some water and let them wait it out? OP said himself 95% of people understand and only 5% get a little rowdy after they've been cut off. The 95% should at least be given a hour and some water, not kicked out.
  • ghufran_syed 5y ago
    they are adults - why does someone else have to protect them from the consequences of their own choices?
    • terminalcommand 5y ago
      Even if they are adults, they might be inexperienced in drinking. It is very easy to slip up and have a couple of drinks too many if you haven't experienced it before. I think bartenders should stop serving at the point where they might harm themselves.
      • dexterhaslem 5y ago
        I think they try to, but its not like they know patron A is a super lightweight and patron B has no liver
  • Dumblydorr 5y ago
    Probably because they're too drunk, vomiting, disorderly conduct, yelling, arguing. I doubt he'd throw someone out who is quietly getting the spins in a booth.
• Dumblydorr 5y ago
  I used to frequent a dive bar that was a converted auto shop. It was owned by around 15 friends, just a big co-ownership deal. One of the bartenders, who I really did love, had one main weakness... he'd give free drinks out, especially to attractive ladies. One time, one of the fifteen co-owners saw him at it and fired him on the spot. I liked the new bartender but they didn't have the same charm and personality, and they were much less good at trivia.
  • alisonkisk 5y ago
    Capital Hill, Seattle?
• franhield 5y ago
  A refreshing approach comes from a bartender's perspective; it seems quite hard as he has a lot of responsibilities and thinks that the only help available is a backup phone call from cops
• splatzone 5y ago
  I stopped drinking about a year and a half ago. One thing I really miss is being in a bar and having conversations with interesting, relaxed strangers with things to say. If you’re abstaining from alcohol because you’re addicted to it, it can be very hard to find that kind of social connection elsewhere. I think this is a problem in our society (at least in the United Kingdom): a lack of places to be sober and socialise warmly with strangers
• sealaska 5y ago
  I quit tech about a year ago, sailed up the inside passage to SE Alaska in a little 30' sailboat, and ended up working at a dive bar similar to what this author describes for 8 months over the winter. I met a ton of incredible people, and had a lot of fun, but also burned out. Never having bartended before, there were some surprises: - No food in most of the bars in town, other than bags of chips. This made it hard to slow people down. - No inventory control. Bottles weren't weighed or measured in any way. Any employee could, in theory, steal alcohol with absolutely no way for the bar to know (there were no cameras in the building, either). As a consequence, bartenders would pour quite heavy at times, especially for the regular day-drinking crowd (with tacit approval from the owner). There is a huge dynamic where the money is so good (my take-home was normally in the range of 40-50/hour during the slow season for my Friday night shift), and most bartenders that I met didn't have any other options to earn that kind of money, so would keep bartending despite the burnout. The golden handcuffs are real.