had gone to the bar to get drinks for themselves.
Polley says there are typically two waitresses working each night at Cadillac Ranch. People order drinks from the waitresses because they can
usually get the drinks faster than going up to the bar. She says that if you think it's taking too long, she challenges you to see if you can get your drinks faster. Your drinks are coming from the same bar and bartender as everyone else's. So
again, be patient.
Above: Nikki Polley, Plymouth, Minn., senior, reaches for the top-shelf liquor at The Cadillac Ranch during a busy night. Upper right: Ginny Frye, Overland Park sophomore, brings a beer to a customer at The Cadillac Ranch. She has been a waitress for three weeks.
"People either love me or hate me depending on how fast I can get their drinks and make them happy," Polley says. She says there's usually a bartender reserved for waitresses but the bartender will serve other people too.
Being rude can only get you so far. Do you really think yelling at the bartender will make him want to pour your drink faster? "The bartender controls the speed of service," Ossie says. "We can delay service if someone is rude."
Party fouls are inevitable. In some book, somewhere, there's a rule that when people drink, they spill. Give the waitresses a break. They are working for you.
Polley was trying to get to a table on a crowded night at the Cadillac Ranch. She kept saying "excuse me" to a girl with no avail. The girl started backing up without looking and bumped into Polley's tray. A small amount of a drink splashed on the girl's arm, and she sneered at Polley. "You're always in the crowd fighting people to get them drinks and when I bump into them, it's usually because I got pushed," Polley says.
Tipping is an issue anyone can argue about: whether you should tip, how much to tip, how much do bartenders and waitresses get paid, and do they really need my money?
On a busy night at Quinton's, bartending can get difficult when deciding who to serve next. Reddell was helping some customers when he noticed a girl standing across the bar waving her money. "I'll give you a big tip if you serve me," she says. Reddell serves her, she pays for the drinks, he gives her the change and she walks away, stiffing Reddell.
"When you're back there, you're working hard and bartenders don't get paid much," Reddell says. How much? Reddell makes $5 an hour. "You're trying to do as much as you can in a little amount of time." Polley's theory is if you are someone who tips, she'll be
more likely to come back and serve you again. If you don't, she can go to people who do first.
Everyone knows that the bars in Kansas close at 2 a.m. That means around 1:45 a.m, bar employees are going to start trying to get people out.
It was closing time at Quinton's and Reddell and his fellow employees couldn't get a girl to leave. After arguing about her tab, she refused to leave, and began punching a friend who was trying to get her out of the bar. Finally, the police came and tried to convince her to leave with her friends. She still refused and was taken to jail.
We've all heard the bar employees yelling, "bar's closed," and "everybody out." Ever worked a job when someone comes in to shop five minutes before closing time? It's annoying, so why don't bar patrons listen?
Best says the customers don't realize the employees are trying to close the bar. It's because the employees haven't been drinking and they want to leave or start partying themselves. "First we try to ask nice and tell them to finish their drinks and exit," Best says. "When they leave we still have to work for an hour or hour and a half. If they won't leave, we'll take drinks, but we don't like to be mean because we want people to come back." So next time you're trying to fight closing time, think of the employees who still have a couple hours of work left.
Although there are a lot of pet peeves among bar workers, they still love their jobs and wouldn't trade them for anything. "It's a fast-paced atmosphere and gets intense with the crowds, but you're serving friends, peers and people your age, so it's fun," Ossie says.
Hartley says bartending is the best job you can have in school. He says it's the least amount of work for the most pay. "I enjoy going to work," he says.
Ashley Arnold, Jayplay writer, can be reached at aarnold@kansan.com