Saturday night I was out on the town with a friend and we stopped by a swanky (for me at least) club for a couple of drinks. My friend ordered a gin and tonic and I ordered a scotch. The waiter asked me how I liked my scotch and I said on the rocks. Both drinks arrived and were good if unspectacular.
Fast forward to the end of the night. Being the gentleman I am, I grab the check. My suaveness was undermined when I did a double-take at the bill. While the gin & tonics were the price that had been listed on the bar's drink board, my drinks were a little bit more. Specifically the bill said this about each scotch:
Scotch: $6.00
w/Rocks: $0.50
Forgetting my diplomatic cool, I called over the waiter and asked in so many words why the hell I was being charged for some ice cubes.
His response, "Scotch on the rocks has more scotch in it."
Really. Really?
We were sitting near the bar and so I was able to observe the bartender. She was doing free pour instead of using a jigger so it was difficult to gauge whether my scotch on the rocks had more liquor in it than my friend's gin and tonic. From the looks of it, I would have said it was already heavy on the rocks and not the scotch.
I paid without making any more of a fuss but kept thinking about it. The profit margin on liquor is already high and this seems like a way to fleece a couple of extra pennies off of loyal customers. The more I thought about it, the more it was ruining what was left of my night.
Until I got to the next bar. It was more quiet and, because I was semi-acquainted with the bartender/owner, I started to complain about what had happened. He had a different, much more business-oriented take. "Credit cards," he said.
I didn't follow. He explained that credit card companies charge the vendor (in this case, the bar) a certain percentage of every transaction, and to make back what they lose to the credit card company, they tacked on the extra fee. The New York Times recently ran an article about small businesses lobbying to lower the processing fees credit card companies charge, so I understood that the extra charge might easily have been a way around the system for the first bar I visited.
Even though it might make business sense for the bar to charge a little extra to recoup its credit card losses, I still don't like the idea of being charged more than the listed price for a drink.
Just to be on the safe side though, next time I'm bringing cash. -- By Owen Morris
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This is simply a case of the author not understanding the business he's writing about and/or not receiving a proper explanation from his server or bartender."Al Gore" said it well. You're simply paying for a greater amount of booze, nothing more. Many establishments simply put an "on the rocks" modifier in their computer system, which saves a ton of headaches. Unfortunately, many patrons have a difficult time grasping this concept for some reason. Therefore, many establishments have foregone using the "on the rocks" modifiers in their systems because of ignorant/rude guests. This effectively doubles or sometimes triples the number of product keys in the system. Ironically, i've never heard of a customer complaining about a "Neat" up-charge, which is essentially the same thing. Why do people think they are getting charged for ice? There's ice in a mixed cocktail with less booze. I don't understand the confusion.
EVERYWHERE you go, the bar or restaurant will charge $.50-$1.50 more for a "Rocks" pour. Why? Because it's MORE BOOZE IN THE GLASS!!! Most Rocks Glasses are between 8 and 11 ounce glasses! If you put an ounce and a half in an 11oz glass, the guest would laugh at you!!! And as they should, it looks like nothing is in there! "Neat", "Rocks", and "Up" drinks have more booze, thusly calling for a higher price. It makes sense and is GOOD BUSINESS! A regular pour is 2 ounces, no one pours an ounce and a half anymore...especially at a nice restaurant or Bar. A "Rocks" pour is somewhere near 3 ounces (different places pour slightly different). A "Up" drink or "Martini" is anywhere from a 4-5 ounce poor!!! More booze, more money....it's the way it is. It costs the Bar the same amount of money for each bottle of booze, everytime. So to pour more and charge the same would be throwing money out the door. IS IT SO HARD TO UNDERSTAND!?! :)
I do bar observations a lot. A "rocks" pour is different then a standard pour. Next time your at a bar watch the bartendars and count as they pour. Usually you will get a 3 second count for most pours...they are usually very consistent. A rocks pour will next you close to an extra ounce of liquor then a standard pour. .50 cents sounds like a good deal if your like your drinks a lil stronger.
I can't believe you'd even say anything over $.50. You look like a major tightwad. Where I work, a liquor with a mixer is one ounce, a liquor on the rocks is two ounces, so we upcharge for the extra ounce at $1.00. That's a good deal.
I understand if they were pouring from a jigger but they weren't. From a free pour it'd be an extra count or two and I've known too many bartenders whose free pours are already an extra count or just plain erroneous to justify 50 cents for rocks.
KC Guy- while I won't out the place for hopes it was a one time event and nothing more, let's just say it's the only jazz club within walking distance of the plaza.
Like many others have said, on the rocks often has more alcohol. When I tended a bar, on the rocks got an additional half of a shot, but since we used measured pours, it usually ended up essentially being a double. We charged the price of the drink + $1 for the extra booze. You usually walked away with a good deal, especially if you were drinking the high end stuff.
You are not the only one this has happened to. This is a common practice in bars around the country. The first time I was charged in a local bar for a scotch on the "rocks" I was told they pour heavy on a rocks drink. I asked for my check and said thats the last one you get. They changed their added charge for me from then on.
This is a sticky issue, but what isn't when it comes to a bad economy, money, and booze. Scotch can be pricey. Some time ago, to furlough that steep price, establishments thought that giving a full two ounces, instead of the regular 1.5 ounces, and charging a nominal .50 or 1.00 would be fair.
However, we now live in a day and age where bartenders aren't trained correctly. I, myself, blame too many corporate restaurants that hire anyone to do anything.
Yes, the policy at the establishment you were at was to charge for a "rocks pour." You should have received 2 ounces (which is the maximum legal amount you can serve at one time in most states) of scotch. If your scotch cost, $8, getting an "extra 1/2 ounce for .50 ain't bad. But, the bartender probably didn't give you the "extra rocks pour."
The best policy is to not charge a rocks pour and if people want a double, then double the price.
Erin, are you serious? The comparison isn't a rocks pour to a cocktail - it's the amount of booze in a glass with or without ice. Apparently the existence of ice is an extra 50 cents. It sounds like just another way for the bar to rip people off.
The waiter is right. A rocks pour is more booze than a shot with a mixer. I bet your glass was just as full as your friend's but instead of tonic, you got extra scotch. You weren't getting charged for ice, that's ridiculous. Ask around, any bartender or cocktail waitress should know the difference between a shot and a rocks pour.
You *HAVE* to tell us where this was. I'm astonished. I'm interested in rolling over there and seeing for myself.
By the way, next time, don't worry about cash. They're likely doing this regardless of how you pay. In fact, they don't necessarily know how you're paying before you bring the check. Next time, bring ice!
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