Easy solution, he should have charged you half price or bottom price for the replacement drink. To be fair, you cannot just expect to get a free drink every time you spill one. It does depend on the type of drink also. For example, spilling house wine gets an easy replacement drink cause it costs nothing. But try spilling a premium cocktail, not the same. I think the bartender gets the blame in this case. I've been head bartender before and his real mistake was telling you that he was gonna charge you for the drink before you even brought up that issue and before he brought you the drink. He should have just gotten the drink to you and then either a) not charge you b) charge you half price c) charge full price d) ask the manager. Regardless, whenever the issue was brought up, he should have said nicely that it is policy to charge you for the drink but he will check with manager to see if he can do otherwise. Sounds to me this is not a good bartender. At the same time, the patron was wrong in assuming that he should get a free drink automatically. That actually places a stigma on the patron as a bad customer. Of course it depends if you are a regular or were ordering lots of drinks and food but from what I can gather, you simply were getting some drinks. There is no real benefit in retaining a customer that does not spend much and expects free replacements when he screws up. That is not a profitable customer. Restaurants fail mostly because of their costs overrunning their revenues, not because they lack customers. Lots of restaurants get sooo busy, yet cannot make money and fail within 2 years. So you can't be focused on pleasing the customer while running a deficit. It has to be a proper combination with proper selection. Breaks down into simple math.
Theres a 80-90% chance this guy loses money - doesnt make it. If he has a loaded wallet, why is he moaning about beer money? (No disrespect Gunslinger - I'm just going on the law of averages here ) I like your optimism though
Agreed. We're not talking about a car here, or an expensive Tiffany's trinket. The restaurant lost out on your group's future business and earned themselves a bad reputation. For what? 50 cents?!? Just ridiculous. I had tip jobs when in college, and whether or not I thought the tip was good or shitty, I understood that customer service was paramount in keeping my employer in business and thus myself gainfully employed.