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bassment/moshulu management


Metarie

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I really don't want this to turn into a moshulu/bassment bashing thread, but this blanket ban on staff drinking after hours or on their days off is pretty annoying. I'm not sure if the management realise that it's affected regulars with friends who work there as well as the staff?

There's been a few occasions when my mates and I have had to find somewhere else to go for a night out because a friend works in Bassment and isn't allowed in there or upstairs that night. Case in point, a few Sundays ago there were 6 of us who wanted food and a couple of pints and ended up going to a different bar because one of our group wasn't allowed in the Bassment and that easily lost the bar the best part of 100 on a quiet Sunday night. Surely if the staff want to spend time there when they aren't working this is a good sign?

I know that there's probably a reason for this, but it seems to me that if you don't trust your staff to socialise in their place of work then you probably shouldn't be employing them in the first place. To ask a memeber of staff to immediately vacate the premises after work and not allow them to even wait for a friend or partner to finish their drinks is a bit extreme if you ask me.

So, just really wondering about the reasoning behind it and hopefully bringing it to the attention of the management (whoever that may be these days).

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Though that does indeed seem strange, surely getting in touch with Moshulu/The Bassment directly is the best form of action? Doing this via a messageboard is, I'd bet, going to turn it into a Moshulu/The Bassment bashing thread.

it's strange for a bar like bassment/moshulu. not strange for bars catering for a different type of customer who don't want their staff getting drunk at the bar and perhaps tarnishing their reputation. i remember watching a ramsay kitchens nightmares where his first advice was to stop staff drinking in the bar once they'd finished their shifts.

doesn't really apply to bassment though you'd think as most of their staff are were probably customers first. like you say, probably best done with a letter of complaint to their management rather than on a messageboard though.

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Though that does indeed seem strange, surely getting in touch with Moshulu/The Bassment directly is the best form of action? Doing this via a messageboard is, I'd bet, going to turn it into a Moshulu/The Bassment bashing thread.

Their website is down though, so quite tricky to find contact details.

Oh, and go to Korova for awesome food.

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Definitely liking Korova. It's still not quite in my mind as first port of call but sure it'll be up there with Drummonds soon. Eric's got a good eye for bars.

The food is awesome in Korova.

The lunch and the evening menu too.

Really nice, head and shoulders above any pub grub in town.

Will be interesting to see their new club too.

I haven't been to Moshulu/Bassment in an age.

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I really don't want this to turn into a moshulu/bassment bashing thread, but this blanket ban on staff drinking after hours or on their days off is pretty annoying. I'm not sure if the management realise that it's affected regulars with friends who work there as well as the staff?

There's been a few occasions when my mates and I have had to find somewhere else to go for a night out because a friend works in Bassment and isn't allowed in there or upstairs that night. Case in point, a few Sundays ago there were 6 of us who wanted food and a couple of pints and ended up going to a different bar because one of our group wasn't allowed in the Bassment and that easily lost the bar the best part of 100 on a quiet Sunday night. Surely if the staff want to spend time there when they aren't working this is a good sign?

I know that there's probably a reason for this, but it seems to me that if you don't trust your staff to socialise in their place of work then you probably shouldn't be employing them in the first place. To ask a memeber of staff to immediately vacate the premises after work and not allow them to even wait for a friend or partner to finish their drinks is a bit extreme if you ask me.

So, just really wondering about the reasoning behind it and hopefully bringing it to the attention of the management (whoever that may be these days).

I'm pretty sure there is something in the licensing laws that states that you are not meant to allow staff to drink in a venue where they work, but I'm not entirely sure if it's a written law or no. I certainly remember when I did my door stewards license that we were told with having our badge meant that we couldn't socialise in venues where we worked, I realize that makes more sense with door staff, but I can see why it may apply to all staff.

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The food is awesome in Korova.

The lunch and the evening menu too.

Really nice, head and shoulders above any pub grub in town.

Will be interesting to see their new club too.

I haven't been to Moshulu/Bassment in an age.

Yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing the club. Eskotech or whatever it was called was pretty cool down stairs as I remember... the drunken days cloud my mind a bit on this. Perhaps a Korova thread would be more appropriate a place to discuss this rather than this basement/moshulu bashing thread.

I have been in Moshulu and Basement fairly recently and had good times in both... not first choice but certainly not last choice.

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G-g-g-g-g-google?! Search this website for contact details?

Asking the manager of the place about the reasonings behind the policy would probably be a good starting point. They must have contact details for the superior powers ... I'd be a bit worried though if their response was "just google it" ha ha.

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G-g-g-g-g-google?! Search this website for contact details?

Haha, well yes, of course.

But who's in charge now? Management seems to have changed hands there so much recently.

It was a perfectly valid question by the original poster, and many club and venue owners post regularly on here.

I don't see the harm personally.

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Asking the manager of the place about the reasonings behind the policy would probably be a good starting point. They must have contact details for the superior powers ... I'd be a bit worried though if their response was "just google it" ha ha.

Good starting point, though not everybody likes dealing with things face-to-face. I just googled 'The Bassment Aberdeen' and WHOA! Address AND telephone number! Far, far better than a messageboard.

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I've worked in pubs before where they have had this rule, and also in premises that after you leave the job you aren't allowed back in for 3 months. I think it's because they don't want folk behind the bar giving their colleagues free drinks when they aren't working, but don't quote me on that. At Frankie & Benny's at the beach (or TGIs, I forget which), once you leave the job you aren't allowed back in, ever.

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I really don't want this to turn into a moshulu/bassment bashing thread, but this blanket ban on staff drinking after hours or on their days off is pretty annoying. I'm not sure if the management realise that it's affected regulars with friends who work there as well as the staff?

There's been a few occasions when my mates and I have had to find somewhere else to go for a night out because a friend works in Bassment and isn't allowed in there or upstairs that night. Case in point, a few Sundays ago there were 6 of us who wanted food and a couple of pints and ended up going to a different bar because one of our group wasn't allowed in the Bassment and that easily lost the bar the best part of 100 on a quiet Sunday night. Surely if the staff want to spend time there when they aren't working this is a good sign?

I know that there's probably a reason for this, but it seems to me that if you don't trust your staff to socialise in their place of work then you probably shouldn't be employing them in the first place. To ask a memeber of staff to immediately vacate the premises after work and not allow them to even wait for a friend or partner to finish their drinks is a bit extreme if you ask me.

So, just really wondering about the reasoning behind it and hopefully bringing it to the attention of the management (whoever that may be these days).

For starters, i'm 99% percent certain you (or Sarah) asked me about this the other day when you were in, and i'm pretty certain i explained it then. It's quite a specific issue which only effects a handful of individuals at most, so i dont really think it warrants a whole thread on this forum.

Anyway, no worries and absolutely no harm explaining it again.

We have always been very welcoming to our staff over the years, and besides those who have been fired, we have never had a problem with the bar/PR staff coming in and putting their well earned cash back behind the bar. I also think we've been perhaps too forgiving on many occasions with staff coming in off-duty in all sorts of states.

We are under new management and have introduced the policy where, if staff want to come into the bar and drink at any point they have to ask permission of the management before doing so. This is still a completely reasonable system we feel and basically means we are aware of any off-duty staff on the premesis.

However, we recently had a couple of issues arise which we would like to exclude the staff from. So until these are recified, the blanket ban will remain. I would like to add we are hoping to ease off on the staff as soon as we can. I have been in meetings with the rest of the Management team and we are all aware that at least in the Bar, there is little harm in having off duty staff on the premesis. Especially when, like you say, they and their friends are willing to come in on days off and spend the cash. Alas I can't have one rule for some people and other for the rest so for the time being it will remain.

Hope that clears it up some.

Cheers,

Rass

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I think the law mentioned earlier is simply that a license holder can't be drunk on the premises they hold the license for, not all staff.

If it applied to all staff I'd be quitting my job at the moorings tomorrow.

Oh yeah, totally forgot about that.

Yeah thats exactly right, just the Licencee that can't drink there by law, for everyone else it's up to the in-house rules.

Not sure if this changes with the new laws in September mind you.

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According to the law (both now and after September) :

It is an offense for the licensee / responsible person to be drunk on the premises at any time.

It is an offense for any member of staff to be drunk on the premises at any time.

It is an offense to sell alcohol to a drunk person.

The grey area being the interpretation of drunk. If drunk was taken to mean someone who had ingested any alcohol whatsoever then it would be impossible to operate a bar. Therefore the usual interpretation of 'drunk' is someone who is intoxicated to the point where they are unsteady on their feet, or slurring their speech, or rolling their eyes, etc. One of the first things we teach bar staff is, whenever is doubt, ask the customer to repeat the order. A drunk can hold it together long enough to say "a pint of lager please" - once. Ask them to repeat this and they'll come out with something like "a pinsh of loggers", then fart.

If a bar served someone who is drunk then there is a danger that the person could die if they were served more booze. This may either be through alcohol poisoning, choking on their own vomit, falling and hitting their head, stepping/falling in front of a car, or something else along those lines. That's why it is an offense to serve them. Here in Scotland many people take a much more liberal view on what constitutes drunk. One of our ex-barmen honestly believed that it meant the person was unable to stand...

The laws regarding license holder / responsible person, and staff are most likely there to avoid loopholes. For example the license holder or responsible person may not actually work there i.e. Mark is the responsible person (key holder) on Sunday evenings but he is not a direct employee of The Moorings. The "at any time part" is there to incorporate times when the person is off duty, or the bar is shut.

The laws are sensible; it is very hard to deal with a drunk staff when they become argumentative, We've had off duty bar staff get bleezing, fall out with us because we refuse to serve them any more, quit, then come back the next day looking sheepish. It's worse when this happens with a drunk boss or manager as they may go around firing/banning people. Puts everyone in an awkward position. Another set of problems apply to an off duty door steward.

Some bars interpret the legislation to permit drinking whilst on duty. This is very risky, a bit like drink driving. Judgement is impaired, and if anything goes wrong... oh dear.

One of the (many) reasons that I curtailed my own drinking was that people, both customers and staff, would take advantage of my state to cause trouble, knowing that I was on shaky ground. And also because occasionally I would go off on one, and be the one coming in next day looking sheepish because I'd fired everyone :)

Whatever the law says, a business is perfectly entitled to exceed those rules. The management or owners of a bar may decide for whatever reason not to admit staff except when they are on duty, or to admit them but refuse to serve them alcohol. If someone works in a bar, in any capacity, then they are a representative of that business and should conduct themselves with a certain level of decorum, otherwise the business may feel it is necessary to remove certain privileges.

Anther common problem with bar staff, especially in bigger chains where there are lots of staff and a high staff turnover, is that they may supply drinks to each other free of charge. When I worked in the Wimpy Bar* back in 1986 [yes to paraphrase George Jung (Johnny Depp) in "Blow" - if you or any of your friends bought a burger back in the mid 1980s, chances are it was me that served you] we used to do the same thing, and for years afterwards I never paid for a meal. Of course this was A) against the rules, and B) technically stealing. It would have been sensible for the Wimpy Bar to ban all current and ex-staff members from eating there!

A section of the licensing law makes after hours drinks for bar staff a very grey area (well verging on black to be honest). It's almost certainly illegal for bar staff to have a drink after the bar shuts. But this being Scotland people claim all sorts of loopholes are valid, such as "it's OK if the doors are shut" and "it's OK because we paid for the drinks before last orders". So far the police tend to turn a blind eye, but that won't last forever.

From a personal perspective, The Moorings offers many privileges to it's staff, but every time someone takes a liberty, we clamp down and remove one or more of those privileges, I'm guessing that the same thing is probably taking place and the Bassment and Moshulu. The particular details are their business, but I'd guess there is a good reason for this course of action.

*now Burger King

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I'm pretty sure there is something in the licensing laws that states that you are not meant to allow staff to drink in a venue where they work, but I'm not entirely sure if it's a written law or no. I certainly remember when I did my door stewards license that we were told with having our badge meant that we couldn't socialise in venues where we worked, I realize that makes more sense with door staff, but I can see why it may apply to all staff.

Thank crikey that never applied when I worked at RGU, SAMBUCCA TIME!!

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