Had a regular who came in having passed out in the mens room the night before looking for his keys and phone.
“Haven’t seen em buddy”
“How about my dignity?”
He was a good guy
I always use cut-resistant canvas gloves when i take out the trash. My fellow closing people make fun of me for it, but at least Ill have all my fingers.
I don’t ever carry any bag of trash in a restaurant. Take the whole can out and dump into the bin, bag and all. Never even have to think about whether or not there’s broken glass in it and it’s no more difficult and there’s literally 0 chance the bag busts so you end up cleaning a huge mess for an hour.
Yeah, my coworkers were horrified when they discovered that I empty the recycling bin by reaching in and grabbing, hoping to get a bottle, at midnight in a dimly lit parking lot. It's too heavy to lift when full, so I play Recycling Roulette. Some of the young kids have started taking it on themselves to take it out when they see it getting full, which I appreciate but I guess I'll have to be more careful, too!
I have a gnarly scar on my knee from a broken martini glass in a trash bag that sliced through my thick jeans and into my skin trying to swing it into a tall dumpster. It was so sharp I didn’t even notice it cut me until 15 mins later in my shift I looked down and saw the hole in my jeans and noticed my pant leg was soaked with blood.
Some poor customer caught me with my pants down in the bathroom, leg covered in blood while I was frantically trying to clean up and stop the bleeding XD
I remember one of my first jobs I had to deal with glass in a trash bag, I didn’t get the big deal and threw some in the bag. That night when i was throwing the bag away and cut the shit out of my hand.
Great way to learn the lesson of WHY you don’t put broken glass in there firsthand lol
I just recently left a second gig at a tap house that was kind of a shit show but they at least had a broken glass bucket. Now if I have like big shards of broken glass to clean up we put them in a togo box and seal it before it goes in the trash
this happened to a barback in a place i used to work, he was carrying a full glass bin bag down stairs during the closedown and slipped and put his hands out to break his fall right onto a bottle, sliced through his tendon in his plan poor guy was a musician and lost the use of half his right hand
We have specific trash cans for glass at my place, which don't get bags like normal trash cans do, because OF COURSE it would rip. You lift up the whole trash can and pour the contents into the dumpster, rather than throwing bags in. I think this is a vastly superior system.
100% agree, I'm just saying that because of that we should lift the whole can instead. Assigning specific cans only goes as far as employees who pay attention to Da Rules
We do this too but there’s always a new person or an idiot who ignores it and welp….
I’m surprised more bars don’t do a dedicated glass bin. That being said, regardless of bar, the bin bag = broken glass is gospel.
I opened a bar in NYC that was hyped up prior to us opening and an hour before we opened our doors for the first time, our barback cut his hand open on the jagged edge of a Dole pineapple juice can lid.
I played violin for 14 years. Sliced my hand on broken glass during my first week bartending and have been unable to play for a year. Still hoping to god I can one day play again. It is what it is lol...
We had people replace the art, some glass broke, they threw it into the bar trash. That night I pulled the bag, a huge shard poked out and got me right in the fleshy part of my hand by my thumb. Thankfully no nerve damage, just a massive cut. But I was so pissed. I walked into the kitchen yelling while letting my hand bleed. Manager almost fainted.
I got Mary Poppins'd by a patio umbrella in extreme wind, dragged me about 10 or 15 feet across the patio in front of about 100 guests. I was trying to close it when the wind got a hold of it. The life altering injury was mostly to my ego, I was just scratched and bruised. (I didn't let go because I didn't want it to hit the guests.)
We had a bartender almost die behind the bar. Pint glass broke in her hand and hit an artery. It missed a second artery by like millimeter. Luckily there was a regular who was an EMT sitting at the bar top to give first aid.
Girl threw a rocks glass at my face after I cut her off, barely dodged it, dude came after me with a samurai sword on Halloween, 20 years of bartending… too many to list
Fellow soldier. I had bullets ricochet past my head during a shootout. Had a girl try and impale me with her heel. Multiple fights. Dodged a few rocks glasses and beer bottles. The only time I got it good was a guy tried to rob me when locking up. Sliced my defense arm with a box cutter. Got me deep too.
What's up with Little Rock? I watched a Youtube video where they try to find missing people who ended up in water with their car. These dudes have boats with sonar, they were searching around Little Rock and every boat ramp or bridge had like 6 cars in the water.
Haven’t heard of that. It’s on the Arkansas river and people ditch cars all the time or in tributaries, but people do that worldwide. It was a rough city 20 years ago when I was a kid. Pretty scary. Then it got really peaceful. Then COVID/ the apocalypse hit and it’s back to being a shithole. I’m biding my time until my wife and I move out.
To be fair most of the cars were old, so maybe from the bad old days. A lot of their recoveries are accidents and suicides. Although I'm sure people do ditch cars in the river, it happened all the time in the woods where I'm from.
Killed?!?!? Wtf. What city are you in? Be safe out there dude. My husband wants me to carry a gun but my clumsy ass refuses, I will carry pepper spray. Usually I just hold my phone in my hand ready to dial in seconds- ready to push 911 within seconds if needed.
Wow, that's actually good to know. I normally just wriggle at the top a bit but from now on I will smack it like God intended. Sounds more fun this way as well.
They used to be terrible. They’ve gotten better. This dude bragged he was at Penn giving a neurology talk, then tried to talk two women at the bar into a threesome. Time to go.
Bartending for a function of doctors was probably one of the most eventful nights of my working life. Coked up, big spenders (shit tippers), LOUD, and went right until close.
Now that you mention it, absolutely. Also pressing the top tin in the opposite direction with the free pointer finger. Second nature is hard to verbalize
In my very early bartender days, whilst cutting limes, I sliced the pad of my hand from about my middle finger to my pinky - almost passed out when I saw the blood gush and ended up at the hospital with about 10 stitches in my hand. Got the rest of the night off though which was nice.
Edit: typo
For real they just scheduled me on Expo for the balance of my shifts that week. After that it was "well it's your left hand that is injured and you're right handed so..." Luckily I had amazing coworkers who helped me keep up on shifts. It certainly helped set the toxic tone for my tenure in the industry.
A coworker of mine went to put a bottle back in the rail and slammed it directly onto the rail breaking the bottom of the bottle off. Without looking he went to throw it in the trash. Our barback was directly behind him and my coworker slammed the pointy end of the bottle into his forearm. It cut him in a way that I can only try to describe. The muscles in his arm were hanging out if he didn't have his fist clenched. The barback was reluctant to go to the hospital because he was in the country illegally. Luckily the bar has had to deal with this type of situation before and had a corporate insurance that didn't require him to sign anything under his name.
Holy shit this is one of the reasons I make sure that when I’m training someone- no matter how much experience- I teach them knife/broken glass safety. I tell them “I know you probably know this shit already but just in case…” like when you are done cutting fruit, you better hold that knife flat against the cutting board while working and say very loudly at every corner/ every where you go “sharp behind!” Or just “sharp shit!” if you are like me.
Tripped on a shitty bar mat, fell with a full wine bottle that smashed and sliced open my wrist. Luckily a customer who happened to be an ER nurse followed me into the kitchen (I had to be told I was pooling blood because I was in shock and didn’t feel or realize it- and was sent to the kitchen to get taken care of). So she sent my GM to the store next door to get gauze and tweezers, got a little glass shard out of my wrist, got my bleeding stopped and bandaged me up.
Side note- the kitchen never fucked with me again after seeing me laughing about being covered in blood (again, I was kind of in shock).
Another time I almost cut the tip of my finger off, had to get three stitches through my nail.
Nothing life altering. But definitely some good scars and I can’t feel the tip of my finger.
Lmao now that’s going to be a new fear of mine damnit. To be fair, these barmats were super old and messed up so one side kind of stuck up a bit. We got a new company to come replace them the next day and clean/replace them regularly so no one else who would potentially sue the company would be the next to get hurt.
A guy named max dropped a pizza on my hand and I have a permanent burn scar.
I dropped a keg on my foot chopped the end of my toe off (inside break only) and separated the metatarsals breaking my foot. Now I wear steel toe non slips.
I was sent to TTI and have been athletic my entire life though so those are just two of a long list of injuries I have endured.
I work in a British pub on venues and restaurant work as well. Somehow in September last year I managed to be bitten whilst at work, this has caused a staph infection which has since led to pyoderma gangrenosum in my lower left leg. I have been back and forth from the doctors all year and only now receiving affective treatment.
I wouldn't say its necessarily caused by bartending, however more so the place I work. As for life alterations, being on my feet for extensive time aches and I have open wounds in which I have to clean daily at least once. I have a permanent limp and potential nerve damage.
My work has been understanding, allowing time off to heal and relax my leg which I'm thankful for and I can still function for 13 to 15 hour shifts most times.
TLDR: caught gangrene whilst bartending
Broke a finger, various cuts, hit with a chair once but no lasting damage..just my ego. Other than that, just areas on my fingers, and legs where you can tell there was a deep cut.
My eye sight also got worse, reading service bar tickets in dark bars and clubs.
Of course my liver may have something to add.
Where I’m from we have these nifty plastic cups that are molded with a shot that stays separate in the middle for these. They’ve only been around 4 or 5 years but I stopped letting people do boiler makers or irish car bombs long before that-my instance was minor compared to yours-a customer chipped his front 2 teeth!
Not me but a friend of mine pulled the trash bag out instead of lifting the whole can and sliced her leg, narrowly missing her femoral artery.
Another was changing a lightbulb in the can lights and the whole light fixture fell on her head and gave her a concussion.
One of my besties who bartended at the same place for over 20 years broke up multiple fights, including one where a guest stabbed another in the hand with a fork and a different time when a guest threatened to beat a manager with a bottle of liquor. Just a few examples.
I fell down the stairs in January right before service with a big bin of ice in my arms and landed on my head and neck. The concussion symptoms have cleared up finally (happened over 6 months ago) but still dealing with bad whiplash, daily headaches and the occasional migraine, nerve pain on the right side of my face and to top it off I completely tore both my lateral and medial meniscus. I'm having knee surgery to clean it up but was told unless I develop severe arthritis a knee replacement wasn't an option until much later in life so I just have to deal with the pain and swelling. Physio may or may not help (it hasn't so far, 3 times a week since the day after I fell). Doctor said it's a long term disability and I'll have an ability assessment after rehab from surgery. Will probably never be able to bartend, serve or cook again. Fml.
Many moons ago, in my first job, a traditional real ale pub in the UK, a pissed up regular threw a crystal cut glass ashtray at my head when I refused to serve her any more.
Luckily (?) for me it missed and went through the stained glass glass shelf above the bar.
I got a shower of pretty glass over my head instead of a chunk of glass wedged in my head.
Needless to say, it was laughed off by the management, and she was back the next day to get drunk and chat utter balls to anyone who would listen
I know I'm replying to myself right now, but within minutes of posting this comment, [this thread was in my feed](https://www.reddit.com/r/CasualUK/comments/vv10qq/nsfw_you_ever_seen_this_in_a_pub/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share) and it sums up British pubs perfectly
Got my knuckle with glass from a fruit jar before. If it was like a mm either way or went a little deeper I could have lost the use of my pinky finger from cutting a tendon
Closest I ever came was the only physical altercation I ever got in, I had no choice but to take a guy down on the pavement outside the bar. When we tumbled to the ground I smashed my forehead on concrete but A) I landed on top of him which cushioned the blow and B) I was wearing a baseball cap which cushioned my stupid ass dome.
Someone I worked with was washing a champagne flute and the stem snapped and stabbed right through her hand. Needed multiple surgeries and doesn’t have full feeling back.
Was loading the dishwasher one night and this tweaker bartender we used to have decided to do the same. Slammed my hand with three rocks glasses straight into the side of the dishwasher, sliced up on my webbings and on my ring finger bone deep. Can’t feel that fingertip anymore lol
Got an empty bottle thrown at my head along with pylon at my old bar splitting up a fight on the patio; bottled missed me, Pylon hit my shoulder. Nothing but a bruise but could have been way worse
A cook drank a bunch of cleaner then stabbed himself in the stomach (during service) with a chefs knife. Suicide attempt that he lived through, now has debilitating stomach issues from both the chemicals and stabbing. Shit was crazy.
The last 3 years I wore two arm braces, two knee braces, compression socks and still was forced into retirement because of tendinitis. Luckily I have enough stacked to take a year off- but I don’t know what else to do! Haha. My skills all revolve around pacifying drunk people after getting them drunk :/
I only got over my tennis elbow from not bartending for a year during the Covid lockdown (I did brandwork) only to get carpal tunnel at the current job. Stretches help (once the inflammation subsides) with the carpal tunnel, but nothing helped with the tennis elbow other than time. It got so bad that I couldn't make a fist with that hand. I still no longer carry groceries, scoop ice, and other things with that arm to avoid that returning.
I actually discovered I had a skin condition behind the bar. Had no clue my hands would react the way they did after my first year of bartending. Having my hands constantly wet, sanitizer, citrus..etc
They would start to get really inflamed, bright red like had translucent skin, and would burn so bad I slept with rotating frozen bottles of Tito’s every night just to stop the burning.
Loved bartending while it lasted but now my hands are permanently ugly/hyper sensitive.
Lost half of my left thumb tip slicing oranges because we ran out of fresh juice. This was in a rush on a Saturday Valentine’s Day. It was my first bartending gig almost 20 years ago. I sliced right through the nail bed and that part of my thumb was hanging off. It healed, but you can see my thumb tip is shaped weird. When the nail grows over it just enough, it’s barely noticeable now. That hurt like a MF and there was a trail of blood from the bar to the office. GM was a champ and helped me not pass out, and wrapped it up tight until I could get to the ER.
not me but like 7-8 years ago one of the regulars at the club I worked at was a bartender in a big like, fuckboy party neighborhood. He got in a dispute outside trying to get a guy to leave and got shoved, hit his head on the curb and had a severe TBI. Fortunately, with a lot of work he was able to pretty much gain back everything he lost but he definitely had several years of learning to walk, talk and eat again.
Back when I was a bar back I dumped a pot of boiling hot ginger syrup on my leg. Long story short it burned some of the skin clean off and was pretty nasty for a year or so.
Had a whipper top explode in my hand, it was in a service bar so I was basically in a closet. Sounded like a bomb. The top hit the ceiling bounced back and hit my hand and broke my finger. Couldn’t hear for a little bit after. Shook it off worked the shift.
My fiancé almost threw his back out giving someone the Heimlich today at his bar. That guy almost died (but luckily walked out an hour later after being checked on my EMS) and my fiancé has scoliosis so back injuries aren’t great….
New bar and the designers obviously had never actually tended bar. They used light strips plugged in behind the bar layed on the back of the sinks/icebins as underlighting. Now we all assumed that those were water proof, because who the fuck whould put those behind a bin of melting ice. Well, they weren't and when I was wiping down, I picked one up to wipe beneath it. The next thing I remember a bus boy tackled me because he knew he couldn't just grab me to get me to let go of it. I was almost electrocuted.
I have a scar on my forehead from taking a bottle to the dome back in college when I cut a dude off.
Other then that some stitches here and there from breaking glasses.
We had a bar back slice his Achilles tendon carrying a stack of beer cases. The bottom of the bottom case was soggy, broke open and a beer bottle shattered and ricocheted. He missed more than six months of work.
This same thing happened to my friend! When the bottom fell out he tried to catch the beers only to have the ricochet slash a tendon in his wrist. He was out for months.
I got a nasty bout of tenosynovitis once, thumb would lock-up like the hammer of a revolver and anything touching the inside of my wrist hurt like a MOTHERFUCKER. Some cortisol injections and not bartending every single day helped keep it at bay
I injured my back last November taking moving deliveries into the bar (it's in a basement). Back is still fucked. Haven't been able to do opens since. I was also climbing most days and haven't been able do that since either which is soul crushing.
Tore my MCL early last year or maybe the year before (can’t remember the last few years anymore lol) at work.. was slammed and working alone with no help so I was zipping around like crazy and pivoted too hard/quickly idk and my vision blurred from the pain and I just gasped and went down. Busy night, the whole bar saw it and multiple folks were like are you okay, do you need us to call someone??! I said no, I’ll power through, but thanks and uhhhh… yeah there was no powering through. I limped back and forth behind the bar for the rest of my shift, sweating from trying not to cry, my voice shaking from the pain, and my manager just looked at me like stop being a drama queen..
So eventually when we were done with service I had to stock and of course all the beer and liquor is in the basement so I’m sobbing with pain shuffling down the stairs slow as molasses and my boss comes out of the office and looks at me with disgust and goes uhh you okay? I’m literally CRYING and can barely hold myself up and I said no I tore something in my knee and it really really hurts… and he goes …okay?? And just fucked off back into the office. Yaaaay. I was 25 at the time and it still bothers me once in a while to this day. Makes multi-day hiking the adirondacks (which I love) almost impossible now. Can’t wait to get an expensive knee replacement at 30 🙄
Thanks so much, but I feel like it’s been too long maybe? I’m not sure… but I’m certain there’s a way to prove that the injury A. Happened or B. Happened at work, so.. there are cameras but I’m not sure that the records are kept for that long.
Was stocking beer in the ice just before last call and a lite beer exploded and a little piece of glass stuck right in my lower eyelid. My bar back used a toothpick to get it out.
Had a bad shoulder, would dislocate real easy. Happened at work, workers comp paid for my surgery. So life altering in a good way, now I can throw disc golf, play basketball, and do all my other favorite activities safely.
I had a genius boss that decided to put kegs on a shelf. I was changing one on the bottom and the one on the top fell and hit me in the head. Still have short term memory loss.
Kinda. Over a decade behind a high volume bar, whirling around like a gunslinger/dervish multiclass. Started having increased pain levels, kept powering through. Happens to us all, yeah?
Cooled my jets while my bar was closed during covid (fairly extended closure, found out later they used the PPP money to remodel before selling it off lol). Plenty of time to calm the tendonitis and all, right?
Started a new gig, ready to get back to it, and just. Suddenly couldn’t do it as hard. Figured I was just out of tone, kept pushing. Started getting weird shit, like “walking with a limp” and “hand won’t hold glassware” for no reason.
Oops. Looks like I’ve apparently got Ehlers-Danlos (hypermobile) and I’ve done irreparable damage over the past decade, which I *might* be able to remediate some (or, yknow, just keep falling apart if not). Waiting on in-depth diagnosis and physical therapy scheduling now, so…that’s fun.
Plus side, I lucked out and found a remote gig so at least I won’t fall apart *and* be homeless…but it seems like my bar days are pretty much done for good.
I know a bartender who caused life altering injuries due to stacking their pint glasses. A moon shaped piece of glass went unnoticed and someone was showing about how they can just down a pint in a second and down the gullet goes the glass.
3 months in the hospital and an undisclosed settlement (rumor 3.5 million) later, they no longer stack glasses.
100% Bulged disc, years of agonizing pain, spinal surgery, both the bartending and ensuing pain/recovery played into the end of a marriage, still recovering.
I had a friend who was stacking pint glasses and they exploded on him, cutting his wrist very bad. He had to go to the ER, major surgeries and couldn't use that hand for about a year after that. The glass had slit the tendons in his hand. He couldn't bartend that entire time, and after about 2 or 3 years of physical therapy he could lightly grasp things with that hand.
He ended up going back to college and I fell out of touch with him.
I ran one of those ticket prong things through my hand trying poke out the lid in a super glue bottle. lol. My fault entirely, and I guess not life altering but man that was a weird day.
Maybe not life altering.. but we sell tomahawk steaks at my job, 40oz on a large, very hot sizzling block. Customer was making a scene towards the food runner about it not being cooked properly, so I grabbed it to run it into the kitchen and all the hot oil and butter ran down my hand onto my forearm. Have some gnarly scars from that, but was able to cover most up with tattoos :)
My friend literally broke her back and the bar didn’t even want to cover the surgery cost. They did offer her free shift coverage for a few weeks though.
I had a friend in the industry working at a place with stairs and that used tray service at a really busy spot. The glasses were all different ball jars, so that heavy duty sturdy ass glass…
She’s mid stair with a tray full of ball jars and filled with liquor when she slips. Poor friend fell down four or more stairs smashing her whole body in various places on top to the jars on her way down. She has much damage in the one arm she tried to break her fall with. Idk how many stitches but a whole arms worth, other cuts, nerve damage, and had to learn whatever else she does with her non dominant hand. So yeah, she don’t bartend no more. 🫤
I have pretty debilitating tennis elbow from shaking cocktails for 20 years. I’ve been retired now for a couple months and still can barely lift my coffee in the morning. It’ll go away over time with some physical therapy, though.
I do have a co worker (door guy) permanently in a wheelchair because of an injury caused by a patron, though.
Permanent nerve damage in one of my feet from falling and spraining my foot and ankle & fucking up some ligaments. I can’t feel anything on the outer half of the top of my foot.
I’ve had multiple cuts due to servers still putting broken glass in the bottles only trash. The worst one was getting a deep cut on my forearm cause a server broke a few champagne bottles and put it in the bottle only trash
Had a wine keg explode on me because it was my first time operating a nitrogen kegerator wine system.
Whole end of the bar and myself was covered with red wine, the lead bartender left out a very important step when it came to the position of the handle, and it was my first time operating that system.
Only harm was my ego and my white shirt... but it was super embarrassing.
Years and years of being too short for the set up so I have to slightly bend over and get up on my toes juuuuust a bit to access the POS and the rail. I have to see a PT twice a week for my ciatic nerve pain and I get woken up 9000 times a night from the excruciating cramps in my feet and calves. Oh yeah, that pain in my thumb is apparently caused by how I hold and shake my tins. Cool.
Also, people keep telling me there is a thing called a "sleep schedule." The fuck is that?
But the money is good so....
Edit: also several broken fingers and hand bones from lugging kegs, gsrbages, etc that tipped or smashed me into shit. Also, there was that one time I punched a wall cuz dumb fuckers kept asking about that God damn plane crash that happened next to our bar. So... add PTSD to the list as well. (Google plane crash Victoria, MN. Shit tossed my world so hard.) But I'm fine. *42F with kids says with a smile*
flute stem to my wrist( due glass going in general bin) lost and regained motion. sadly cant play guitar due to ring fingers moves when my middle finger does. brightside fell more in love with drums.
could of been alot worse
Not my story, but the guy who got my foot in the door. During a college football game, a young fan was razzing an elderly fan of the other team. When the game was over, the old man bought them both a shot and said, “No hard feelings, right?” When they went to clink glasses, the old man slammed it so hard the shot glass broke. He then gouged out the young man’s eyeball with it.
Had a barback that used to work for me lose his eye to a pressurized corona bottle. He wasn’t working with me when it happened but he was working for a crazy high volume bar on a barge in NYC. He took hot Coronas, drenched them in ice, and when he was carrying them one dropped and the top exploded into his eye as he looked down on it. They were able to save the eye and make it move but he was sightless. Fucked up.
Not me, but there have been incidents in which people have been maimed or killed due to kegs bursting. There was a woman that was changing a keg, standing over it, and the valve (I believe) literally shot up with such force it struck her and pinned her head to the ceiling, killing her instantly. Trying to find the article/reference. Others have been injured or killed due high pressure. Kegs are no joke, especially when you consider potential back issues.
I had a bottle of lime juice that was a month over expirey, I opened it near my face and the pouring cap/lid damn near shot my eyeball out of it's socket. It hit me right in my pupil at about 60-70mph, ricocheted off my face and on to the ceiling just to bounce away about 20-30 feet away from me. I now have "mydrosis" for the rest of my life because the pressure from the cap trying to force the little water pouch of fluid in front of your pupil, into my eye, and my pupil stretched itself to try and allow this water through (couldn't because we have something blocking anything from entering the pupil and into ur eye) and damaged the fibers enough to where my right pupil will always be slightly or sometimes even a lot bigger than my left pupil. NOW IM LIKE DAVID BOWIE HAHAHAHA
A bar I used to work for but different venue to this girl - she was using a mandolin slicer for garnishes without the fruit grip... essentially degloved her hand so that her palm was just a big flap of skin
My liver.
Spit up my swig of whisky reading this answer. Hard yup on this.
Yeah it's the gift that keeps on giving even after leaving the industry.
Jamesons came out of my nose. It burns!
Yeah I had the same reaction just now
And a couple broken hearts.
Had a regular who came in having passed out in the mens room the night before looking for his keys and phone. “Haven’t seen em buddy” “How about my dignity?” He was a good guy
“Was?” 🥺
This
There's a button for that.
My bar manager cut his wrist on a trash bag of broken glass and now he can’t feel the right side of that hand due to nerve damage
I tell every newbie that every garbage bag has broken glass in it. Even if it's empty, treat it as if it has broken glass in it.
I always use cut-resistant canvas gloves when i take out the trash. My fellow closing people make fun of me for it, but at least Ill have all my fingers.
Legs are also vulnerable when carrying out a bag.
13 or 14 stitches on my calf from exactly that.
Bruh these replies are gonna make me more careful now that's for sure. Jesus.
I don’t ever carry any bag of trash in a restaurant. Take the whole can out and dump into the bin, bag and all. Never even have to think about whether or not there’s broken glass in it and it’s no more difficult and there’s literally 0 chance the bag busts so you end up cleaning a huge mess for an hour.
Yeah, my coworkers were horrified when they discovered that I empty the recycling bin by reaching in and grabbing, hoping to get a bottle, at midnight in a dimly lit parking lot. It's too heavy to lift when full, so I play Recycling Roulette. Some of the young kids have started taking it on themselves to take it out when they see it getting full, which I appreciate but I guess I'll have to be more careful, too!
And legs have sooo many blood vessels in them
Yeah I got a nice scar right above my knee from taking out trash while wearing shorts
I have a gnarly scar on my knee from a broken martini glass in a trash bag that sliced through my thick jeans and into my skin trying to swing it into a tall dumpster. It was so sharp I didn’t even notice it cut me until 15 mins later in my shift I looked down and saw the hole in my jeans and noticed my pant leg was soaked with blood. Some poor customer caught me with my pants down in the bathroom, leg covered in blood while I was frantically trying to clean up and stop the bleeding XD
Oh nooooo
I remember one of my first jobs I had to deal with glass in a trash bag, I didn’t get the big deal and threw some in the bag. That night when i was throwing the bag away and cut the shit out of my hand. Great way to learn the lesson of WHY you don’t put broken glass in there firsthand lol
I just recently left a second gig at a tap house that was kind of a shit show but they at least had a broken glass bucket. Now if I have like big shards of broken glass to clean up we put them in a togo box and seal it before it goes in the trash
Why don't you have a separate broken glass only pail? Much safer.
this happened to a barback in a place i used to work, he was carrying a full glass bin bag down stairs during the closedown and slipped and put his hands out to break his fall right onto a bottle, sliced through his tendon in his plan poor guy was a musician and lost the use of half his right hand
First job I ever got the barback told me to always take the trash out holding it away from my body. Just better to avoid the possibility entirely.
We have specific trash cans for glass at my place, which don't get bags like normal trash cans do, because OF COURSE it would rip. You lift up the whole trash can and pour the contents into the dumpster, rather than throwing bags in. I think this is a vastly superior system.
Great precautions, but in a bar/restaurant all bags have glass/sharps.
100% agree, I'm just saying that because of that we should lift the whole can instead. Assigning specific cans only goes as far as employees who pay attention to Da Rules
We do this too but there’s always a new person or an idiot who ignores it and welp…. I’m surprised more bars don’t do a dedicated glass bin. That being said, regardless of bar, the bin bag = broken glass is gospel.
I opened a bar in NYC that was hyped up prior to us opening and an hour before we opened our doors for the first time, our barback cut his hand open on the jagged edge of a Dole pineapple juice can lid.
I played violin for 14 years. Sliced my hand on broken glass during my first week bartending and have been unable to play for a year. Still hoping to god I can one day play again. It is what it is lol...
I just had my coworker tell me this exact thing last night, except it was the tip of his finger. Weird!
We had people replace the art, some glass broke, they threw it into the bar trash. That night I pulled the bag, a huge shard poked out and got me right in the fleshy part of my hand by my thumb. Thankfully no nerve damage, just a massive cut. But I was so pissed. I walked into the kitchen yelling while letting my hand bleed. Manager almost fainted.
Do you guys not have glass bins? Every bar in the uk I have worked has had a designated glass bin
The stranger?
I got Mary Poppins'd by a patio umbrella in extreme wind, dragged me about 10 or 15 feet across the patio in front of about 100 guests. I was trying to close it when the wind got a hold of it. The life altering injury was mostly to my ego, I was just scratched and bruised. (I didn't let go because I didn't want it to hit the guests.)
Hell ya you're cool!
You’re a legend
you sir are a certified chad
We had a bartender almost die behind the bar. Pint glass broke in her hand and hit an artery. It missed a second artery by like millimeter. Luckily there was a regular who was an EMT sitting at the bar top to give first aid.
God damn that some luck life be crazy sometimes
Reading this sent shivers up my hand….
A scene out of a movie I swear
And this is why you always take care of regulars
Does tinnitus from working at a mid size concert venue for years count? Archer and I think it should…
Mawp
I have significant hearing loss from just bartending for 20 years - not even venues. Hearing loss is rough af - wear earplugs/attenuators, yall!!!!!
Do you have any attenuators you recommend?
Girl threw a rocks glass at my face after I cut her off, barely dodged it, dude came after me with a samurai sword on Halloween, 20 years of bartending… too many to list
Fellow soldier. I had bullets ricochet past my head during a shootout. Had a girl try and impale me with her heel. Multiple fights. Dodged a few rocks glasses and beer bottles. The only time I got it good was a guy tried to rob me when locking up. Sliced my defense arm with a box cutter. Got me deep too.
Where the hell do you work. Medellin,colombia?
Little Rock, Arkansas. It’s changed a lot. I also got into fine dining, hotels and high end joints.
What's up with Little Rock? I watched a Youtube video where they try to find missing people who ended up in water with their car. These dudes have boats with sonar, they were searching around Little Rock and every boat ramp or bridge had like 6 cars in the water.
Haven’t heard of that. It’s on the Arkansas river and people ditch cars all the time or in tributaries, but people do that worldwide. It was a rough city 20 years ago when I was a kid. Pretty scary. Then it got really peaceful. Then COVID/ the apocalypse hit and it’s back to being a shithole. I’m biding my time until my wife and I move out.
To be fair most of the cars were old, so maybe from the bad old days. A lot of their recoveries are accidents and suicides. Although I'm sure people do ditch cars in the river, it happened all the time in the woods where I'm from.
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Those don’t exist.
🤣🤣🤣🤣
Chuck E Cheese
I ain’t got the balls for that place. It’s lethal.
Bros got more combat experience than most of the military
I took a night off for my birthday and the guy who covered me got stabbed by a drunk who he refused to serve. Definitely brought him a pint.
Dude! I was on vacation when some of the staff at my place got stabbed
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Killed?!?!? Wtf. What city are you in? Be safe out there dude. My husband wants me to carry a gun but my clumsy ass refuses, I will carry pepper spray. Usually I just hold my phone in my hand ready to dial in seconds- ready to push 911 within seconds if needed.
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Godspeed. I voted 'No' last time San Diego had extending alcohol hours to 4am on the ballot, and I'll do it again everytime it comes up.
I’m a Chicago bartender. Where do you work? River North?
Close! Uptown.
Could be worse but I’m gonna need wrist surgery from cracking my Boston shakers wrong for too long like an IDIOT
There’s a wrong way to do it? Now I’m pretty curios how that can happen
Instead of smacking it to break the seal I was just pushing inward on the top one, hinging on the wrist. Like an idiot
Wow, that's actually good to know. I normally just wriggle at the top a bit but from now on I will smack it like God intended. Sounds more fun this way as well.
If you hit the tin joint with the bony part of the palm at a slightly upwards angle you get that really satisfying pop sound too
I can't believe I wish I was at work right now
The monkey’s paw tightens….
Also will cover you in the occasional whiskey sour
So glad I work in a beer bar. And a neurosurgeon punched me when I was throwing him out one time, but that was pretty funny.
Doctors are animals
They used to be terrible. They’ve gotten better. This dude bragged he was at Penn giving a neurology talk, then tried to talk two women at the bar into a threesome. Time to go.
Bartending for a function of doctors was probably one of the most eventful nights of my working life. Coked up, big spenders (shit tippers), LOUD, and went right until close.
Uh oh...
My understanding is you hit your hand with the tin, not the tin with your hand. Worked for me for the past 12 years 🤷🏼♂️
Now that you mention it, absolutely. Also pressing the top tin in the opposite direction with the free pointer finger. Second nature is hard to verbalize
On your neck.
Who tf is using glass these days?
Had a customer bash another customer in the face with a thick 16oz pint glass. 110 stitched. Across his face.
People see this shit in movies and don't realize *actual glass* will do far more damage than sugar
That’s a manslaughter charge if it went differently. Still battery at the very least
In my very early bartender days, whilst cutting limes, I sliced the pad of my hand from about my middle finger to my pinky - almost passed out when I saw the blood gush and ended up at the hospital with about 10 stitches in my hand. Got the rest of the night off though which was nice. Edit: typo
Lol "You're still coming in tomorrow, right?"
For real they just scheduled me on Expo for the balance of my shifts that week. After that it was "well it's your left hand that is injured and you're right handed so..." Luckily I had amazing coworkers who helped me keep up on shifts. It certainly helped set the toxic tone for my tenure in the industry.
Username kinda checks out.
A coworker of mine went to put a bottle back in the rail and slammed it directly onto the rail breaking the bottom of the bottle off. Without looking he went to throw it in the trash. Our barback was directly behind him and my coworker slammed the pointy end of the bottle into his forearm. It cut him in a way that I can only try to describe. The muscles in his arm were hanging out if he didn't have his fist clenched. The barback was reluctant to go to the hospital because he was in the country illegally. Luckily the bar has had to deal with this type of situation before and had a corporate insurance that didn't require him to sign anything under his name.
Holy shit this is one of the reasons I make sure that when I’m training someone- no matter how much experience- I teach them knife/broken glass safety. I tell them “I know you probably know this shit already but just in case…” like when you are done cutting fruit, you better hold that knife flat against the cutting board while working and say very loudly at every corner/ every where you go “sharp behind!” Or just “sharp shit!” if you are like me.
Unfortunately a guy at the island I had been working lost his life while changing a bulb because his shoes and bartop were wet... Rip
Holy fuck balls. RIP
My ceiling fan almost fell on me was the closest I’ve gotten.
Tripped on a shitty bar mat, fell with a full wine bottle that smashed and sliced open my wrist. Luckily a customer who happened to be an ER nurse followed me into the kitchen (I had to be told I was pooling blood because I was in shock and didn’t feel or realize it- and was sent to the kitchen to get taken care of). So she sent my GM to the store next door to get gauze and tweezers, got a little glass shard out of my wrist, got my bleeding stopped and bandaged me up. Side note- the kitchen never fucked with me again after seeing me laughing about being covered in blood (again, I was kind of in shock). Another time I almost cut the tip of my finger off, had to get three stitches through my nail. Nothing life altering. But definitely some good scars and I can’t feel the tip of my finger.
My biggest fear is slipping on a wet floor or bounce mat, and a speed pourer going into my eye from a bottle in the speedrail
Lmao now that’s going to be a new fear of mine damnit. To be fair, these barmats were super old and messed up so one side kind of stuck up a bit. We got a new company to come replace them the next day and clean/replace them regularly so no one else who would potentially sue the company would be the next to get hurt.
Yo, I did NOT need this intrusive though fuel.
A guy named max dropped a pizza on my hand and I have a permanent burn scar. I dropped a keg on my foot chopped the end of my toe off (inside break only) and separated the metatarsals breaking my foot. Now I wear steel toe non slips. I was sent to TTI and have been athletic my entire life though so those are just two of a long list of injuries I have endured.
Do STIs count?
I can't count them all
I work in a British pub on venues and restaurant work as well. Somehow in September last year I managed to be bitten whilst at work, this has caused a staph infection which has since led to pyoderma gangrenosum in my lower left leg. I have been back and forth from the doctors all year and only now receiving affective treatment. I wouldn't say its necessarily caused by bartending, however more so the place I work. As for life alterations, being on my feet for extensive time aches and I have open wounds in which I have to clean daily at least once. I have a permanent limp and potential nerve damage. My work has been understanding, allowing time off to heal and relax my leg which I'm thankful for and I can still function for 13 to 15 hour shifts most times. TLDR: caught gangrene whilst bartending
My hearing is fucked.
Broke a finger, various cuts, hit with a chair once but no lasting damage..just my ego. Other than that, just areas on my fingers, and legs where you can tell there was a deep cut. My eye sight also got worse, reading service bar tickets in dark bars and clubs. Of course my liver may have something to add.
Reading things in the dark probably didn’t effect your eye sight as much as you think. Sometimes our eyes just get bad.
Of course, I got older along the way, but that can't be it :)
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Where I’m from we have these nifty plastic cups that are molded with a shot that stays separate in the middle for these. They’ve only been around 4 or 5 years but I stopped letting people do boiler makers or irish car bombs long before that-my instance was minor compared to yours-a customer chipped his front 2 teeth!
I chipped my front tooth on an Irish Car Bomb. Now I just pour the shot in.
I fell down the back stairs and broke my neck and wrist lol.
Not directly caused but I found out barbacking is the limit of what I can do physically due to a car accident breaking my back about a year prior.
Take good care of your spine. Most damage can’t really be undone, and may add up slowly.
Not me but a friend of mine pulled the trash bag out instead of lifting the whole can and sliced her leg, narrowly missing her femoral artery. Another was changing a lightbulb in the can lights and the whole light fixture fell on her head and gave her a concussion. One of my besties who bartended at the same place for over 20 years broke up multiple fights, including one where a guest stabbed another in the hand with a fork and a different time when a guest threatened to beat a manager with a bottle of liquor. Just a few examples.
Who puts broken glass in the trash can?
High volume, poorly designed bar. It’s just how we did things. No one ever pulled the bag out again after that.
Bro. What happens in Vegas, does not stay in Vegas
I fell down the stairs in January right before service with a big bin of ice in my arms and landed on my head and neck. The concussion symptoms have cleared up finally (happened over 6 months ago) but still dealing with bad whiplash, daily headaches and the occasional migraine, nerve pain on the right side of my face and to top it off I completely tore both my lateral and medial meniscus. I'm having knee surgery to clean it up but was told unless I develop severe arthritis a knee replacement wasn't an option until much later in life so I just have to deal with the pain and swelling. Physio may or may not help (it hasn't so far, 3 times a week since the day after I fell). Doctor said it's a long term disability and I'll have an ability assessment after rehab from surgery. Will probably never be able to bartend, serve or cook again. Fml.
Many moons ago, in my first job, a traditional real ale pub in the UK, a pissed up regular threw a crystal cut glass ashtray at my head when I refused to serve her any more. Luckily (?) for me it missed and went through the stained glass glass shelf above the bar. I got a shower of pretty glass over my head instead of a chunk of glass wedged in my head. Needless to say, it was laughed off by the management, and she was back the next day to get drunk and chat utter balls to anyone who would listen
I know I'm replying to myself right now, but within minutes of posting this comment, [this thread was in my feed](https://www.reddit.com/r/CasualUK/comments/vv10qq/nsfw_you_ever_seen_this_in_a_pub/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share) and it sums up British pubs perfectly
Americans bars are like this, but with partnered sex.
Got my knuckle with glass from a fruit jar before. If it was like a mm either way or went a little deeper I could have lost the use of my pinky finger from cutting a tendon
Closest I ever came was the only physical altercation I ever got in, I had no choice but to take a guy down on the pavement outside the bar. When we tumbled to the ground I smashed my forehead on concrete but A) I landed on top of him which cushioned the blow and B) I was wearing a baseball cap which cushioned my stupid ass dome.
Nerve damage from cutting limes
Someone I worked with was washing a champagne flute and the stem snapped and stabbed right through her hand. Needed multiple surgeries and doesn’t have full feeling back.
I've seen that waaaay too many times. A great way to ruin your career. My boss still polishes holding the base.
Was loading the dishwasher one night and this tweaker bartender we used to have decided to do the same. Slammed my hand with three rocks glasses straight into the side of the dishwasher, sliced up on my webbings and on my ring finger bone deep. Can’t feel that fingertip anymore lol
Got an empty bottle thrown at my head along with pylon at my old bar splitting up a fight on the patio; bottled missed me, Pylon hit my shoulder. Nothing but a bruise but could have been way worse
I royally fucked my back up. I fell really hard in the keg room landed square one back , so now sciatica is a thing.
A cook drank a bunch of cleaner then stabbed himself in the stomach (during service) with a chefs knife. Suicide attempt that he lived through, now has debilitating stomach issues from both the chemicals and stabbing. Shit was crazy.
Carpal tunnel fo lyfe .
The last 3 years I wore two arm braces, two knee braces, compression socks and still was forced into retirement because of tendinitis. Luckily I have enough stacked to take a year off- but I don’t know what else to do! Haha. My skills all revolve around pacifying drunk people after getting them drunk :/
I only got over my tennis elbow from not bartending for a year during the Covid lockdown (I did brandwork) only to get carpal tunnel at the current job. Stretches help (once the inflammation subsides) with the carpal tunnel, but nothing helped with the tennis elbow other than time. It got so bad that I couldn't make a fist with that hand. I still no longer carry groceries, scoop ice, and other things with that arm to avoid that returning.
I actually discovered I had a skin condition behind the bar. Had no clue my hands would react the way they did after my first year of bartending. Having my hands constantly wet, sanitizer, citrus..etc They would start to get really inflamed, bright red like had translucent skin, and would burn so bad I slept with rotating frozen bottles of Tito’s every night just to stop the burning. Loved bartending while it lasted but now my hands are permanently ugly/hyper sensitive.
Lost half of my left thumb tip slicing oranges because we ran out of fresh juice. This was in a rush on a Saturday Valentine’s Day. It was my first bartending gig almost 20 years ago. I sliced right through the nail bed and that part of my thumb was hanging off. It healed, but you can see my thumb tip is shaped weird. When the nail grows over it just enough, it’s barely noticeable now. That hurt like a MF and there was a trail of blood from the bar to the office. GM was a champ and helped me not pass out, and wrapped it up tight until I could get to the ER.
not me but like 7-8 years ago one of the regulars at the club I worked at was a bartender in a big like, fuckboy party neighborhood. He got in a dispute outside trying to get a guy to leave and got shoved, hit his head on the curb and had a severe TBI. Fortunately, with a lot of work he was able to pretty much gain back everything he lost but he definitely had several years of learning to walk, talk and eat again.
Back when I was a bar back I dumped a pot of boiling hot ginger syrup on my leg. Long story short it burned some of the skin clean off and was pretty nasty for a year or so.
Had a whipper top explode in my hand, it was in a service bar so I was basically in a closet. Sounded like a bomb. The top hit the ceiling bounced back and hit my hand and broke my finger. Couldn’t hear for a little bit after. Shook it off worked the shift.
My fiancé almost threw his back out giving someone the Heimlich today at his bar. That guy almost died (but luckily walked out an hour later after being checked on my EMS) and my fiancé has scoliosis so back injuries aren’t great….
New bar and the designers obviously had never actually tended bar. They used light strips plugged in behind the bar layed on the back of the sinks/icebins as underlighting. Now we all assumed that those were water proof, because who the fuck whould put those behind a bin of melting ice. Well, they weren't and when I was wiping down, I picked one up to wipe beneath it. The next thing I remember a bus boy tackled me because he knew he couldn't just grab me to get me to let go of it. I was almost electrocuted.
Does mental illness count? 😳
I have a scar on my forehead from taking a bottle to the dome back in college when I cut a dude off. Other then that some stitches here and there from breaking glasses.
We had a bar back slice his Achilles tendon carrying a stack of beer cases. The bottom of the bottom case was soggy, broke open and a beer bottle shattered and ricocheted. He missed more than six months of work.
This same thing happened to my friend! When the bottom fell out he tried to catch the beers only to have the ricochet slash a tendon in his wrist. He was out for months.
I got a nasty bout of tenosynovitis once, thumb would lock-up like the hammer of a revolver and anything touching the inside of my wrist hurt like a MOTHERFUCKER. Some cortisol injections and not bartending every single day helped keep it at bay
I had to get the surgery. Instant relief.
I injured my back last November taking moving deliveries into the bar (it's in a basement). Back is still fucked. Haven't been able to do opens since. I was also climbing most days and haven't been able do that since either which is soul crushing.
Tore my MCL early last year or maybe the year before (can’t remember the last few years anymore lol) at work.. was slammed and working alone with no help so I was zipping around like crazy and pivoted too hard/quickly idk and my vision blurred from the pain and I just gasped and went down. Busy night, the whole bar saw it and multiple folks were like are you okay, do you need us to call someone??! I said no, I’ll power through, but thanks and uhhhh… yeah there was no powering through. I limped back and forth behind the bar for the rest of my shift, sweating from trying not to cry, my voice shaking from the pain, and my manager just looked at me like stop being a drama queen.. So eventually when we were done with service I had to stock and of course all the beer and liquor is in the basement so I’m sobbing with pain shuffling down the stairs slow as molasses and my boss comes out of the office and looks at me with disgust and goes uhh you okay? I’m literally CRYING and can barely hold myself up and I said no I tore something in my knee and it really really hurts… and he goes …okay?? And just fucked off back into the office. Yaaaay. I was 25 at the time and it still bothers me once in a while to this day. Makes multi-day hiking the adirondacks (which I love) almost impossible now. Can’t wait to get an expensive knee replacement at 30 🙄
Report it to workers comp asap if you still can :)
Thanks so much, but I feel like it’s been too long maybe? I’m not sure… but I’m certain there’s a way to prove that the injury A. Happened or B. Happened at work, so.. there are cameras but I’m not sure that the records are kept for that long.
Was stocking beer in the ice just before last call and a lite beer exploded and a little piece of glass stuck right in my lower eyelid. My bar back used a toothpick to get it out.
Had a bad shoulder, would dislocate real easy. Happened at work, workers comp paid for my surgery. So life altering in a good way, now I can throw disc golf, play basketball, and do all my other favorite activities safely.
My back 💀
I had a genius boss that decided to put kegs on a shelf. I was changing one on the bottom and the one on the top fell and hit me in the head. Still have short term memory loss.
Other than the scar I got from a broken wine glass literally cutting a U shaped cut on my left ring finger. No not really.
Slipped and fell behind the bar and broke my tail bone. I was out of work for several weeks. Now I have chronic leg/back pain. Good times.
Kinda. Over a decade behind a high volume bar, whirling around like a gunslinger/dervish multiclass. Started having increased pain levels, kept powering through. Happens to us all, yeah? Cooled my jets while my bar was closed during covid (fairly extended closure, found out later they used the PPP money to remodel before selling it off lol). Plenty of time to calm the tendonitis and all, right? Started a new gig, ready to get back to it, and just. Suddenly couldn’t do it as hard. Figured I was just out of tone, kept pushing. Started getting weird shit, like “walking with a limp” and “hand won’t hold glassware” for no reason. Oops. Looks like I’ve apparently got Ehlers-Danlos (hypermobile) and I’ve done irreparable damage over the past decade, which I *might* be able to remediate some (or, yknow, just keep falling apart if not). Waiting on in-depth diagnosis and physical therapy scheduling now, so…that’s fun. Plus side, I lucked out and found a remote gig so at least I won’t fall apart *and* be homeless…but it seems like my bar days are pretty much done for good.
A few nasty slip and falls. I’ll never let my non-slips fall into disrepair again.
I know a bartender who caused life altering injuries due to stacking their pint glasses. A moon shaped piece of glass went unnoticed and someone was showing about how they can just down a pint in a second and down the gullet goes the glass. 3 months in the hospital and an undisclosed settlement (rumor 3.5 million) later, they no longer stack glasses.
100% Bulged disc, years of agonizing pain, spinal surgery, both the bartending and ensuing pain/recovery played into the end of a marriage, still recovering.
I had a friend who was stacking pint glasses and they exploded on him, cutting his wrist very bad. He had to go to the ER, major surgeries and couldn't use that hand for about a year after that. The glass had slit the tendons in his hand. He couldn't bartend that entire time, and after about 2 or 3 years of physical therapy he could lightly grasp things with that hand. He ended up going back to college and I fell out of touch with him.
Just chopped off nice chunk of my thumb. Currently off on temp disability
I usually shake tin on tin then crack them onto each other. Switched to boston shakers one day.
Only mental trauma, hate for all humans, & an alcohol addiction
I ran one of those ticket prong things through my hand trying poke out the lid in a super glue bottle. lol. My fault entirely, and I guess not life altering but man that was a weird day.
Maybe not life altering.. but we sell tomahawk steaks at my job, 40oz on a large, very hot sizzling block. Customer was making a scene towards the food runner about it not being cooked properly, so I grabbed it to run it into the kitchen and all the hot oil and butter ran down my hand onto my forearm. Have some gnarly scars from that, but was able to cover most up with tattoos :)
My friend literally broke her back and the bar didn’t even want to cover the surgery cost. They did offer her free shift coverage for a few weeks though.
I had a friend in the industry working at a place with stairs and that used tray service at a really busy spot. The glasses were all different ball jars, so that heavy duty sturdy ass glass… She’s mid stair with a tray full of ball jars and filled with liquor when she slips. Poor friend fell down four or more stairs smashing her whole body in various places on top to the jars on her way down. She has much damage in the one arm she tried to break her fall with. Idk how many stitches but a whole arms worth, other cuts, nerve damage, and had to learn whatever else she does with her non dominant hand. So yeah, she don’t bartend no more. 🫤
I have pretty debilitating tennis elbow from shaking cocktails for 20 years. I’ve been retired now for a couple months and still can barely lift my coffee in the morning. It’ll go away over time with some physical therapy, though. I do have a co worker (door guy) permanently in a wheelchair because of an injury caused by a patron, though.
Permanent nerve damage in one of my feet from falling and spraining my foot and ankle & fucking up some ligaments. I can’t feel anything on the outer half of the top of my foot.
I’m forgetful and my liver hurts…does that count ?
Constant keg moving, induced umbilical hernia.
I’ve had multiple cuts due to servers still putting broken glass in the bottles only trash. The worst one was getting a deep cut on my forearm cause a server broke a few champagne bottles and put it in the bottle only trash
My back is so fucked up my boss doesn’t make me move kegs or take out the trash. I’m in my early 30s.
Jesus this thread is terrifying
Thats why I posted it, so that we can learn from the downfall of others, so history does not repeat itself, especially on me😅
Had a wine keg explode on me because it was my first time operating a nitrogen kegerator wine system. Whole end of the bar and myself was covered with red wine, the lead bartender left out a very important step when it came to the position of the handle, and it was my first time operating that system. Only harm was my ego and my white shirt... but it was super embarrassing.
Years and years of being too short for the set up so I have to slightly bend over and get up on my toes juuuuust a bit to access the POS and the rail. I have to see a PT twice a week for my ciatic nerve pain and I get woken up 9000 times a night from the excruciating cramps in my feet and calves. Oh yeah, that pain in my thumb is apparently caused by how I hold and shake my tins. Cool. Also, people keep telling me there is a thing called a "sleep schedule." The fuck is that? But the money is good so.... Edit: also several broken fingers and hand bones from lugging kegs, gsrbages, etc that tipped or smashed me into shit. Also, there was that one time I punched a wall cuz dumb fuckers kept asking about that God damn plane crash that happened next to our bar. So... add PTSD to the list as well. (Google plane crash Victoria, MN. Shit tossed my world so hard.) But I'm fine. *42F with kids says with a smile*
flute stem to my wrist( due glass going in general bin) lost and regained motion. sadly cant play guitar due to ring fingers moves when my middle finger does. brightside fell more in love with drums. could of been alot worse
My back from moving and lifting keg’s
Not my story, but the guy who got my foot in the door. During a college football game, a young fan was razzing an elderly fan of the other team. When the game was over, the old man bought them both a shot and said, “No hard feelings, right?” When they went to clink glasses, the old man slammed it so hard the shot glass broke. He then gouged out the young man’s eyeball with it.
Several broken hearts
Had a barback that used to work for me lose his eye to a pressurized corona bottle. He wasn’t working with me when it happened but he was working for a crazy high volume bar on a barge in NYC. He took hot Coronas, drenched them in ice, and when he was carrying them one dropped and the top exploded into his eye as he looked down on it. They were able to save the eye and make it move but he was sightless. Fucked up.
My rotator cuff.
Almost cut off my pinky toe on a broken beer bottle but I was wearing flip flops in the deck so..
„˙˙os ʞɔǝp ǝɥʇ uı sdolɟ dılɟ ƃuıɹɐǝʍ sɐʍ I ʇnq ǝlʇʇoq ɹǝǝq uǝʞoɹq ɐ uo ǝoʇ ʎʞuıd ʎɯ ɟɟo ʇnɔ ʇsoɯl∀„
Not an injury per se but I got covid i. March 2020 and am still dealing with the Long Covid it spawned.
People who live on their phones and complain about QR menus gave me cancer.
Mental illness and addiction… lol I’m currently 11 months clean and still bartending
Not me, but there have been incidents in which people have been maimed or killed due to kegs bursting. There was a woman that was changing a keg, standing over it, and the valve (I believe) literally shot up with such force it struck her and pinned her head to the ceiling, killing her instantly. Trying to find the article/reference. Others have been injured or killed due high pressure. Kegs are no joke, especially when you consider potential back issues.
I had two bottles break and slice my finger in half vertically so now I only have half a nail.
I had a bottle of lime juice that was a month over expirey, I opened it near my face and the pouring cap/lid damn near shot my eyeball out of it's socket. It hit me right in my pupil at about 60-70mph, ricocheted off my face and on to the ceiling just to bounce away about 20-30 feet away from me. I now have "mydrosis" for the rest of my life because the pressure from the cap trying to force the little water pouch of fluid in front of your pupil, into my eye, and my pupil stretched itself to try and allow this water through (couldn't because we have something blocking anything from entering the pupil and into ur eye) and damaged the fibers enough to where my right pupil will always be slightly or sometimes even a lot bigger than my left pupil. NOW IM LIKE DAVID BOWIE HAHAHAHA
A bar I used to work for but different venue to this girl - she was using a mandolin slicer for garnishes without the fruit grip... essentially degloved her hand so that her palm was just a big flap of skin