{"id":107046,"date":"2025-12-24T00:23:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-24T00:23:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/107046\/"},"modified":"2025-12-24T00:23:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T00:23:09","slug":"sf-bartenders-air-festivus-grievances-with-naughty-customers-food-drink","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/107046\/","title":{"rendered":"SF bartenders air Festivus grievances with naughty customers | Food & Drink"},"content":{"rendered":"

Amid decorating a tree and putting up lights, I, like many San Franciscans, came across the viral video of a drunken woman berating, and violently attacking, bar staff at Hazie’s in Hayes Valley earlier this month<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Of course, I was horrified. But it was the quote from one of the bartenders given to SFGATE that really hit a chord.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the life of being a bartender,\u201d Miguel Marchese, who was attacked and had his hair pulled, told the outlet. \u201cI\u2019ve been a bartender for over eight years. I\u2019ve been slapped, I\u2019ve been degraded, I\u2019ve been given homophobic slurs, I\u2019ve been sexualized \u2026 when you work in service for a long time, it fortifies you into a really resilient person.\u201d<\/p>\n

For this \u201cSips in The City\u201d column<\/a>, I visit a bar once a week and interview bartenders, managers, and owners about what makes their establishment stand out in San Francisco\u2019s thriving cocktail scene, and then have them teach me how to make a drink, or two, or three.<\/p>\n

But in the spirit of the holidays \u2014 specifically the airing of grievances associated with Festivus<\/a>, the fictional Dec. 23 holiday from the iconic \u201cSeinfeld\u201d episode \u2014 I went back to some of the bartenders I\u2019ve met this year to have them share the good, bad and ugly interactions.<\/p>\n

As Jerry Stiller\u2019s Frank Costanza tells his gathered family, friends and acquaintances at his dinner table, \u201cI got a lot of problems with you people! And now you’re gonna hear about it!\u201d<\/p>\n

Warning: The stories you are about to read are not safe for work.<\/p>\n

Carlos Yturria<\/p>\n

Carlos Yturria has been a bartender for decades, and he runs the cocktail program at White Cap<\/a>, Beehive and Treasury. On the first Friday night the latter bar opened downtown in February 2016, a man wanting to get his friends\u2019 attention banged his hand on the large front window facing Bush Street. The ring on his finger shattered the glass, destroying the entire window.<\/p>\n

\u201cParty\u2019s over,\u201d Yturria said. \u201cWe’ve got to get everyone out, because if the window drops, it’s going to be a horror movie.\u201d<\/p>\n

While clearing the room, he\u2019d also called the police on the man, who was wearing a suit and in his early 30s. Before he knew it, the man had started running down Bush Street, and Yturria chased after him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m yelling, \u2018citizen\u2019s arrest,\u2019 because I saw that once in an Andy Griffith<\/a> episode,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

No one intervened, and by the time he caught up to the man, Yturria and him started scuffling. Yturria finally managed to pin the man\u2019s arms and sat on him, at which point the police arrived.<\/p>\n

However, instead of arresting the man, the officers pulled out their guns and slapped zip ties on Yturria and held him on the ground, a knee to his neck.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll I can think about is like, my eyeball,\u201d he said. \u201cI’ve never felt this much pressure on my eyeball.\u201d<\/p>\n

After going through his pockets, one of the officers confirmed Yturria was the owner of the bar.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe’s like, \u2018This is the new bar right there on Bush, isn’t it?\u2019 And he’s like, \u2018I’ve been wanting to take my wife there,\u2019\u201d Yturria said, recounting the disbelief he felt as officers continued pinning him.<\/p>\n

Finally, after some back and forth, they let him go and arrested the other man. The officers advised Yturria that instead of pressing charges, they could attach a police report to the man\u2019s license and he could sue for damages to the window.<\/p>\n

This is what Yturria wound up doing, which he said he regrets instead of having his insurance cover it, as it took weeks for the new window to come. Once it did, it was the wrong size, leaving Treasury boarded up as he waited.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe lost a lot of business,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Since then, Yturria has vowed never to chase someone down again.<\/p>\n

Scott Baird<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n \"New
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A new city report provided bracing details about the $936.6 million budget shortfall that San Francisco is facing in the upcoming two fiscal years<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n \"Looking
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\"\"<\/p>\n

Staffers at cultural institutions\u00a0say retail offers a critical revenue source to sustain their operations<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n \"New
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Alan Wong, officially running to serve remainder of term, supports putting coastal roadway\u2019s fate back on ballot<\/p>\n

\"Scott<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Starlite bartender Scott Baird makes a cocktail at the aforementioned lounge in San Francisco on Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Craig Lee\/The Examiner<\/p>\n

Scott Baird, the beverage director at Starlite at the Beacon Grand Hotel<\/a>, said that in his long tenure as a bartender, he\u2019s had to deal with criminals bringing in guns, vomit, and even a regular getting drugged.<\/p>\n

Baird was working late on a slower night by himself at 15 Romolo<\/a>, a North Beach bar currently closed for renovations, when three men came in with a young woman. The three guys looked a bit rough around the edges, Baird said, but she was dressed to the nines with \u201cexpensive stilettos\u201d and \u201ca really, really expensive handbag.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baird clocked her walk, noting she seemed a bit unsteady and quickly determined she had already had a few too many drinks that night. When her companions tried to order for her, Baird refused, and when they complained, he made them a proposition.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was like, \u2018Guys, I will bet you this round, plus another round, that she\u2019s going to throw up in the next 5-7 minutes, and if she does, you\u2019re cleaning it up, and you’re paying for all the drinks,\u2019\u201d Baird recalled saying.<\/p>\n

The men agreed, and without fail, 5 minutes later, she threw up, ruining her handbag in the process.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo these young men’s testament, they got up, paid for their drinks and asked for a mop, and they cleaned the floor,\u201d Baird said.<\/p>\n

The trio \u201cdid a good enough job,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Duggan McDonnell<\/p>\n

Duggan McDonnell bartended for decades in The City, eventually writing the 2015 book, \u201cDrinking the Devil’s Acre: A Love Letter from San Francisco and Her Cocktails.\u201d He said his brain was a \u201cbit rusty,\u201d as he no longer works in the industry, but one incident stood out.<\/p>\n

More than 15 years ago, at his former bar, Cantina<\/a>, he said that a man exposed himself and began rubbing his genitals on customers seated at the bar.<\/p>\n

\u201cMyself and a fellow bartender immediately removed him,\u201d McDonnell said, but the man kept coming back. He said \u201cthings got physical\u201d so they wound up having to close and lock the front door while customers were still inside.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe then urinated all over the front door,\u201d McDonnell said of the man. Staff called the police, and the man was arrested.<\/p>\n

Hannah Forrester<\/p>\n

Hannah Forrester, who bartends at Specs’ Twelve Adler Museum Cafe<\/a> in North Beach and Phone Booth<\/a> in the Mission, said these types of stories are all too common, and it\u2019s part of the industry to \u201ctalk s–t\u201d after a shift and vent with coworkers.<\/p>\n

But she said she tries to focus on the positives.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe plot twist is that we all really kind of love our jobs and our lives, but it’s really easy for it to become this negative thing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"Hannah<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Bartender Hannah Forrester making a Gingeroo cocktail at Phone Booth at 1398 S Van Ness Ave. in San Francisco on Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Craig Lee\/The Examiner<\/p>\n

She shared that two of her regulars who come into Specs\u2019 every Saturday, neither of whom is thriving financially, always bring her snacks to eat. Another time, she wound up bonding with a customer over Bob Dylan, and the patron wound up being a well-known older British journalist who offered a room at his outlet\u2019s exclusive hotel in London if she ever came to town.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe environment can tend to be really chaotic, really unstable, sort of the Wild West, behavioral conduct-wise,\u201d Forrester said. \u201cSo these little examples of just goodness can sometimes really anchor you.\u201d<\/p>\n

The main thing she wishes customers could internalize is that a little understanding can go a long way.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that if you can walk into a bar, whether it’s crowded or there’s one other guy there, and lead with patience and magnanimity, you’re going to have a good time,\u201d Forrester said. \u201cYour bartender is going to appreciate you. And you know your bartenders might have interesting stories too.\u201d<\/p>\n