A short list, and almost none of it is skill
New bartenders worry about being too slow. Slow is not what ends bar jobs — slow gets coaching, because everyone was slow once.
What ends bar jobs is a small, predictable set of things, and knowing the list is most of avoiding it.
- Giving away alcohol
The largest category by some distance, and it usually starts as generosity rather than dishonesty.
- Over-pouring for people you like
- Free drinks for friends, staff, or regulars without authorisation
- Buybacks in a house that does not do buybacks
- "Make it strong" as a favour
- Not ringing in a drink you meant to ring in later
All of these look identical in an inventory report, and none of them look like kindness. Module 4 covered the rule: authorised, rung in, logged. The reason it gets its own place at the top of this list is that the people it happens to are usually not trying to steal, which is exactly why they do not see it coming.