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Your coworkers are your family. Until somebody quits. Then apparently, you never existed.

If you've ever worked in a restaurant or bar, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

You spend more time with your coworkers than your actual family. You survive brutal Friday nights together, grab drinks after closing, share secrets, celebrate birthdays, and build friendships that feel like they'll last forever.

Hell, some of these people become such close friends that they end up at your wedding.

And then somebody leaves the restaurant.

Suddenly, the people you saw five nights a week become people you haven't spoken to in five years.

So what the hell happened?

In Episode 19 of $1 Is Not Enough, I'm digging into one of the strangest parts of working in hospitality: the incredibly strong friendships we build behind the bar and on the restaurant floor, and how quickly some of them disappear when we stop working together.

I'm sharing some personal experiences, including friendships that meant enough to me that those people attended my first wedding, yet somehow faded away after we stopped working together.

Were those friendships ever real? Were we just friends because we were trapped in the same building together? Or is this simply what happens when life moves on?

Maybe it's a little of everything.

This episode is about the people who helped us survive the chaos, the friendships we thought would last forever, and the strange reality of leaving your restaurant family behind.

YOUR TURN:

Have you ever had a coworker you considered a lifelong friend, only to completely lose touch after one of you quit?

I'd love to hear your story.

$1 Is Not Enough, a bartender podcast about the people, the bullshit, and everything that happens behind the bar.

25 years behind the bar. I've seen enough.

For Tim, Paige, Mary, and Sherman

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• Instagram: @1dollarisnotenough
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Send Your Stories:
Got a coworker who pulled this? We want to hear it. Email stories@onedollarisnotenough.com or DM us on Instagram. The best ones get read on a future episode.

Support the Podcast

Enjoying $1 Is Not Enough? Help keep the drinks flowing and the stories coming. If you want to support the show, you can become a monthly supporter through Buzzsprout. And if you donate $10 or more, I'll give you a shoutout in the next episode as a thank-you for helping keep this thing alive.

Support $1 Is Not Enough

Because apparently, producing a podcast costs more than a dollar.

Enjoying the show? Leave a rating and review wherever you're listening. It's one of the fastest ways to help new people find us, and it genuinely makes a difference. Thanks for being here.

$1 Is Not Enough is a comedy and commentary podcast about life in the service industry. Listener discretion advised. Some stories ...

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The day shift clocked out. The night shift got screwed. Sound familiar?

There's a special kind of frustration that comes with walking into a busy Friday or Saturday night shift only to discover that the morning bartender apparently forgot they had a job to do.

No cut fruit. Empty beer coolers. No backup liquor. Half-stocked supplies. And somehow, the person responsible for getting everything ready has already grabbed their tips and headed home.

Fantastic. Thanks for nothing.

In Episode 17 of $1 Is Not Enough, we're tackling one of the biggest sources of resentment behind the bar: lazy shift handoffs and bartenders who leave their coworkers hanging.

After 25 years behind the bar, I've seen what happens when one bartender's lack of preparation becomes everyone else's problem.

We're talking about:

• Why proper bar prep matters, especially before a busy weekend night.
• The unwritten responsibilities of morning bartenders.
• How empty coolers, missing garnishes, and poor stocking can destroy the night shift before it even starts.
• The difference between legitimately being too busy to finish prep and simply being lazy.
• Why a bad shift handoff affects service, customers, teamwork, and ultimately everyone's money.
• Who should actually be held accountable when the bar isn't ready.

Because here's the thing: Your shift might be over, but that doesn't mean your responsibilities magically disappear.

Whether you're a morning bartender, a night bartender, a server, or a bar manager, you've probably been on at least one side of this argument.

So let's hear it: Is bar prep primarily the morning bartender's responsibility, or should the night shift stop complaining and handle it themselves?

Drop your opinion in the comments. I want to hear from both sides.

25 years behind the bar. I've seen enough. Now it's time to talk about it.

$1 Is Not Enough. A Bartender Podcast.

Behind the bar. Telling it like it is.

#BartenderPodcast #ServiceIndustry #BartenderLife #HospitalityIndustry #BarLife #ServiceIndustryProblems #OneDollarIsNotEnough

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📲 Follow the Show

• Instagram: @1dollarisnotenough
• Facebook: 1dollarisnotenough

🛒 Merch

• merch.onedollarisnotenough.com

Send Your Stories:
Got a coworker who pulled this? We want to hear it. Email stories@onedollarisnotenough.com or DM us on Instagram. The best ones get read on a future episode.

Support the Podcast

Enjoying $1 Is Not Enough? Help keep the drinks flowing and the stories coming. If you want to support the show, you can become a monthly supporter through Buzzsprout. And if you donate $10 or more, I'll give you a shoutout in the next episode as a thank-you for helping keep this thing alive.

Support $1 Is Not Enough

Because apparently, producing a podcast costs more than a dollar.

Enjoying the show? Leave a rating and review wherever you're listening. It's one of the fastest ways to help new people find us, and it genuinely makes a difference. Thanks for being here.

$1 Is Not Enough is a comedy and commentary podcast about life in the service industry. Listener discretion advised. Some stories ...

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Episode Show Notes

What exactly is a 20% service charge, and why do so many customers assume it is the tip?

In this episode of $1 Is Not Enough, Steve breaks down one of the most confusing trends in restaurants right now: service charges, automatic gratuities, hospitality fees, employee wellness fees, and the growing pile of extra charges showing up on the check.

From a bartender's perspective, the issue is not just whether restaurants charge the fee. The bigger problem is transparency.

Where does the money actually go? Does the server or bartender get it? Is the customer still expected to tip? And can a mandatory 20% service charge actually hurt experienced bartenders who normally earn more?

This episode covers:

• The difference between a tip and a service charge
• Why customers understandably think the 20% is already the tip
• How restaurants may use service charges for wages, benefits, or other expenses
• Why automatic charges can hurt strong bartenders and servers
• The problem with adding a tip line after a mandatory service fee
• Why restaurants keep adding fees instead of simply raising menu prices
• Whether getting rid of tipping would actually improve hospitality pay
• The simplest solution: tell the customer exactly where the money goes

If restaurants want to change how hospitality workers are paid, fine. But making customers and employees guess what a 20% "service charge" actually means is a terrible way to do it.

The drink might be free, but the bartender isn't. Until next time, keep your glass full, your tips heavy, and don't settle for a dollar that isn't enough.

Support the show

📲 Follow the Show

• Instagram: @1dollarisnotenough
• Facebook: 1dollarisnotenough

🛒 Merch

• merch.onedollarisnotenough.com

Send Your Stories:
Got a coworker who pulled this? We want to hear it. Email stories@onedollarisnotenough.com or DM us on Instagram. The best ones get read on a future episode.

Support the Podcast

Enjoying $1 Is Not Enough? Help keep the drinks flowing and the stories coming. If you want to support the show, you can become a monthly supporter through Buzzsprout. And if you donate $10 or more, I'll give you a shoutout in the next episode as a thank-you for helping keep this thing alive.

Support $1 Is Not Enough

Because apparently, producing a podcast costs more than a dollar.

Enjoying the show? Leave a rating and review wherever you're listening. It's one of the fastest ways to help new people find us, and it genuinely makes a difference. Thanks for being here.

$1 Is Not Enough is a comedy and commentary podcast about life in the service industry. Listener discretion advised. Some stories ...