There Goes The Generous Pours & The Hot Bartenders
Royal Caribbean’s Anthem Of The Seas cruise ship has a pair of robotic bartenders at its Bionic Bar. These are those robots used in manufacturing and they mechanically make drinks for passengers.
While it’s easy to brush this off as a PR move – and for that, I applaud Royal Caribbean, for it has resulted in media coverage – if it catches on, pubclubbers may be seeing these robots on not just other cruise ships but quite possibly in bars, as well (Las Vegas seems a likely destination, for bars in Sin City are always trying some new twist).
Interesting as gimmick, this is not something any real barfly would like to see replacing human bartenders. Why? well for starters here are five main reasons:
1.) Generous Bartender Pours
A robot is programmed to pour exact amounts of alcohol and mix into the drinks. This takes away the “generous pours” that bartenders give to customers. Those “generous pours” are either a reward for a good tip or maybe the bar (like a dive bar) pours drinks the old-style way, and that’s with a lot of liquor. You can’t get that with a robot.
It’s bad enough some places – and I’m talking to you, Toronto and London! – have those automated dispensers that cut off the alcohol when it reaches an ounce. Now a robot is doing it, too.
Bar owners will tell you this method – and robots – provide “precise pours.” Well customers don’t want precise pours, we want alcohol!
2,) The Human Touch On Drinks
A big part of making good drinks is passion. It’s like your grandmother cooking – I’ll bet she doesn’t know exactly how much of a certain ingredient she puts into making something good, she does it by feel and experience and she takes pride in doing it correctly. It’s the same with a good bartender. Those bartenders take a quick taste to be sure the drink meets their standards; a robot can’t taste the drinks it’s making before handing them to the customer.
3.) Bartender Service
Royal Caribbean says its robotic bartender can make two drinks a minute. But it can’t do it with a smile, with a friendly “here you go” or even recommend drinks if you’ve got a question.
Some bartenders are like robots, simply acting like a factory employee producing volume rather than providing pride or personal attention to customers. Those are not bars PubClub goes back to after such an experience. Even tho Royal Caribbean has programmed its robotic bartenders to occasionally “dance,” any programmed movements look, well, programmed.
4.) Bartender Chat
A robotic bartender can’t carry on a conversation with you, can’t laugh with you, can’t even pretend to like your jokes. It can’t listen to your stories and provide any “bartender advice.”
And you can’t flirt with a robotic bartender, which transitions nicely into point number five.
5.) Hot Bartenders!
No contest here. Many a male has been known to frequent a bar simply because a certain bartender is working or go to a place that’s known for its hot bartenders. Heck, women do the same thing too. The patrons may have robotic behavior as a result, but the hot bartenders are the real deal and are impossible to replace.
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