England's bar customs

By Alicia Keys

導讀:英國人崇尚紳士風度和淑女風范，講究女士優先，餐桌上也是有規有矩的。

Amazingly for the British,who love queues,there is no formal line-up—the bar staff are skilled at knowing whose turn it is.You are permitted to try to attract attention,but there are rules about how to do this.Do not call out tap coins on the counter,snap your finger or wave like a drowning swimmer.Do not scow or sigh or roll your eyes.And whatever you do,do not ring the bell hanging behind the ounter—this is used by the landlord to signal closing time.The key thing is to catch the bar worker’s eyes.You could also hold an empty glass or some money,but do not wave them about.Do adopt an expectant,hopeful,even slightly anxious facial expression.If you look too contented and complacent,the bar staff may assume you are already being served.

就愛排隊的英國人而言，酒吧里看不到正式的排隊，這令人感到驚訝——酒保有本領知道該輪到誰了。你可以做些動作引起酒保的注意，但有規可循。不要大聲嚷嚷，不要在吧臺面上敲擊錢幣，不要叭叭地彈手指，不要像快淹死的人那樣揮動手臂，不要繃著臉，不要唉聲嘆氣，不要翻動眼珠。在不該干的事當中還有絕對不要搖晃掛在吧臺后面的鈴，那是酒吧老板用的，表示關門時間到了。關鍵是你要讓酒保看見你。你可以舉起空杯子或錢，可不要搖晃。你臉上可以流露等待、期望，甚至略帶焦急的表情。你如果顯得太心滿意足的樣子，酒保會認為他們已經為你提供服務了。

Always say “please” and try to remember some of the British bar staffs pet hates.They do not like people to keep others waiting while they make up their minds.They don’t like people standing idly against the bar when there are a lot of customers wanting for service.And they do not like people who wait until the end of the order before asking for such drinks as Guinness stout which take consider-ably longer to pour than other drinks.

One Dutch tourist who spent six months visiting 800 of Britain’s 61,000 pubs and interviewing 50 publicans and bar workers and more than 1，000 customers said:“I cannot understand how the British ever manage to buy themselves a drink.”But they do,and if you follow these tips you should be able to do so,too.

Speaking of tips,you should never offer the bar staff a cash gratuity.The correct behavior is to offer them a drink.Pubs pride themselves on their egalitarian atmosphere.A.tip cash be a reminder of their service role,whereas the offer of a drink is a friendly gesture.

要把“請”字掛在嘴邊，要盡量記住一些英國酒保最厭惡的事。他們不喜歡酒客拿不定主意而讓他們等著；不喜歡好多客人等著買酒而有人卻靠著吧臺站著；也不喜歡有人等到最后才說要喝像愛爾蘭烈性黑啤酒那樣的酒，因為比起別的酒來，準備這種酒的時間要長得多。

一個曾花了半年時間，去了美國61,000家酒吧中的800個，采訪了酒吧老板和酒保以及1,000多個酒客的荷蘭旅游者說：“我不明白英國人是怎么給自己買到酒的。”可事實上他們就能。如果你按著本文所說的忠告去做，你也能如愿以償地買到酒。

說到“小費”，你可千萬別給酒保現金以表示謝意。正確的做法是請酒保喝一杯。酒吧為自己的平等氣氛感到自豪。現金小費會使人想到酒保是伺候人的，而請喝一杯則是友好的表示。