By Joanna Harralson, Vice President Operations, The Insight Group International

There are times we wonder just how important it is to constantly demand adherence to the rules we’ve put in place in our bars and lounges. For instance, just what can the negative impact be of a bartender becoming lax in reviewing servers’ checks? To forget that guidelines such as this were established for definite reasons is, of course, foolhardy. For one, when a bartender is diligent about ‘redlining’ or otherwise reviewing checks created from a server’s drink/food orders, the server tends to be more diligent about maintaining accountability and accuracy with those same orders. By the same token, the bartender is encouraged to travel a straighter path, as well. And collusion between a bartender and server is not an unheard of scenario in many bars and lounges.