Making bar maids’ job professional

By Evelyne Ogutu

From sundown to daybreak, they are at the service of intoxicated people, whose next stop after a hard day’s work is a bar or drinking spot to calm down their nerves or kick away stress.

From social drinkers to alcoholics, the bar attendant is supposed to handle each customer with utmost care and ensure he is happy, and rarely does the client appreciate the waiter. But this is set to change in the near future.

One woman is focused on changing this trend, which for ages has demeaned the woman waitress.

Ms Consolata Lago, the Tusker Academy Manager, says research showed most bar hostesses were not happy with the way many clients handled them. This in effect affected the bar business.

"I visited several bars and did not like the way the bar attendants (especially women) were treated by customers. And because EABL values its relationship with the people it works with, we decided to start a training programme for bar maids and waiters," she says.

Ms Consolata Lago, the Tusker Academy manager who initiated training for bar hostesses. [PHOTO: courtesy/STANDARD]

Hence, a year ago, East African Breweries Ltd launched a training curriculum for their retail personnel, which aims at imparting entrepreneurial and life skills to bar hostesses. More than 2,000 have attended the training offered by Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) in the last three months.

Lago, in a recent interview with Wednesday Woman, said the programme has been carried out in Nairobi and its environs and will soon be rolled out to other parts of the country.

The academy manager, who most bar hostesses refer to as the ‘headmistress’, said the participants are trained on personal finance, HIV and Aids besides other courses like customer care.

Highly educated

"Some of the waiters are highly educated, but sometimes some customers do not respect them. As Tusker Academy, we want to change this perception. We want to make waiters to be proud of their jobs by professionalising this service industry," said Lago.

Lago, who attends most training sessions, says Tusker Academy’s goal is to provide a platform for its partners to improve their businesses, and bar hostesses are part of the crucial link in the beer industry.

"Improved business skills for our distributors, suppliers, retail and customer services who include bar hostesses will mean growth in our sales and also improve our partners’ standard of living," said the Tusker Academy manager.

Lago says it pains her to see women bar attendants being mistreated and sometimes even sexually harassed by male clients and hopes this programme will change this trend.

"Some of these women are sexually harassed by their customers, but majority of them do not even answer the offender. We are training them to know how to politely, but firmly tell off such customers," she says.

Ms Peninah Mwangi, the chairperson of Bar Hostesses Association, says there is need for such training to educate members on their rights, working conditions and HIV and Aids.

Empower hostesses

Mwangi says such training by Tusker Academy will empower bar hostesses besides professionalising the profession.

According to Lago, the academy, which is now one year old, in collaboration with K-Rep Bank and JKUAT, also trains the bar hostesses on hygiene and personal finance.

"Majority of the waiters say they are paid peanuts and cannot afford to save any money. But we want them to change this attitude. Some of them get a lot of money from tips that the customers give them every day and this boosts their earnings," she says.

Lago, who went to Moi Girls Academy before joining the University of Nairobi where she pursued a BA degree and later joined United States International University where she did her Masters in Strategic Management, says she will be happy once she is able to change the consumers’ attitudes towards bar hostesses. But she insists this will start with the bar hostesses themselves knowing their rights.

Change attitudes

"My goal is to change the attitudes of the bar hostesses towards their job. This is a job like any other and they only need to learn some tips like customer care, personal hygiene and personal finance and also HIV and Aids among others," she says.

Lago says just like any other profession, women and men should be treated with respect and their rights should not be trampled upon.

She adds: "Some of them are married and have families and that is why as a customer, when you walk into a pub, you should treat that man or woman who serves you with respect. It is a profession like any other."