March 19, 2024

‘Misunderstanding’ at the event center

We rented the event center in Osceola for my daughter’s wedding reception. We had two bartenders. My daughter specifically told the bartenders in person, we want two kegs to start out with — my mom will buy the Miller Light, and I will buy the Bud Light. Then, have three kegs on reserve if someone else wants to buy one. Don’t tap one if you don’t get the money, we are only going to buy two kegs.

When the first two kegs were tapped, they started charging people for the draw beer. My uncle was one of the first to the bar and he ordered a Bud Light and they charged him $2.50. He got charged three times throughout the night. We also got told by a lot of other people sometimes they would charge them for draw beer and sometimes they didn’t.

When the party was over, I went to pay for my one keg that I knew I ordered. I was told I owed $1,375 for the keg beer. I was not happy. I said that’s not right. She told me we went through six kegs. One was bought, so I owed for the other five kegs.

We called the event center manager and told her about what had happened. She said she would check into it and get back with us. She had the bartender call us. I asked him why they were charging for draw beer, and at the end of the night, I had to pay for all the draw beer. That’s not making sense.

He told me it was a misunderstanding. How is that a misunderstanding, that you charge someone and I pay for it, too? That’s getting paid twice. No misunderstanding there. He also told me it was a misunderstanding about the two kegs my daughter had talked to him about. He thought they wanted two Bud Light, so that is why they charged for Miller Light.

I told him when I went to the bar, I got Miller Light and didn’t get charged. He said it was because I was a family member.

So, I asked him, did you keep track of the cash money you took for draw beer, and he told me no. I told him, you should have, and that would have come off my bill at the end of the night. The bartender’s answer to all my questions was a misunderstanding. I still don’t see how you misunderstand, charging for draw beer twice.

The bartender first offered a credit of half a keg, then gave a full credit refund.

Our thoughts in closing are such:

Why would we think we even started with full kegs?

Are we sure we went through six kegs?

For a member of the fair board to perform a service (was the bartender) at this venue seems at best a conflict of interest, at worst a travesty.

There is zero misunderstanding, charging for draw beer when you know full well someone else will get the entire bill.