The lounge was quiet and the lone customer finished his martini, dropped three dollars on the bar and ambled out.  The bartender was casually slipping the bills into his pocket as the owner walked into the room.  The startled bartender looked up and said, "How do you like that--the guy walks out without paying the bill and leaves me a three dollar tip."

In lounge facilities where more sophisticated controls exist, a dishonest bartender may have to work a little harder to supplement his salary and tips.  When sequentially numbered tabs are used, it is an easy matter for the bartender to use the same tab several times during the evening.  Additionally, often there are regular customers who grossly overtip when the bartender is known to reciprocate with free drinks.  Bottle counts can balance when the bartender brings in bottles of his own. Thus, in effect, the bartender is using the lounge's overhead to market his own liquor.

The most economical countermeasures to these problems involve professional testing--also known as service inspections--and video monitoring.  Some time ago, a suburban Detroit lounge's percentages skyrocketed when the afternoon bartender was off work for a month or so due to an auto accident.  When he returned, the percentages dropped to the previous averages.  A professional testing operation was commenced and resulted in the bartender's confession that he had defrauded the owner out of an average of $160 a day for five years.  He had used a variety of methods which had not been detected by the regular low-cost shopping service periodically used by the lounge owner.

In another case where losses were increasing, the installation of a clandestine CCTV system proved to the owner that his entire afternoon shift was stealing from him as well as giving away drinks to friends on a regular basis.

When losses are running high and other problems are suspected, the lounge owner may wish to consider an internal survey--an undercover operation.  Using this method, the lounge owner employs the agent of a licensed detective agency to actually work in the lounge--normally as a trainee.

Several years ago, I worked undercover at a large Detroit area lounge suffering high losses.  The first thing I was told by the suspect bartender was that anyone stealing liquor from the lounge would be fired immediately.  However, management would generally look the other way if employees occasionally walked out with a bottle or two of beer.

Thus, it was common practice at the end of the shift for employees to clean out a couple of beer bottles, fill the bottles with Chevis Regal or Southern Comfort, recap the bottles and depart with the concealed liquor.

Many other irregularities were noted and by the completion of the operation several employees had been replaced and profits had increased by approximately $200 a day.

Although testing and undercover operations may still be warranted in some retail liquor operations, it is felt a closed circuit television system usually results in optimal return on investment.

Even a decade ago, the National Institute of Justice estimated the U. S. retailer suffered losses in excess of $4 billion annually through employee thefts.  According to the National Retail Merchants' Association, an effective CCTV system can cut theft losses by 75% in as short of a time as six months.

In addition to the primary benefit of personnel monitoring, CCTV also tends to provide a deterrent to shoplifting, bad check passing and even robbery.

Last year in Flint a large male grabbed two cases of beer from a party store shelf.  As he ran toward the door, the female clerk yelled to him that he was being videotaped.  He dropped the beer and made a hasty retreat.

In Grand Rapids, three armed holdup men entered a party store, but panicked and ran when they observed the CCTV cameras.

Unusual situations occasionally occur when a video record of the event can minimize liability exposure.