Strategy: What bartenders REALLY think about vodka drinkers

Ordering a vodka drink speaks volumes to bartenders.

• Bartenders can tell a lot about a person based on their drink order.
• Several bartenders Business Insider interviewed said they looked down on people who order vodka.
• Here's what ordering vodka says about you, according to these bartenders.

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He drinks a whiskey drink, he drinks a vodka drink, he drinks a lager drink, he drinks a cider drink — all fine options, except for one.

"You can tell what type of person someone is by their drink order in specific bars," Anjali Sharma, a former bartender with eight years of experience from Atlanta, told Business Insider.

And ordering vodka apparently speaks volumes to bartenders.

According to some of the bartenders Business Insider surveyed, if you order vodka drinks, you either look boring or troublesome — or perhaps both.

"Please don't order vodka," Emily Doyle, a bartender with 12 years of experience in Ireland, told Business Insider. "You're nice when you stick with beer, but a demon on spirits."

"Friends don't let friends date vodka-soda girls. Basic girls always order them," Kyle Siegel, a bartender with nine years of experience in Montauk, New York; New York City; Palm Beach and West Palm, Florida; and Maryland told Business Insider.

"Vodka is for people want to f--k up and forget," an anonymous bartender said.

These feelings of disdain are compounded when the vodka you order comes in the form of expensive shots.

Of course, vodka drinkers needn't despair. At the end of the day, paying customers who aren't overly intoxicated will generally get what they order.

All bartenders ask is that you be nice. "Eye contact, greetings, please and thank you — I'll respond in kind, and we'll all have more pleasant interactions," Rebecka, a bartender with 10 years of experience in New York and Glasgow, Scotland, told Business Insider.

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