Texas bartender reveals why she hates making Old Fashioned for customers. Then she reveals what happened on her second shift: ‘I was fingerless’

When you think about the workplace dangers a bartender might face, you likely think that the biggest concern would be drunk patrons acting up or slipping, considering working with liquids almost guarantees some of it will end up on the floor. Maddie (@th3cracken) introduced her greatest workplace hazard following her second shift as a bartender: the fruit peeler. Specifically, she struggled using the fruit peeler for orange garnishes when she made Old Fashioneds.

If you know a bartender, you might already know that there’s usually at least one drink that they hate making. However, the reasoning behind that dislike isn’t usually bodily harm, such as losing the tips of your fingers and knuckles.

Maddie is missing a fingertip and knuckle from Old Fashioneds

In her video, Maddie went over the damage that her second bartending shift did to her hands, even showing her bandaged fingers on camera. She explained, “Okay. Right. Right. So I’m peeling. I get this tiny sliver of orange off the rest of it in the peeler, my skin.”

She also said that not all of the damage to her hands was from trying to peel oranges for Old Fashioneds. At another point during her shift, she said that she got another finger slammed in the door and believed that it was broken. However, she believed at the time of filming her video that her finger was fine, just badly bruised.

Maddie wound down her video by saying, “I was fingerless by the end of the shift. Fingerless,” before being grateful for some specific teams winning their games in the world of sports that day to end on a bit of a brighter note.

Bartenders face several common injuries, including cuts

According to Advanced Mixology, cuts are only one of the common injuries bartenders experience, as the website states, “Common bartender injuries range from cuts and burns to more serious conditions like shoulder pain, wrist pain, and hand injuries from repetitive stress. Some bartenders even develop fungal infections known as ‘bartender finger rot’ from damp hands while handling citrus fruits.”

One commenter on Maddie’s video shared their own advice for peeling oranges as a bartender: “I refuse to use the actual peeler to peel the oranges; I’ve found it easier to use the pairing knife. That way, too, put the orange down on the cutting board and cut down. No holding the orange in your hand”

Maddie wasn’t alone in having issues with the peelers, as another commenter said, “I won’t use a peeler anymore after my fingertip peaced out.”

Chilled Magazine offers some advice to help prevent common injuries that bartenders face. For cuts, the advice is to wear gloves.

There are special gloves for cooking that are cut-resistant, which could be an option. The problem is likely that it would slow down a bartender if they had to put on a glove repeatedly, and pace is usually important for this job.

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