Freeflow events are usually fun occasions. It’s normally done as a celebration – a new bar, an outlet’s anniversary, a gig, a product launch, an appreciation.

Sometimes they suck. And you basically wasted your time and effort attending the damn event. “Should have stayed home!” or “Should have gone elsewhere!” Am sure we’ve all experienced that feeling.

The problem occurs when an outlet or company invites the whole damn world, and then either they cant handle d crowd, or they never intended to cater to the crowd anyway. Both are very disrespectful and irresponsible.

Many bars are not equipped for big events

If you wanna invite say 300 people, ensure that there’re enough drinks for 300 people to have a few.

A friend was invited to Quattro’s anniversary some time back. Got dressed, smelling good, drove all the way to KL from PJ, paid high fees for parking, and got in there.It was a stampede. After all that, he managed to get…. one beer. That was it.

Obviously he wont go back to such outlets anytime. All that effort, for what. It was like 1,000 people there. Obviously not enough bars in there.

Such events should be broken into different days to lessen the load.

There’s also the issue of not having anywhere near enough bartenders to make the drinks. But then again, that could be the plan – staff not being able to cope means less drinks go out, which benefits the outlet/organizer in terms of cost.

Zouk’s bartenders once didnt allow me to order two drinks (one for my friend at d table) at their anniversary party. The bar was already so jammed with guests ordering drinks, u cd hardly move. Nevermind that, they wanted a bigger mess – each and every guest has to squeeze in there, and order their own drinks personally!

Stupid or wat. I’m not so desperate for the goddam ‘free’ drinks. I rather pay, and be treated not even like a customer, but at least like a human being.

Outta my way

I’ve seen people getting stressed, angry. Guests as well as staff. That’s dumb. You shouldn’t invite guests just to make them angry. They supposed to be happy.

The times where it’s near impossible to get the ‘free’ drink, i prefer ordering and paying for my own drinks. Am cool with that. The problem is, usually they dont sell drinks during the ‘freeflow’.

Doubly-fucked. Haha! Cant get the complimentary drink, cant buy your own.

So, go elsewhere.

I think some outlets probably do freeflow events as a scam to get the crowd in. Once they’re there, the outlet has a large crowd of people buying booze after d freeflow ends. The sooner d freeflow ends, d sooner ‘guests’ magically turn to…  ‘customers’! And any money spent on the free drinks (usually zero, coz they got alcohol companies to sponsor) is recovered multiple times the same night.

Some joints serve Klang-mari moonshine when it’s freeflow time. Like Luna Bar. (Some bars do that daily!)

Some places/events actually run out of glasses! What kind of planning is that? Thus, i’m choosy about the events i attend. Many low-quality ones out there, be warned.

When i did my blog anniversary last year (and launch year before), i ensured not only everyone would have quick and unrestricted access to drinks, i also made sure everyone could have loads to drink. Some booze was sponsored, and i also brought additional booze as back-up. I invited guests according to the amount i had for them to consume.

And everybody had a blast. Zero stress.

I wdnt have wasted their time, my time, and all the other parties’ time if i was gonna let guests fight for three drinks each, and then tell them to fuck-off.

Guests should be entitled to at least minimal comfort

Companies and outlets needs to rethink how they do events. Jamming too many people in, and treating them like cattle, is stupid.

It’s obviously counter-productive to your outlet / brand. It only shows how little you respect your customers & guests.