The Munich Oktoberfest is known for many escapades. A party-loving audience combined with the stronger festival beer creates unforgettable, embarrassing and, unfortunately, unpleasant moments – which those responsible may no longer remember. The days and nights in the festival tents also bring with them many highlights for the Oktoberfest waiters – for better or for worse.
Oktoberfest 2024: Waiters unpack
It was only on Monday that the Löwenbräu festival tent team decorated with hearts and balloons. “Two Swedes met 20 years ago and got married here the day before yesterday,” says Amelie enthusiastically about the romantic setting.
The expression on the Oktoberfest waitress’s face is completely different when she thinks back to another experience. “We had a table full of Scots,” she says. When the group stood on the benches and suddenly everyone lifted their kilts, it offered unexpectedly intimate insights. “There was no underwear,” reveals colleague Tami.
Couldn’t be more absurd? And whether! “In 2019, a man slid naked across the beer garden in the rain,” colleague Rene is still amazed. A video of this is still circulating on the Internet: a completely naked man slides on his stomach across the wooden floorboards in the wet outdoor area. “I don’t want to know how many splinters he had in which places,” Amelie notes and smiles.
Oktoberfest in Munich: “They don’t know the border”
While such actions can still be classified as humorous and idiotic, the dark side of intoxication also becomes apparent at the Oktoberfest. Waiter Attila from the Hofbräu festival tent therefore doesn’t want to hide the fights he has already experienced, some with beer mugs. “They don’t know the limit and don’t know when they have to stop,” he says, criticizing the excessive beer consumption among some Oktoberfest visitors. He remembers moments such as the visit of the Bavarian Finance Minister Albert Füracker (CSU) more positively.
Together with a colleague, Attila remembers the moment that sent shivers down his spine. A guest first took a sip from his beer, then had to vomit – into the beer mug, from which he drank again. “The security kicked him out,” says the waiter, grateful for the courageous intervention of the security forces.
The audience is more civilized in the gallery of the Hacker-Festzelt, the higher reservation area very close to the famous “Heaven of Bavaria”. Ultimately, there is “everything a human body can offer” at Oktoberfest, says Korbinian. In the area of the 18-person team, which shares its impressions on Instagram under the name “Hackerbalkon”, things are not escalating as much as in other places.
The beautiful side of the Oktoberfest
For 15 years, the group of Oktoberfest waitresses have been happy about a group of friends from New Zealand who visit the Oktoberfest every year and reserve tables in the Hacker festival tent. Personal friendships have developed over the years, and some of the guests from Down Under spend the night privately with the Oktoberfest staff. There have also been return visits. “That’s why we do it. It’s fun and we get to know people,” says Florian.
But it is also the small, unspectacular moments that the Oktoberfest waiters remember fondly. A colleague of theirs tells how they found a sad boy in the gallery last year: his balloon had flown to the ceiling and seemed unreachable. “We stacked the tables and benches,” he says, describing the rescue operation: “It was further away than we thought.” But in the end, the team was successful and was able to put a smile on the boy’s face again.
But there are also guests who simply expect too much. At one point the team welcomed a group of around 60 people, but the visit quickly ended. “One person stood on the table and drank three liters in one go,” says a waitress. After all, friends had to carry him to the toilet and then home. “It’s sad that you take such a journey just for these five minutes.” But such experiences don’t cloud the overall picture that the Oktoberfest waiters take away from the Oktoberfest. “It’s a beautiful experience of a lifetime.”
