How is this my fault?

"Hey, that lady said that she waited for 9 minutes before she got a drink when she came in." Manager G started in. He was pointing in the direction of the entire bar area of the building.

"Which lady?" I ask, straining to see beyond the people at the bar to the tables. I didn't have anyone sitting on that side of the building, but it was possible I missed someone if they were standing.

"That one." He continues pointing in the same direction.

"At a table?" I ask.

"No. M______." He finally tell me. M______ is a woman who comes in several times a week. She is friends with Chris and Stacy and is usually very nice. She came in at 2 in the afternoon. It is now about 8 at night.

"But she's at the bar." I tell him, confused.

"She said that when she came you were sitting at the bar ignoring her. She said she looked at her watch to see how long it would take to get a drink and it was 9 minutes."

What is this? I am waitressing!

"I didn't know where Chris was when M______ sat down so I gave her a chance to come back. She hadn't asked me to watch the bar, and I had tables I was taking care of. After about a minute or two I started looking for Chris to tell her someone was at the bar. She was talking with a customer on the restaurant side but was on her way back to the bar so I didn't say anything. It was only about 2 minutes."

"Why didn't you get Chris right away? Or get the customer a drink? She said she was pissed because she thought you were the bartender and you were ignoring her." His tone is angry and accusatory. I am actually getting in trouble for this. M______ knows I don't bartend on Fridays. She's friends with Chris and knows she works every Friday. But then, she can't complain about her friend, can she?

"G, no one asked me to watch the bar. I have talked to the girls about this and they prefer I don't help their customers unless they ask me to watch the bar. Besides, it was only a minute. I didn't know where she was and for all I knew she'd be back in a minute anyway."

"Well I don't believe that at all. We all help each other out here. We like helping each other out!"

"Yes, but I didn't want to step on her toes." I give up. Somehow this has been made my fault. "I'm sorry G."

How the hell can the bartender not doing her job be my fault? Is it part of my job to know where the bartender is all the time, to track her down no matter where she is to let her know immediately when a new customer comes in? To help her customers when she is not there? I can tell you, no one does it for me.

This is crap.