Wrong Impression

Our local newspaper printed it's January 1, 2009 front page with quotes from locals and former locals regarding their New Years Resolutions.

Overall, they were bland, which isn't to say they were without merit - but everyone and their mother wanted to lose weight, be a better person, improve the world and such.  In fact, most weren't in any way striking or original - save for one;  12 year old Danita's resolution was to "hope President Obama takes care of us."

Now, I grant that this came from a 12 year old, so the following may be reading too far in to her comments, but is it realistic to assume that her parents have truly been teaching her that it's the President's job to take care of us?  

And on a grander scale, is the nation under the misguided impression that it is the government's responsibility to look out for our overall well-being?  

I sincerely hope Obama brings change and hope to our country, but while he's handing out hope I expect him to make it quite clear that the government of the United States is not responsible for "taking care" of us - that it's our responsibility to look out for our own well being - and further, that if we allow ourselves as a nation to hand the government the job of taking care of our every need we will be giving up the very principles that have made our nation so great.

</rant>

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year my friends.  Here's hoping 2009 is the best we've ever had!

Girl and I spent our New Year at our bar and enjoyed a champagne toast at midnight.  Nothing too ritzy, I guess, but considering the amount of money she spent on her vacation it as necessary to save some money and stay in town.  Actually, it was quite nice showing her off after 10 days in the Florida sun  ;)  

I sincerely thought she was going to be the shit out of one of my new bar regulars though - because even after telling her I had a girlfriend she found a way of obtaining my number, apparently through a mutual friend.

Nonetheless, cooler heads prevailed - which is, of course, the right way to start this year off!

Women. Are. Disgusting.

Seriously - every night we clean the bathrooms, and every night the women's restroom is a thousand times more disgusting than the men's room.

In the guy's room I may have to worry about broken beer bottles and handsoap being splashed all over the mirrors. In the ladies room?  Toilet paper on the floor - more often than not covered in BLOOD.  For a time the handdryer in the ladies restroom was broken so we subbed in paper towels. 

Those paper towels were always ALL OVER THE FLOOR - even when the trashcans (4 of them!) were completely empty!  When the dryer was fixed, I didn't even consider leaving the girls the option of using paper towels instead - I have never put paper towels in the bathroom again.

Ladies, you're supposed to be the CLEANER SEX!  Why is it that you turn your toilets in to a cess pool after two beers?

Frustrating.

Occupational Hazards

In my short experience as a bartender I've learned just how glorified the position really is.  It's considered an easy job with a rather high rate of pay, dependent, of course, on such things as the venue at which you work. 

 

And I must admit that while remembering drink recipes is pretty simple, and ringing in drinks and taking cash is pretty easy, there are parts to being a bartender that really kinda suck.

 

Most prominent on the list of occupational hazards is the number of cuts, scrapes, slices, slivers and bruises caused by broken glasses, shattered bottles, and occasionally very physical interaction with overly drunken guests.  I swear my hands look different after every shift I work.  Boy, that shit is annoying. 

 

But the greatest hazard of all, at least in Texas, is the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) - the great enforcers of liquor law in our state.  There are severe penalties for serving minors, a pretty easy thing to avoid with proper identification techniques - but then there are the minor issues that cost major money, such as having less than an ounce of liquor in a bottle at any given time, or having a tax stamp missing or damaged on the outside of one.

 

And then there's the major issue that's often difficult to avoid - overserving guests.

 

This one scares me the most because of the very aggressive drinking habits of many of our guests, who hop from bar to bar drinking and drinking and drinking and drinking - yet somehow maintaining their composure...  until that ONE drink hits them and they get stupid.  What's most difficult about it is that when someone comes in drunk from their trips across town and you can't tell and serve them a SINGLE drink, you are STILL completely liable for overserving the patron.

 

Seems a bit unfair if you ask me. 

 

Anyway, I don't remember what I was getting at with this post - perhaps that bartending ain't as easy as it seems?  Yes, we'll stick with that.

 

The moral of the story, folks, is that bartending isn't as easy as it seems.  And also - bring the troops home!  That's what this post is all about.

It's The Most Wonderful Time - Of The Year...I

It was worth it to have worked tonight.  I was opening bartender - alone from 2 to 7pm, and bored stiff.  We were so slow I was certain I was going to close early, but at 10pm we exploded.

 

Walked out with 336 tonight.  Merry Effin' Christmas!