Happy Friday friends!

I’m staying at home, but I’d love to keep a connection with you. So here is a short fun post to sweeten your evening.

Truthfully, I do feel strange going from 8 shifts a week to zero. I’m figuring out my new life haha, it is a new world of time and possibilities.

It has been almost two years since I became a full-time bartender. I have learned so much, and not only lessons from my cocktail book of recipes. Here are some observations I have collected along the way.

1) No matter how rich you are and how powerful you look, everyone finds guilty pleasure in talking trash occasionally. It is almost cathartic. Gosh the things I hear… But it is all good, if not taken too seriously. Everyone does it, and getting offended is pointless. People need to vent. We are all just doing our best at this thing called life.

2) Everyone is always looking to feel loved and validated, EVERYONE. So smiles and kind words are extremely powerful and valuable things on the tending side of the bar. Often more valuable than sexy attire and flirting.

3) 99.9% of people feel it is acceptable to show their feelings at the bar. Things are said that would be fight starters in any other setting. But alcohol is a depressant, thank God. I am happy we don’t sell cocaine, otherwise I’d have to hire some security.

4) Most bar patrons protect me. They protect their bartender: Whenever someone insults me or yells at me across the bar, they all look up like rabid dogs ready to pounce. Sometimes they do pounce! They confront the rude patron directly, or they make a sympathetic comment to me afterward. As if someone insulted their mother, or something of the sort. This happens with men and women patrons alike. Don’t mess with the one serving them the drinks.

5) However, if the bartender is a pretentious bastard, patrons will be amused if he or she is being abused by other patrons. They will also delight at the bartender failing to keep up with the bar load. It is a bit like politics.

6) I have come to discover that 9 times out of 10 I truly don’t care what is said to me anymore. My skin is getting so thick, I might start growing fins and texture, like sharks. Patrons get more offended than me by other unruly patrons. Calm is powerful tho, and looking calm and in control sets the tone under any ciscunstance. Dictators acting like spoiled children would fail as bartenders.

This reminds me of the first time someone was rude to me at a hospitality job 12 years ago. I felt shock, impotence and anger at not being able to fight back unless I wanted to get fired. I cried in the bathroom for 15 minutes. I was 18. Hospitality teaches you to be better at life.

What would you add? Feed me some comments since we can’t sit together at bars for right now. Wishing you calm and health, and to craft for you all the cocktails in the future 🍸❤️

See you next time 💋