There is a danger in this. My friend is permitted to pour drinks, any drinks, for a buck to her closest friends and associates. I would be within that circle. I can, therefore, have any and all drinks for a buck anytime I am in New Haven and she is working the night shift.
Last night I did something I never really do in Madison. I sat on a bar stool and watched this bartender at her tasks. From 10pm, until closing time, I watched. Occasionally she would make me a concoction with names that mystified me as much as the combinations of liquor, juices and flavors within the glass. A buck for the drink, a buck for her tip jar.
I went away thinking that hers is a tough job. Not unlike cooking in a restaurant. Orders are flying at you, customers want service, everyone expects things done exactly to their taste.
And the bartender needs to have wisdom and compassion oozing out of her face. In the restaurant kitchen, life is all about your relationship to the ingredients and the tools you work with. The cooks at your side are part of your dance, but you don’t ever have to look in their eye, nor utter a single word except “behind!” if you are moving outside their field of vision and they are likely to careen backwards and upset the entire operation. And you never make contact with the customers who eat your food.
Bartenders, on the other hand, have their critics there, in their face, needing a drink, needing the attention, the wiped counter, the refill, the wise word.
Take it from a former line cook. These jobs are grueling.
Treat them well, the bartenders, the cooks, the people who fill you with drink and food. Treat them well. Boost their spirits as they boost yours. Give 'em a pat, a kind word, a wise nod. Make it a tango, not a solo performance.
After reading Waiting, a book written by a former waitress about her life and work, I began routinely tipping 20% rather than my customary 15%. These service jobs are very hard work and the extra 5% tip doesn't impact me very much.
ReplyDeleteI do, however, object to the ubiquitous tip jars that are perched next to cash registers in nearly every establishment I enter these days, whether or not the people working there have provided a service beyond ringing up my items.
"I sat on a bar stool and watched this bartender at her tasks"
ReplyDeleteI love watching people and the smooth way they move when they are skilled at a task. There is poetry by words which some of us use, and then there is poetry by motion which the rest of us use.