Working Hard for the Money

I started my bartending job last night. I'm going to be bartending at two different bars this summer. Actually, in a way it's the same basic thing at both bars--both are run by more or less the same team, so they are run in the same style, use the same computer system, cater to the same type of clientele, etc.--but the bars have different names and slightly different concepts...very slightly different, in my opinion almost imperceptibly different, but whatever. The biggest difference between the two bars is that one is five minutes from my house and the other is on the opposite side of town. And the one close to my house is quite a bit busier right now since the one on the other side of town is brand new and not much word of mouth has gotten out about it yet.
I'm surprised to be bartending, actually. I thought for sure I'd be used as a cocktail waitress, but I guess the manager who makes the schedule at both bars has decided he needs me more as a bartender. I'm a little bit nervous to be bartending, partially because the bartenders tend to be much more territorial about their shifts and their regulars than the cocktail waitresses are, so I'm more likely to accidentally step on toes and piss people off as a bartender. The thing is, I also don't feel like anyone has any right to be mad at me for being here for just a couple of months. It's two months, that's it. I'll probably work about 40 shifts total while I'm home this whole summer; divided between the two bars that's 20 shifts at each. I highly doubt that my presence here is going to greatly affect any other bartender's standard of living. That, and it's not like I'm completely helpless behind the bar. I did bartend for a year and a half in college, so I don't feel like I unfairly leaped in behind the bar with no experience at all whatsoever.
The other reason I'm nervous to bartend, though, is that this job is very different than my last bartending job. My last bartending job was at a performance hall so it involved about half an hour of quick drink pouring before the show, an incredibly frantic twenty minutes at intermission, and that's it. Plus the clientele was mostly old people so I poured a lot of wine and made a lot of martinis and gin and tonics. I did bartend the occasional country concert and comedy show, which always brought out a crazy crowd, and I have bartended a ton of weddings, which were busy, too.
So I sort of know what I'm doing. I am comfortable making mixed drinks, I know how to pour a beer, etc. I'm just not used to doing it at frantic pace for 9 hours straight, which is how long the night shifts are. I also have no idea how to make most shots, which isn't good because these bars cater to young people and my generation, we like the shots. And heaven forbid we just take shots of Jager or tequila, we need royal fucks and red headed sluts and sex with an alligator. I can't even bitch too much about this, because I'm guilty of this myself.
The thing is, I think I'll get a handle on the shots pretty quickly. And in some ways this job isn't all that different from my other one. People still want five basic drinks, it's just at this bar those drinks tend towards 22 oz. Bud Lights as opposed to Manhattans.
The other great thing about bartending is that 95% of the time, you can make a drink completely and utterly wrong and the person you serve it to is going to drink it anyway. As long as there is a detectable amount of alcohol in the drink, most patrons aren't likely to complain, or at least not as much as people tend to complain about food.
The best thing, though, is the money. I can already tell that I'm going to make way more money at this job than I would have if I had done restaurant work all summer. Don't get me wrong, in my hometown people still suck at tipping. Being in a bar doesn't change that fact. But in the restaurant I worked at, a $4.00 tip on a $60.00 tab was pretty much the pathetic standard, so getting a dollar every time I pour someone a drink--or even only every other time--makes me very happy.
And so far, at least, my job is off to a good start. I don't feel incompetent behind the bar. After only two shifts of training I'm already at the point where I'm doing everything myself and just questioning another bartender once in a while when I don't know where a particular beer is stored or how to ring in something unusual on the computer. I realize the two shifts I have worked so far have been relatively slow, easy shifts and the first time I work on a Thursday or Friday night I'm probably going to want to curl up in a ball and cry, but right now I'm actually kind of having fun. And my coworkers don't seem to hate me or resent me, so that's good, too.
And if for some reason it does all go downhill from here and get terrible, it's only going to be 9 weeks or so. I'll live.

P.S.-Today Maddi got a plane ticket to come visit me in my hometown in a few weeks! I already can't wait to show her around here.