What I did today
Sep. 23rd, 2004 08:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xiphiasSo, being a bartender at the Harvard Club is mostly an easy gig. It's occasionally, but rarely, busy, and, most of the time, keeping oneself awake is a bigger challenge than keeping up with the drink orders.
But, see. There's this one event every year. Ruby Wines.
My co-worker Ryan summed it up best when he once said, "This is such a strange job. Most of the time, it's easy. And there are perqs -- like, I ate fillet mignon tonight because it was leftover for a function. But, see, I just spent four hours pushing a trolley filled with wine and human saliva. But now I get filet mignot."
Yeah.
Today was the day we got to empty spit buckets.
Now, I'm certain that at least SOME of y'all have gone to wine tasting events. Possibly even big, major wine shows. This was one of the bigger ones in Boston -- sixty-four tables on two floors, hundreds of varieties of wines from dozens of manufacturers and importers. It's aimed at restaurant owners, beverage managers, liquor store folks, other industry folks like that. I was under the impression that there were a number of different sellers at a number of different price points, but the price points ranged from the $6/bottle (discount) wholesale range, to maybe as expensive as $20 or $25/bottle wholesale.
And there was a lot of it.
And each of those sixty-four tables, thirty-two in Harvard Hall on the first floor, and thirty-two in the Massachusetts Room, Aesculapian Room, and Mass Room Foyer on the second floor, had a spit bucket.
And each of those spit buckets had people spitting wine into it.
And each of those spit buckets needed to be emptied regularly.
So I spent four hours starting at one corner of the room and pushing a cart around which had a big bucket in it, and emptying each of the spit buckets into the big bucket and then going back into the kitchen and pouring the big bucket of spitty wine down the drain, and doing it all over again. Each bucket pretty much needed to be emptied every ten minutes or so, and it took about ten minutes to make the circuit around the room, so, yep, that's exactly what I was doing.
Even so, I should point out that I CHOSE this task. See, while I was walking around in a circle carrying disgusting buckets of wine, other barbacks were running up and down stairs carrying buckets of ice, refilling water, putting out clean wine glasses, and so forth. My job was the gross one, but the easiest.
Nonetheless, I'm really tired now. . .
So, just remember next time you're at a big wine function:
DRINK THE GODDAMNED WINE, OKAY??? DON'T FRICKIN' SPIT IT OUT! WHAT, DON'T YOU LIKE THE STUFF?
(yes, I'm just kidding.)
But, see. There's this one event every year. Ruby Wines.
My co-worker Ryan summed it up best when he once said, "This is such a strange job. Most of the time, it's easy. And there are perqs -- like, I ate fillet mignon tonight because it was leftover for a function. But, see, I just spent four hours pushing a trolley filled with wine and human saliva. But now I get filet mignot."
Yeah.
Today was the day we got to empty spit buckets.
Now, I'm certain that at least SOME of y'all have gone to wine tasting events. Possibly even big, major wine shows. This was one of the bigger ones in Boston -- sixty-four tables on two floors, hundreds of varieties of wines from dozens of manufacturers and importers. It's aimed at restaurant owners, beverage managers, liquor store folks, other industry folks like that. I was under the impression that there were a number of different sellers at a number of different price points, but the price points ranged from the $6/bottle (discount) wholesale range, to maybe as expensive as $20 or $25/bottle wholesale.
And there was a lot of it.
And each of those sixty-four tables, thirty-two in Harvard Hall on the first floor, and thirty-two in the Massachusetts Room, Aesculapian Room, and Mass Room Foyer on the second floor, had a spit bucket.
And each of those spit buckets had people spitting wine into it.
And each of those spit buckets needed to be emptied regularly.
So I spent four hours starting at one corner of the room and pushing a cart around which had a big bucket in it, and emptying each of the spit buckets into the big bucket and then going back into the kitchen and pouring the big bucket of spitty wine down the drain, and doing it all over again. Each bucket pretty much needed to be emptied every ten minutes or so, and it took about ten minutes to make the circuit around the room, so, yep, that's exactly what I was doing.
Even so, I should point out that I CHOSE this task. See, while I was walking around in a circle carrying disgusting buckets of wine, other barbacks were running up and down stairs carrying buckets of ice, refilling water, putting out clean wine glasses, and so forth. My job was the gross one, but the easiest.
Nonetheless, I'm really tired now. . .
So, just remember next time you're at a big wine function:
DRINK THE GODDAMNED WINE, OKAY??? DON'T FRICKIN' SPIT IT OUT! WHAT, DON'T YOU LIKE THE STUFF?
(yes, I'm just kidding.)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Duh
Date: 2004-09-23 06:03 pm (UTC)I'm sorry about the spit buckets.
Shana tovah!
Re: Duh
Date: 2004-09-23 06:10 pm (UTC)So nothing really to be sorry about. :)
(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-23 07:21 pm (UTC)some of what I have to deal with at my job, i.e., bag of dead rats.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-23 07:52 pm (UTC)Bag of dead rats.
Okay, you win.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-23 10:09 pm (UTC)