I just had the best bartending gig I've ever had

So, it was a wedding. not_the_angel, who's been a friend of mine since third grade, told me that two friends of his were getting married and needed a bartender. I contacted them, and they said that they would be providing all the liquor and mixers and stuff (making this as easy a job as a bartending gig can be), and that it would be for about four or six hours, and they'd pay a hundred bucks for it.

Better than sixteen bucks an hour is quite a nice rate for tending bar. Heck, if you count the three hours round trip driving (it was on the Cape), and subtract the cost of the gas I needed to burn, it's STILL over nine bucks an hour.

When I got to the campground/function area that they'd rented for the wedding, I found where the wedding was going on, and I kind of peeked over from a ledge overlooking the open area where the wedding was being held, and I saw, among other guests, lagaz. So that was cool.

In general, the people there were basically My Kind Of People. It was a reception that I would have enjoyed just being at, so being there and being PAID at the same time was even better. Okay, some of the music sucked, because people who appeared to be teenybopper cousins or siblings of the bride and groom got some requests in, but most of the music was very good (if loud -- the bar was set up RIGHT next to the speakers, and I forgot my earplugs. Fortunately, the guy Lagaz was with had a pair he could give me.)

Okay, so, all that, right there, would have probably been enough to make this a really great bartending gig.

But, see -- when I tend bar for a function, I don't consider tips. I consider my services to be part of the entertainment and hosting provided by the hosts -- I'm hired help, and I'm hired by the people hosting the wedding. It's one of the reasons I'm uncomfortable with cash bars at weddings -- I feel that I'm hired by the hosts to be their surrogate, and therefore, if I'm charging for drinks, it's my hospitality failure. So I don't put out a tip jar.

However, many people do want to tip anyway, and I don't have a problem with that. If someone asks me, my general answer is, "Oh, I don't put out a tip jar -- I'm being paid well enough for this. Still, if you want to throw money at me, I'm not going to complain." For me to put out a tip jar would be, I feel, a breach of my role as surrogate host, but since I am hired help, there isn't a problem for me to accept tips. It's a subtle thing, I guess.

That wasn't good enough for these folks. Some of the family decided to set out a bowl for tips for me.

That's cool. If I set up a tip jar, then I'm implying that I'm not being paid well enough. If they do it, then it's not a sign of ingratitude from me.

And, well, it turns out that not_the_angel's friends are really good tippers.

I made $190 in tips in five hours.

So, to summarize: I got to see two dear friends (I accidentally typed "dear fiends", which is also accurate) who I don't see anywhere near often enough. I got to be at a wedding, which is always a good thing. I got to listen to good music (and dance once). I got dinner out of the gig. And I got $290 for one evening's work.

Just a disclaimer for those considering bartending as a career: this isn't typical. There are places, clubs, busy bars, and so forth where you can regularly make that kind of dough -- but a relatively small and intimate wedding isn't normally one of them.