Behind on blogging things

I've got, like, a half-dozen things that have happened over the past two weeks that I've been intending to blog, but haven't gotten around to. I think I ought to start banging these out.

A bartending event, probably a week and a half ago by now.

So, two Thursdays back, I tended bar at MIT. Showing up, I had no idea what the event would be -- which is normal. I don't find out what I'm doing until I'm there -- and I only find that out because I make it a point to ask. For the most part, event organizers don't care if the bartenders and waitstaff know what's going on. But I care, so I find out. It helps me make a mental model of what the evening will be like, helps me prepare, anticipate what might be needed.

If it's a dinner for thirty doctors and insurance managers to discuss fee structures, I'll set my bar up differently than I would for a wedding for two hundred, or a bar mitzvah, or a grad student get-together. And events have "event sheets", which say how many people are going to be there, what the name of the person or group holding the function is, what time people will show up, what time food will be served and what food it is, what sort of bar the folks have paid for, and so forth. So I always make sure to take a few moments to find an event sheet (there are usually some floating around SOMEWHERE) and read it, and figure out how I'm going to do things.

I reported to the MIT Faculty Club. You may know the building as the Sloan Center, or Building E51, but, to me, the important part is the sixth floor Faculty Club, which is where the catering office is. Usually, the functions I work are at the Faculty Club, but sometimes, we load all our food and booze and stuff into the truck and drive to somewhere else on campus.

This event was going to be held at the MIT Museum. And it was held by a group called "Yelp!" I asked what "Yelp!" was, and Will said that it was some sort of marketing thing.

And that all the booze was donated (that means that the client provides their own liquor, rather than using MIT's supply), so we didn't have to bring any of that. Will suggested that it would probably be a fairly easy night.

There were four bartenders, and two servers, and a guarantee for four hundred guests.

So, it turned out that the function was two things: a party that Yelp.* was hosting to get their name and service out into the world, and a sponsored product event by Bushmills Irish Whiskey.

I started to suspect that Will might not have really understood what we were going to be in for.
( Read more... )

Law of Unintended Consequences

So, at that Yelp.*/Bushmills event I just posted about, I passed out a bunch of business cards. I tossed a couple to the people from Yelp.*, the marketing folks from Bushmills, the folks from the MIT museum. I handed a couple to the band, and one to the videographer, because he was taking some shots of me doing some flair before the doors opened. (Flair: bartender juggling. You know, spinning bottles, tossing cocktail shakers, and the like. Please to not be mentioning Tom Cruise.) And I handed some out to just folks getting drinks from the bar.

Later that night, when I'm home, and in bed -- one o'clock -- the phone rings.

It's two drunks wanting the recipe for a Slippery Nipple.

I got up, pulled out my recipe book, and gave it to them, but, the next batch of cards we print up will have "No calls after 10 PM, Please" on it.