Bartending stuff
May. 21st, 2006 12:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xiphiasI got a phone call at 8:45 this morning from Ed Schroter at APD Bartending services, telling me that one of his bartenders broke his leg, one was stuck in Philadelphia unexpectedly, one had been abducted by aliens, one was being held hostage by space ninja pirates, and, all in all, he was six bartenders down for a whole lot of big functions at Tufts today, and did I want to work, like, y'know, could I get to Tufts in fifteen minutes for a 9 AM call would be good. . . .
I couldn't make that, but I said I could show up at 2 pm, which was still helpful to him.
The reason I couldn't get there in fifteen minutes was that I had a job interview at a bar in Cambridge, at the intersection of Cambridge Street and Seventh. You know that shop with the big sign saying "POULTRY -- FRESH KILLED"? It's like a block from there. Close to Lechmere and the Cambridge Courthouse.
Interview went pretty well, I think, knock on wood; I should know more by the middle of the week. Lis drove me, so I wouldn't have to find parking. After that, we went to Keezers, because I'm continuing to get fatter, and my vest didn't fit, so I bought a bigger one. Then Lis dropped me off at Tufts.
As you might expect, a lot of the people in charge of functions were rather frazzled, but things got sorted fairly well. We weren't sure exactly what I'd been called to do, but there was plenty to do, so I just pitched in where I could -- helping load the vans which were driving all the catering stuff to various locations around campus, and so forth. Eventually, two bartenders, including me, were sent to a function a couple buildings over for families of folks that were about to be hooded as doctors. Somehow, three bartenders managed to be sent out of the two, so I helped set that function up and then headed back to get another assignment. I did a bit more loading of trucks and so forth, and then was assigned to a function at "Brown and Brew."
"Brown and Brew" is a coffee and sandwich shop at the bottom of the hill at Tufts. You know where College Ave and those other streets all kind of cross at the bottom of the hill, and there's this building next to it where there's, like, a post office in that building? Well, there's a coffeehouse in that building, too. We turned the ice-cream serving area into a bar for me, and we got the place set up. It was a party for the Class of '91, starting at 7 pm, and going until 10.
The function went well, nice folks, I actually made money in tips. (Which I never expect for function bartending: for functions, you're paid an hourly wage which assumes that you WON'T be getting tips. So tips at functions are pure gravy -- very well appreciated gravy. Feel free to tip your bartenders at functions. Really. Unless the venue has a "no tipping" policy. If there is a "no tipping" policy, then don't tip your bartenders. Instead, you should just HAPPEN to hand them a dollar when you get a drink.) I also quite liked my co-workers.
I asked one of the waitstaff that I was working with that, if I was running low on beer, and she wasn't otherwise busy, if I could ask her to grab me a couple extra beers from the fridge in the kitchen. She was happy to do so for me, and I said that I'd split tips with her for it. She rolled her eyes and said that it totally wasn't necessary.
But I did it anyway. I made $45, and gave her $15. Which she wouldn't take. Until I explained to her that, if I made money in tips, and DIDN'T give a third of it to the folks who barbacked for me, that I'd have bad luck all week, and she took it.
(That, by the way, isn't true. I made it up. I only need to give a quarter of it, and the bad luck only lasts a few days. But it got her to take the money.)
The function ACTUALLY ended at closer to 10:30 or 11, instead of 10, which was fine. I called Lis to let her know that we'd started cleanup, and that if she wanted to come out to pick me up, that'd be great. She said that she was surprised that I was out as early as that, and that she'd been planning on working on some of her writing until midnight, but that she'd head out.
After we loaded up the truck to take all the empties and everything back up to the catering office, and we were driving back, I was talking to the driver. We were talking about how long hours we had or had not worked -- he'd had a VERY long day, and I said that I was lucky that I had only been there since 2. But, I added, I'd just phoned my wife, and she'd said, "What are you doing coming home so soon? I was hoping for midnight!"
The driver laughed and said, "That's cold, man. . . "
I couldn't make that, but I said I could show up at 2 pm, which was still helpful to him.
The reason I couldn't get there in fifteen minutes was that I had a job interview at a bar in Cambridge, at the intersection of Cambridge Street and Seventh. You know that shop with the big sign saying "POULTRY -- FRESH KILLED"? It's like a block from there. Close to Lechmere and the Cambridge Courthouse.
Interview went pretty well, I think, knock on wood; I should know more by the middle of the week. Lis drove me, so I wouldn't have to find parking. After that, we went to Keezers, because I'm continuing to get fatter, and my vest didn't fit, so I bought a bigger one. Then Lis dropped me off at Tufts.
As you might expect, a lot of the people in charge of functions were rather frazzled, but things got sorted fairly well. We weren't sure exactly what I'd been called to do, but there was plenty to do, so I just pitched in where I could -- helping load the vans which were driving all the catering stuff to various locations around campus, and so forth. Eventually, two bartenders, including me, were sent to a function a couple buildings over for families of folks that were about to be hooded as doctors. Somehow, three bartenders managed to be sent out of the two, so I helped set that function up and then headed back to get another assignment. I did a bit more loading of trucks and so forth, and then was assigned to a function at "Brown and Brew."
"Brown and Brew" is a coffee and sandwich shop at the bottom of the hill at Tufts. You know where College Ave and those other streets all kind of cross at the bottom of the hill, and there's this building next to it where there's, like, a post office in that building? Well, there's a coffeehouse in that building, too. We turned the ice-cream serving area into a bar for me, and we got the place set up. It was a party for the Class of '91, starting at 7 pm, and going until 10.
The function went well, nice folks, I actually made money in tips. (Which I never expect for function bartending: for functions, you're paid an hourly wage which assumes that you WON'T be getting tips. So tips at functions are pure gravy -- very well appreciated gravy. Feel free to tip your bartenders at functions. Really. Unless the venue has a "no tipping" policy. If there is a "no tipping" policy, then don't tip your bartenders. Instead, you should just HAPPEN to hand them a dollar when you get a drink.) I also quite liked my co-workers.
I asked one of the waitstaff that I was working with that, if I was running low on beer, and she wasn't otherwise busy, if I could ask her to grab me a couple extra beers from the fridge in the kitchen. She was happy to do so for me, and I said that I'd split tips with her for it. She rolled her eyes and said that it totally wasn't necessary.
But I did it anyway. I made $45, and gave her $15. Which she wouldn't take. Until I explained to her that, if I made money in tips, and DIDN'T give a third of it to the folks who barbacked for me, that I'd have bad luck all week, and she took it.
(That, by the way, isn't true. I made it up. I only need to give a quarter of it, and the bad luck only lasts a few days. But it got her to take the money.)
The function ACTUALLY ended at closer to 10:30 or 11, instead of 10, which was fine. I called Lis to let her know that we'd started cleanup, and that if she wanted to come out to pick me up, that'd be great. She said that she was surprised that I was out as early as that, and that she'd been planning on working on some of her writing until midnight, but that she'd head out.
After we loaded up the truck to take all the empties and everything back up to the catering office, and we were driving back, I was talking to the driver. We were talking about how long hours we had or had not worked -- he'd had a VERY long day, and I said that I was lucky that I had only been there since 2. But, I added, I'd just phoned my wife, and she'd said, "What are you doing coming home so soon? I was hoping for midnight!"
The driver laughed and said, "That's cold, man. . . "
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-21 06:38 am (UTC)I'm so using that one next week to get a day off work...
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-21 03:32 pm (UTC)Good luck with the results of the interview!
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-21 03:56 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-21 04:06 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-21 06:00 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-22 07:19 pm (UTC)Kiralee
the nice thing about work...
Date: 2006-05-22 08:04 pm (UTC)Duzzy