What I'm saying is that we bartenders are feeling very underappreciated. We do our part in helping the people. We give life advice to people when they are down and out. We give relationship advice when people are confused and don't know what to do. We are expected to make that 21st bday party the most fun that those kids have ever seen, when frankly we don't give a shit if you make it to 21 shots....all we care about is that you don't puke all over the bar. We listen, smiling and nodding, and pretending (most of the time) to give a damn!
Do you have any idea how hard this job can be?!? Besides all the long hours of standing on your feet, and all the heavy lifting......mentally it can be exhausting.
I have a regular that comes in. He is never happy, everything in his life sucks, and all he wants is to sit there and bitch in my ear for the 30 mins he sits at the bar. For 3 years now I have had to stare at him, and smile and nod, all the while trying not to let him bring me down and start thinking about all the bad stuff in my life. Believe it or not people....Bartenders have shit goin on in there world too. You try wearing that fake smile for 8hrs or so when your personal life is on the verge of collappsing. Go ahead.....try it for a day.
I have had a women, whom i adore, come in and completely break down about how this is the 3rd time she has had cancer. That she feels to blame because she had to bury her daughter who died from the same type of cancer, and she couldn't afford to help with her medical bills. Then told me she wishes the cancer would have killed her. Kind of a heavy when something like that is dropped on you and instantly have to find the right thing to say.
These are just a couple of examples of life on the other side of the bar that people don't seem to realize, and rarely appreciate.
I opened this blog for all of my fellow bartenders to have a place to exchange stories, vent, and say what you really wanted to say but couldnt.
