my boss doesn't drink anymore

so, my GM, who i'm pretty sure i talked about a few posts back...the one who's resigning and all that drama has recently decided to quit drinking.

he says that he was drinking too much too often and that he's about to get married and wants to settle down. how nice, right? WRONG...

because he's not drinking AT ALL anymore...he's super grouchy and always tired and as we get new beers/liquors that come into the bar practically every day...he makes whichever bartender he's working with (typically me) taste everything and tell him what it tastes like so we can recommend/explain it to patrons as they come in.

if i have to taste one more nasty dark winter lager beer wtfever i think i might die...there was one shift where i tasted so many kinds of beers and liquors that i was almost drunk! which he thought was hysterical, of course...and was extremely annoying to me.

i know you don't drink anymore but c'mon! i'm trying to work here!

inter-bar romances

as i'm sure you can imagine, there is a lot of boozing and partying and whatnot going on at The Bar whether i'm there or not...roughly half of the staff are college students, the other half are just working and there are a few who are just lifers (life time service industry workers)

so because of the plethora of booze and the collection of babes who work at the bar and the small number of dudes who work there, all the gals are constantly fighting over the attention of the like...5 guys who work there. All of the guys EAT UP the attention (because in almost any other setting, they'd just be typical bros who work in a bar...i.e. nothing special) but because of the low male population, the bar's girl workforce is out of control obsessed with gaining their affections.

this, of course, leads to lots and lots of drama. "well he and i went out together on thursday" "well we went out on wednesday" "well he said he liked me and you're supposed to be my bff" etc etc.

all this drama is a big deal for like...2 days and then of course fizzles as most of the girls i work with are really young and pretty resilient as far as "relationships" go...however, relationships in the bar are not particularly encouraged...like we can't get fired for it but it's definitely frowned upon.

there was one particular couple who used to work with us who started dating after they met at the bar and it was ALWAYS dramatic..."why are you talking to that guy?" "why are you flirting with that server?" blahblahblah and it made for a very annoying and stressful workplace...#gofigure

oh yeah!

so i told my manager that I've been writing about our bar in my blog (that presumably the only person reading it is DQuack) and he was...not pleased to say the least.

"don't talk about our bar, are you using our name? what are you saying? have you used anyone's name? i dunno if that's allowed" shit like that where basically i was like "uhmmm i thought it was funny and now i feel like i'm in trouble, grrrreat"

so pretty much, my GM informed me that i'm not supposed to use the bar's name, any of our employee's names or owners' names just to keep myself safe and not get anyone in trouble...

really?? it's a blog...so that's pretty much why i refer to my bar as The Bar or My Bar or My Restaurant or whatever...how annoying

our work shirts

(not gonna lie, i'm just talking about random things about my job just cause nothing else interesting ever happens)

SO we have these really horrid work shirts that we have to wear. basically they're the cheapest cotton ever, really low v-neck with cap sleeves. they're black, brown or red and they're really uncomfortable and they shrink if you dry them and the color fades really quickly so we keep having to buy more shirts...(theres a whole drawer in my nightstand dedicated to my work shirts).

so, for girls like myself who are very tall and very thin, these shirts cause a problem because they aren't long enough to begin with and they shrink. so my best friend and i have been hassling the director of operations at our bar to buy larger shirts (they only purchase them in mediums and smalls for some bizarre reason) and my boss says that they're not going to order any more large shirts because they "don't want large girls working there" UUM WHAT?! i'm not "large" and neither is my bff...we're TALL and there really is a distinct difference.

after months and months of us bitching and complaining, my boss finally caved and agreed to order new shirts for us. hoooraayyy! we're so excited, we get ugly shirts that fit! WRONG! our bosses had been designing and buying the cutest colorful, patterned tshirts that don't require a double D bra-size to fit them and make them look appropriate! the shirts are crew-neck, (no cleavage, woohoo!) and long enough and have funny sayings and images on them...so much better!

how lame that i get excited about the silliest thing...but realistically, considering i only work on the weekends and i'm BROOOKE, my bar is the only place that i can afford to shop hahaha

talking about my job is boring

when i first started this blog, i was thinking about all the funny things that happen at my bar when i work. there's always some bizarre character in there drinking and being really funny or obnoxious and i thought i would never run out of things to talk about!

WRONG

my job is pretty mundane...there's always the occasional funny thing that happens or weird person who comes in or some drama to talk about...but it's difficult to relay how unusual my job is to someone who doesn't work there...all of the girls i work with and i are all so ridiculously close, we're more like a family than co-workers. and when i say that to people they're like "you work at a bar, get over yourself" and i can see myself saying something like that to someone who said that to me.

but in all honesty, that's exactly what it's like. when one girl breaks up with her boyfriend, we all sympathize and take her out and bring her flowers and candy to work the next day just like sisters would do. we all talk about our families and meet each others' siblings and it's such an unusual dynamic of people that would never have known each other if we didn't work together.

it's so funny how people get to know each other.

scheduling

when the bar manager (who, i'll say...nicely...is a...difficult woman to work for) makes our bar schedule, she usually makes it in a way that suits her. she likes to work as manager with particular bartenders and she likes to have her favorites close with her so that she only has to deal with people she likes...which i can understand. i mean, honestly, i get it. HOWEVER

it really irritates me that I've put in my work and tried really hard and i like to consider myself to be a good employee and an efficient bartender and yet she really doesn't care for me for whatever reason...i can't figure it out. i'm good at my job and i like it. i have fun doing it, i don't mind coming in to work and i get along and am friends with everyone who works behind the bar.

whyyy don't you like meeee???? is this a typical high school mean girl kind of bullying? i don't get it! grow up and schedule me like i deserve to be scheduled!

drinks i hate making

our bar is typically a beer/whisky/sports kinda bar so it's generally pretty low maintenance to work there as far as drink-making goes.

for any of those who have bartended before, waited tables etc, you understand what it's like to ring in something complicated, make something complicated etc.

one particular night, i was at the bar alone, working for last call (which is usually the busiest part of the night because everyone wants to get their final drinks before i collect everything and everyone gets kicked out) and some dude orders a Sex with an Alligator shot...

NOW i understand that most people don't know what that means...but basically it's one of the most complicated shots anyone can order. ever. it's a layered shot, meaning that there are multiple shots within one shot.

the main middle part of the shot is a combination of 3 kinds of liquor and pineapple juice (and of COURSE the bottles of liquor i need to use to make these shots are all spread out over the bar #annoying) the top layer of the shot is Jagermeister (sickkkkk) and you have to pour the liquor at an angle and really slowly over the surface of the shot already in the glass so that it rests on top and doesn't mix together. after pouring the Jager on top, you have to pour raspberry shnapps underNEATH the two other layers. so again i have to pour it to the side really slowly. the final product looks like a layered cake, pink on bottom, green in the middle and brown on top.

essentially it takes me like...FOREVER to make these shots and of course people order them at the very end of the evening when everyone else wants to order their own drinks. like seriously? wtf?