Working behind the bar is soul sucking work. Hell, any facet of the service industry can be, but more so behind the bar. The pace can be fast and demanding, the rapidity of your actions and fluency of your movement are more like a dance than a job. And you are constantly "on". Essentially you become a performer. The bar is your stage, your patrons your audience and you craft is improvisation. Granted it is a script every night, yet no nights are the same. As a matter of fact, it's a personal philosophy of mine, that if you get to the end of the night and remember it in two days, it was generally a bad night. If everything is smooth, brisk, and without incident, it's easy to forget and you can effortlessly move on with your life.
However, every person that comes to the bar, not only drinks from their glass, but they also drink a little from you. It's you're responsibility to be present, open, facilitative, funny, psychologically stimulating, sexually stimulating, or any number of things that the average drinker may want from you on any given moment. We are in the business of hosting people. Of reading peoples behaviors, and supplying them with something, they don't even know they may want. OR, in turn keeping from them, the very thing that can influence their behavior, and preventing them from the very thing THEY BELIEVE THEY NEED. (aka cutting them off)The tightrope of the bartending occupation is a treacherous one. From the outside looking in, the average person may look at the occupation of bartending as a high energy, rockstar lifestyle of late nights and late mornings with little to no responsibilities.
This year at Tales of the Cocktail, Aisha Sharpe of Contemporary Cocktails INC.,and Dushan Zarek of New York's "Employees Only" bar, did a Seminar on Mastery of Wisdom Behind the Bar. In this seminar they laid down the guidelines of how to keep your soul intact and how vital it is to have a full cup of hospitality when tending bar, or owning and operating a bar. They preached the importance of balance, proper sleep, a clear head, and a full soul. One of the things that resonated with me in this seminar was not only the drink you make and pour into the glass. But the little piece of your soul you put into the drink that gets served to the guest. If you can't put yourself asside, if you can't have a full basin of positive energy and love to give when you walk behind the bar for a shift, the drink that you put in front of your guest will not be full of positive energy. It will be empty, you will be empty. And at the end of the night, you will be tired and feel completely soulless.
I challenge you to put this philosophy to use during your next shift. Fill yourself up with positive energy, and think about that positivity when preparing each drink. Remove the pressure, and stress from your movement, remove the judgment from your interactions, and pour your soul into each drink.
Interesting and provocative post, Neil. And delineates the difference between a professional bartender and a person who works behind a bar.
ReplyDeleteYou reminded me of an old story in a Speculative Fiction book edited by Harlan Ellison, where the protagonist was a "reverse vampire". He was imbued (:^) with strong empathy and people sought him out to tell him their troubles--which he willingly did. But each time he did it drained him of his own energy and life force and left him depleted (emotionally anemic, I guess you'd say), so that for his own sake he had to avoid the neediest people, who would drain him dry.
So, yes, pro bartenders need to replenish their energy frequently...somehow...to stay in the game. Else the depletion leads to burnout. Glad you're not burned out---even though I think you're in danger of wearing too many hats right now. :^)
Oh, sorry> Dangerous Visions was the collection of short stories.
ReplyDeleteGreat essay, well written, and applies to many occupations, not just those behind the bar. Thanks for your thoughts!
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