Bartending a Lifestyle

Late nights filled with people, drinks, and unforgettable memories, and you’re the acclaimed host of all of it.  The offers for you to join in never cease for the crowd’s favorite bartender.  That’s why  I don’t drink alcohol when I’m working behind the bar as it helps keep me one step ahead of where the bar crowd is headed.  After hours offers me plenty of opportunity to unwind over a beer and decompress from the shift.  But for some of us who become popular mixologists or beloved figures behind busy bars, keeping away from the parties we host can be a tough task.  Maintaining some distance is the only way most of us can survive for any stretch of time in the bar trade.  At bars that allow drinks with customers I would always give guests a polite excuse.  For example, ‘I’m taking a course of antibiotics’ or ‘I’m taking part in a month of sobriety for charity’ or any other casual excuse I could conjure up not to drink behind the bar.  If ownership expects you to drink then you have to weigh whether you want to work at such an establishment or not.

Drinking during your shift adds hardship to a lifestyle that already taxes your mind, body, and spirit on a shift-to-shift basis.  It can lead a bartender to pick up some other unhealthy habits.  Toby Cecchini touches on this in his excellent book Cosmopolitan:

‘It’s tremendously tempting, at times, to join in the party.  After watching enough other people getting hammered and leaving their inhibitions behind, it can start to seem pretty normal.  What begins with doing shots bought for you by “admiring” customers spirals quickly into coke in the bathrooms, blowjobs in the liquor room, and so on.  I’ve seen many bartenders implode from becoming star players in the game they were meant to be refereeing.’

Servers and bartenders alike are equally vulnerable to falling into this life of one long never ending party shift.  I’ve seen it wreck many a talented service member’s life.  Don’t let yourself fall into the same trap.  Keep work at work, and the life you’re building a safe distance apart.  It will allow you to capitalize on some amazing opportunities that spring up across the bar from you.  Toby Cecchini’s book is tremendously insightful for anyone in the trade or not.  I strongly recommend grabbing a copy of it here, and giving it a read.