Don’t Take Your Work Home
Bartending involves socializing with people. You are on display sharing a stage, the bar, with your fellow bartenders. If you’re fairly well put together there will be a guest who wants to order off the menu. And by off the menu I mean you. Bartending also requires you to be taken into people’s confidence. Guests will spill their guts out to you and confide in you things they wouldn’t tell their own spouse. This confidence and the intimacy it breeds can escalate a casual relationship into something much more involved. The vast majority of these encounters hurt your ability to function behind the bar and take a toll on your fellow bartenders. Ever worked a shift where a clingy dude sits staring at one of your female bar staffers and you have to serve him because he won’t take a hint? Yeah, not fun. The situations that arise from hitting the sheets with a customer at your bar can make a mess of an otherwise fun job. Are there ever times where your physical activities involving a guest don’t spell doom? Let’s look at the four most common types of guests and their warning labels.
Regulars of Your Bar
No. Never. Getting involved with any regular of your bar is a terrible mistake, which is damaging to the establishment and to your ability to bartend. It creates an atmosphere of expectation every time they sit at your bar. If this affair were to create hard feelings it could result in them pressuring management to fire you or make you want to quit the place yourself. If you really need the validation then join a gym and date your trainer. Just don’t get involved with regulars at your bar. Don’t do it. Ever.
Neighbors of Your Bar
This is still a bad idea as a neighbor’s proximity to your bar allow them to drop by any time. An unexpected visit could turn into a fiasco if either of you have feelings for the other, but those feelings aren’t mutual. You could be flirting up a gaggle of women or they could show up with a date and now the other is sulking at the bar. Hard feelings all around. You’ll need your neighborhood businesses for supplies, sending each other business, or possibly a bartender discount at a steak house. It was delicious. Take advantage of being a beloved member of the bar’s neighborhood. Hey, one of those neighbors could help you land your next job. They are more valuable to you than as a sexercise partner.
Casual Guests of Your Bar
They live in the same town, city, or county where your bar resides but don’t visit on any regular basis. Their visit may be due to a nearby concert, bachelorette party or business meeting one random night. A situation like this should be approached cautiously as they could have other ties to your bar or the people associated with it. Take your time asking questions about how they knew about the bar and why they chose it for the occasion. You can also ask your coworkers if they know anything about the guest themselves. It would not do to start something up with one of the owner’s ex-spouses. If they aren’t connected with anybody at the bar, then some of these casual visitors won’t create a big mess for you behind the bar. Just be sure to set some ground rules up front. You may agree to only see them away from the bar. This would allow you to leave work at the bar and keep your private life, well, private.
Tourists to Your Bar
It’s tourist season! Travelers passing through town for a brief visit present few complications for you behind the bar. So if you want to have some fun then be my guest. Hey what happens in Vegas, stays in Reno! Amirite? Just know there are all types of people living and drinking in this world. If your gut tells you something is off, follow your gut! An inviting smile could turn out to be something else entirely.
