The Twilight Zone

Life behind the bar has been relatively uneventful over the last several nights. Every evening has been smooth sailing with nothing occurring worth writing about. I went into work today hoping something would happen so that I could keep this blog from growing stagnant. Be careful what you wish for. So tonight…I had one of those crazy shifts where it felt like I was working in an episode of The Twilight Zone. The second I walked into the bar, one of the owners pulled me aside and stated that he wanted me to create a sangria cocktail and set up a makeshift bar where I would make the drinks and hand out free samples for an hour. I was hesitant considering I am not exactly well learned on the art of making sangria, but he wasn’t taking no for an answer. Thankfully, I managed to come up with a quick and tasty recipe for an instant sangria. It actually turned out pretty well. If you want the recipe…let me know and I will send it to you. When I got behind my regular bar, which Steve was holding down solo, my first customer was an ambassador for a major sake company, and asked that I create and serve her a new and exciting cocktail using her product. What the fuck is this? Mixology night? Really? Why the fuck am I being put on the spot again? I made her a sake based margarita with lime smoked sea salt. She loved it, bought a round for the bar, and asked for my assistance with furthering the sales of her product. I accepted, we exchanged cards and she left. Finally…I could get back in the groove of actually bartending. A few minutes later the liquor control ran a sting operation on our establishment which resulted in one of my favorite cocktail servers getting caught serving a minor. The bar will receive a huge fine and she will be fired. Over the next couple of hours…because I was thinking about my unfortunate waitress…I made several mistakes ringing in people’s tabs correctly…which took some very creative micros management to correct, and another few minutes off my life due to stress. My last customers of the evening were a ridiculously rich, married, and obviously bored couple in their late forties…at closing the time the wife slipped me a card with their hotel and room number…and quickly told me to be there in half an hour…before abruptly turning her back and walking out. Threesome? The husband watches? The husband is passed out in a puddle of vomit in the hotel bathroom? She was attractive and my mind did wander a bit, but after the stress of the evening, I just wanted to make it home to enjoy a few beers. When I did my paperwork, I came up $25 dollars short. Fucking awesome. I grudgingly balanced my bank with my wallet…and got the fuck out of there.