The Chasm

Bartending is an adventure into an environment where the boundaries are constantly changing. Every shift is like taking a roller coaster ride in social economics. One moment you will be watching a lonely customer with pity…sifting desperately through his wallet…wondering if he can afford a Bud Light. The next moment you will be struck with envy…serving a high roller accompanied by an entourage of beautiful women…drinking Louis Roederer Cristal like water…and throwing thousands of dollars around. So tonight…I had four young men sit with me at the bar. They presented themselves as stereotypical nerds. Judging by their sloppy attire…they obviously didn’t give a fuck what anyone else thought of them. They were incredibly high maintenance and basically created their own dinner menu…which was annoying…but they were polite enough to tolerate. A couple of them whipped out laptops from their backpacks and they sat with me for several hours conversing very quietly…almost secretly…amongst themselves…staring intently at the computers. As time wore on and more cocktails were served…the four of them got a little louder…and began arguing about who was going to get the last seat on the private jet the next morning. This intrigued me. You never know who is sitting at your bar. I did last call and they settled the tab with a credit card. I memorized the name on the card…closed up shop…drove back to my tiny dilapidated rented studio in the ghetto…in my old beat up truck…and Googled it. It turns out the nerds were incredibly successful venture capitalists…Facebook…Pay Pal…Napster…etc. They were collectively worth billions. I will work my entire life…struggling all the way to the grave…and won’t even earn the equivalent of the interest on one of their low yielding savings accounts. The chasm is absolutely enormous. At least I can afford a beer. We are where we are…and wherever we are…there is always an up and a down. It doesn’t fucking matter.