The average bartender - male or female - may have their own set of issues and quibbles with the job, but at the end of the day, when their shift comes to an end, they get to forget about work and concentrate on whatever deviant lifestyle occupies their time outside of the pub. They get to go home, relax and think about a life without the bar. Not you, my friend. When the bar staff have vanished into the night to eat, sleep or hunt down the elusive party, you're cashing up and refloating tills, trying to figure out how and why the cash handling has gone awry. When the doormen are sitting at home trying to unclench by playing video games until the sun comes up, you're reviewing the rotas for the next week and worrying about whether you've got enough staff on for the beer festival. And when everyone else is up again the next day, staggering through late breakfasts and slurring their way through hangovers, you're already back at work, restocking and setting everything up to do it all over again. You're the bar manager: the much misunderstood, much maligned gatekeeper and party pooper to the unwashed masses clamouring for pieces of booze. This is your story.
24. Youre The First To Arrive And The Last To Leave
While bar staff can often have their shifts staggered, you have to be there for the whole shebang. Youll start long before the shift starts, because theres always stuff to be done before people show up but youll finish long after the shift finishes, because youve got to cash up, refloat the tills and do all the last minute paranoid checks of the premises before you lock up and leave. In summer, youll end up heading home at dawn, which isnt nearly as beautiful an experience as it sounds. The only other things up are rats and birds, the gamer and the party monster. You're somewhere in between.