"Thank you for that, 2 for 1 Happy Hour cocktails!" One of the key facets of the job is the ability to deal with queues, crowds, backlogs and the pressure that comes with them. Every employer is going to probe you about it during the interview process. And, as expected, every interviewee is going to respond like the world was once robotically programmed to answer: "Remain cool, calm and collected. I rather like the pressure that comes with the job. I tend to rise to the occasion and embrace the challenge." In bartending, losing your cool can happen very easily. More often than not, attempts to maintain control and establish some form of order is met with utter chaos, frustration and mistakes. Key to these situations is to breath slowly, think clearly about what you are doing, deal with customers on an individual basis and keep track of orders. Failing that, you could simply choose to magically hear an order for an old fashioned! Just disregard any previous advice regarding shortcutting the mixing process, take your sweet time making it and inform customers and colleagues that youre just too darn busy making this old fashioned to be of any service. Just watch the chaos unfold around you, stirring that over-sized spoon deeper and deeper into your own magical bourbon world.
