I hope everyone has a lovely New Year. The sentimental side of me wants to rattle off a list of resolutions while the realistic me knows I wont really follow them anyway. Instead I made a very short list of things to do this week, such as put 50$ in my savings account, and refrain from purchasing anything online. Its my horrible guilty pleasure.
Yesterday was an odd day. I did not expect any customers. For the 1st two hours I only had 2 customers. Mike and Jerry. Mike is a very nice guy but Jerry is an asshole. A supreme asshole. He says to me, "You know you have a really tight ass but you need to work on that big gut." Or something along those lines. Im not overweight at all but a bit chubby around the middle, mostly from drinking beer at work. I dont know where he got off saying that but I started to cry immediatly. He then got angry AT ME for getting upset. Started screaming and raving about how Im making him look like an asshole and such. Well he did look like an asshole and he made himself look like it. I didnt need to do anything to help him with that one.
He left, thank goodness. It took me a bit to calm down. But I got over it and next thing I know I have a packed bar and a packed dining room. Just me bartending and serving at once (not easy at all). And only one cook. At least I made some money and time went by quickly.

Although yesterday was my only day off, I feel like I have been off all week. It has been very slow and I actually ended up spending money rather than making it. Pretty sad. We partied a lot and had a blast. My lungs feel like they are going to implode and I can still taste the weeks alcohol on my breath. Time to take a few days before New Years and re-coup. I am hoping business starts picking up again. I desperatly need the money. My 'New Years Resolution' is to finish paying off my Victorias Secret credit card within 2 months- balance: $184.00 (not bad.. it was last years resolution also but the balance was $1,000.00 so I don't think I did too bad with it!) and I would like to have $1,000.00 in my savings account. That's going to take a lot of tips!
Wish me luck!

Lights out.

I went to work at 3 PM yesterday. As usual. I was cleaning and doing my opening tasks and our building lost power. My co-worker who happens to live above the bar came down and sat with me while I called WE energies and my boss. He told me to sit tight until the power came back on. It took 3 hours of sitting in the dark, in a room that was only 60 degrees, with 2 candles before it finally turned on. I got very lucky because I knew what time my regulars were coming and I had 5 minutes to spare. hah. Only 1 table came in to eat but they were sweet, and a few people at the bar ordered some wings and burgers. I didn't make much money because I only worked 1 1/2 hrs w/ people there. lame.

I worked my long shift yesterday for the Packers/Bears game. The only people that came in were my boyfriend, his brother, and a co worker. We played Rummy and it was decent. Very boring. But I had a busy weekend so I needed a chill day. No crazy drunk people screaming their lungs out at the TV screen. That always puts me in a cranky mood. I didn't really make any money, and ended up spending my pay on my massive Avon order for Xmas.

One thing I must bitch about is the cooks in back. We just put out an add where 2 out of the 3 coupons are for entrees. When my girlfriend, Missy, came in the other night w/ her parents she ordered the Chicken Parmesan. It clearly states that you get linguini w/ it. And this cook puts the plate in front of me with a huge slab of mashed potatos instead. Who wants Italian food w/ potatos? And what kind of a cook would randomly substitute something like that without letting me know first? That means I have to comp the meal and offer a free dessert. Not that I have any issue doing that, but I would prefer to make my owner money, not lose it. Stupid lazy cooks. She probably just didn't feel like preparing the noodles fresh because it takes 15 min.

Yesterday was our first busy Fish Fry in a long time. We finally advertised in a local business magazine and we were packed for 5 hours. I'm upset that I was not paid my 20% from the back dining room. Our servers are under 18 and cannot serve alcohol. That means on top of making drinks for an entire bar up front, I also have to have to make drinks for about 40 people in back. And to make it worse I also have to hand deliver every single one. My tips up front suffer because of this, as I am not up front to socialize or take care of them the way I normally can. Drink waits are much longer, dice games can't be done at all, I can't cash out machines as fast as people are playing them. It all turns into a big mess for me to take care of 60 people by myself. When we began this I was told I would get 20% from the dining room. They stopped that after a month. I don't normally care because we have been fairly slow and people have been low maintenance w/ drink orders. But I feel like I should have gotten my cut yesterday for all the work I did.

Bastards.

Last night was the first night in awhile that I had actually made any tips worth taking home. Even after having to go to a different bar in town to watch Tony shoot on pool leagues, and spending a lot of $ there, I still had a lot left over. Usually on Wednesdays I go home after leagues with only $5 left.

Tonight we begin a 'recession kicker' special from 4 Pm until 7 Pm everyday. $2 bottles and rails. $2 chicken sandwiches, 1/4 lb burgers, brats, chilli fries, or cheese fries. And if you order a $2 sandwich, the fries are only $1. I hope this brings us more business. I do think it is a good idea as long as we are still making a profit.

www.brewtownpub.com is our new web site, if you feel like seeing where I work. :)

Oh, I also had this guy come in who has become somewhat of a regular. And he tries to tell me that he will bring in more people but only if I cut them a better deal. Really!? We have some of the best prices in town! Fucking cheap ass people. Because paying $1.00 for a mug of beer is so unreasonably expensive. Jerk.

Our Saturday night special is '1 free cup of soup w/ any sandwich & fries' . This means if you order a sandwich, you get a free cup of soup. Not the person sitting next to you, not the random person you don't know across the bar, not me, but you. If everyone else wants to eat something, than they need to order something for themselves. You will not be losing any money by not taking the free soup. So leave it be. You may have just made me lose money. Thanks.


In better news, for our 1 year anniversary/Christmas, my boyfriend surprised me with a diamond necklace from the 'Open Hearts' collection by Jane Seymore. It's gorgeous!

I love my boyfriend. Truly. But really.. his friends all come to my bar a couple times a week while I work. I don't expect my boyfriend to tip me. But I do expect his friends to. And they don't. Or at least rarely and not very much. They also seem to expect a discount on food and free drinks. I occasionally catch them one, but god damn. If you want free shit, tip me for my hospitality.

Fuck you customers. Just because you are regulars and think you are my friend, does not mean you can tip me less every time you see me. 2$ on a 60$ tab? really?
And why is it that the person I sat next to tipped the girl who came on after me 1$ for every drink but I only got $1 for every 3 drinks? Cause we are buddies kind of? Or she just likes that girl more? I dont know. Shitty.
Not to mention the fact that my exes know I work at this bar. Ive been working at this bar for almost 2 years. Why do they feel the need to come in parading their newest bimbo around? I don't care, the only reason Im looking at you is because our bar is shaped like a U and you sat directly across from me. No, I don't want to fight your new girlfriend. My boyfriend is directly next to me, and you are making my life much harder than it needs to be.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Last night was fun. People were in a good mood. No whining and no crappy tipping. Just a lot of fun being had by everyone. It was a nice change :)

Customers were very nice w/ their tips yesterday. There were only maybe 5 people all day (Tuesdays are bad for us). But each left me at least 5$ plus everyone bought me a free drink. And no one was bitching at me.

Due to personal issues at home, however, I still couldn't be my usual cheerful self. I'm trying to hold it in and put on a happy face. But this is proving to be difficult.

I made 3$ in tips yesterday after working nearly 5 hours. damn.

I hate that people come in 1 hour before my shift ends, and I take care of them. And then they stay 20 min past my shift is over, and the other bartender either gets the tip, or they just don't tip at all.

weak.

Weird.

Me, Naydene, and Cheri on Halloween

I get to work yesterday. My boss is working for hours to fix the busted door and get all new locks for it. I have people waiting outside for me to open. It's not even time to open yet but I do anyway. I throw the Badgers game on and try to do all my opening tasks. Then a group of 7 women come in bar hopping. They are doing it for 'widow's weekend'. They are super nice and play some good tunes. Naydene comes in to gamble. She's our oldest regular. She spends hundreds on our machines and never wins much. I like her mostly but she's old and loud and in everyone's business way too much. She always gives me chocolate though so that's pretty cool. But she's orders food all too often, and ALWAYS RETURNS IT. She complains about EVERYTHING. And I want to shake this woman and tell her it costs us money to make her food and have her take one bite and throw it away. I to disallow her from ordering from us at all. I don't know why old people think it's okay to do this. They are never happy with restaurant food. It's never good enough, so why do they still insist on coming out to eat? They just make everyone feel like shit for doing their job.
Well, whatever. It was busy for awhile. And all of a sudden, nothing. Just Naydene and I. Julie and Dave came in. Dave gambles a lot also but doesn't drink. Julie lets Dave cause then she can drink. lol. She was at the bar during all of the drama the night before.
I guess it started out early. Julie came in at 7:30 and the blind lady was there with her daughter who is 26ish. Her daughter won Shake of the Day and bought a round of shots for the bar. She got drunk very fast and wanted to leave so she walked home w/out her mom. Julie got a phone call and went outside to take it a bit later when she sees this huge white van barreling down the street towards her. It's the drunk girl and she's almost hydroplaning down the road and nearly smashes into a truck after she jumps a curb. So Julie decides she's going to drive the drunk girl and blind woman home since they both can't drive. The drunk girl's pissed off and doesn't want to go home all of a sudden so while Julie is parked at a red light, the girl jumps out of the van's backseat into oncoming traffic. Which happens to be a police car. That nearly runs her over. Thankfully the officer took pity on the blind woman and after she explained the story told the drunk girl that either he was taking her to the psyche ward or she was going home with her mother. Obviously no more fighting and she went home.
The blind lady goes back to the bar to continue drinking. She's talking to a regular, a guy named Lester who's in his 30's, and likes the attention. Likes the attention so much that when Lester starts wanting to talk to Cheri, she calls Cheri a slut. Cheri goes ape shit which eventually leads to her getting fired.

Hello, drama.

I went home last night after I heard the story and had a couple beers. Nothing special.

More bad news..

At this point there's Kim, Jeff, Ashley, and I. 4 employees now that Cheri got fired. Then I get an e-mail from Ashley saying she got another job bartending down town and will likely not be able to do her Thursday or Friday closing shifts as she will make more working them there.
Fuck. Now I need to hire and train someone else.

You're probably thinking I own this place. No. But I may as well. I pretty much run it at this point. My boss has a full time job and stops in twice a day to go to the bank, or bring in booze. I would prefer to do all hiring here on out as I think I'm a fairly good judge of character and have been right about all bartenders thus far. I also grew up in this city and know most of the people here in my age vacinity and the crowds they hang out with. There are certain crowds you do not want patronizing your business.

Far past full time at the bar

Here I was, thinking I may find a new job. Could finally quit bartending. That'd be great. No. It's very hard to find a job in Milwaukee right now unless you know the right people. It's also apparently hard to keep a job right now, even one as lax as we have. Now I am at 29 days a month. I get every other Friday off. And that, my friends, is all.
I don't understand what would possess you to attack a customer. We deal with drunks. Our business is to get people plastered. And our understanding is that drunk people are horrible, rude, and disgusting sometimes. If you do not have thick skin you are in the wrong business.
You lost your only job because of a stupid comment made by a legally blind woman who could not even see you to give any reason behind the statement. Was it worth it?