Saturday, March 6, 2010

Observations from the Bar

OMFG !!

Nothing I have ever done in either life quite prepared me for last night, my first weekend night bar-tending. Just yesterday i said to a friend that I might not know what I was in for. And in the end I really didn’t.

I had to rush over from the gallery because the first band started at 7:30 and I wanted to be there by 7. Now I have been using the front door but I saw right away that wasn’t going to happen as people were already lined up outside. Problem was I never took the time to find out where the back door was. Just me being a dumbass once again. So I had to call my bouncer to get me in, which he did like i was somebody important and not the bartender's assistant. I have to admit that felt kind of kewl.

I was told from the start that it was best to wear earplugs during the weekend other wise your ears are ringing till the end of the night. I didn’t quite understand how you could do this and get people's orders at the same time. Well the trick is to wear one at a time and switch them every half hour or so. The problem is trying to remember which way to turn your head. I found myself saying ‘huh’ quite a lot.

Now the bar being full it was loud enough. But the bands sound fills the background. The bass especially echoes through the walls. And than there were five bands last night, the last one not ending till almost 1 AM, so like I said 'huh?'.

And talk about your characters. The main band was a Guns & Roses tribute band so the bar was full of leather clad Axel Rose wannabes and assorted groupie types and fanatics. All of whom looked to be underage and all of whom had proper ID proving they weren’t. Thank god that isn’t my area. If they made it as far as me, well, speak into my good ear and ill try to get you what you want. Even I have never seen so much black leather, studs, and assorted silver chains in my life. Almost like somebody decided to have a frat party at a BDSM club.

Finally there was a lull after the last band. It calmed down long enough to breath without somebody yelling something unintelligible at me. But than a whole different after hours crowd seemed to file in. I finally decided that these were all NYU students getting close enough to home to finish their drunken Friday night and be able to make it home by just falling forward repeatedly.

After cleaning up I met my friends at a coffee shop, ordered breakfast, and proceeded to fall asleep in the booth. There is nothing quite like waking up with a plate of cold eggs staring you in the face.

Sleep, shower, repeat. Hopefully tonight is a bit calmer.

But somehow I doubt it.

tuneage