Next Stop

So it was with mixed emotions that I left The Inn. I was relieved because this place certainly did not fill my expectations of what being a bartender should be. It felt more like being a butler to the family who owned the place. The boys would come in every night after closing up the grocery store which was located right next door, and just have a jolly old time. Problem is, they, and some of their staff from the store, were usually the only customers. I wasn't happy and it wasn't a very lucrative endeavor for me.

But now what was I going to do? Sure, I still had weeks of unemployment compensation to collect, but that's not a permanent fix, I needed a job.

As luck would have it, a local contractor who owned a big apartment building on the main street of town, decided he would try his hand at being a restaurateur. He remodeled the first floor and basement of the building into what he perceived as a fine dining establishment.

What is it about the restaurant business that makes so many people believe that its an easy job, with easy money and that anybody can run one? Sure, the ones that are successful are fun places to go. The owner or manager and the staff treat their guests like family. The food is good and the drinks flow, everybody has a great time and it is a wonderful way to relax for a few hours.

But what isn't seen is all the hard work and preparation that goes into making each and every day a success. Through the years, the best places that I worked had owners or managers who spent more hours in their restaurant and worked harder than anyone else in the place.

Believe me when I tell you though, that everyone else employed there works hard too. The porters who come in and clean in the morning so that the restaurant is spotless when the guests begin to arrive. Damn, you can't imagine what they find in the restrooms sometimes! The chef and cooks who come in early to put away stock and start prepping food for later in the day. Hostesses, servers and bartenders, in long before opening, making sure their stations are clean, and rearranging tables and chairs for whatever reservations are booked for that evening.

There are many man hours spent before the doors even open, just getting everything prepared, and once the doors are opened the work certainly doesn't stop. There are no 9 to 5 positions in a restaurant and there are certainly no easy jobs in a restaurant, but if you're dining in a good restaurant, be it upscale, or just a little hole in the wall diner, good owners and good employees will at least give the illusion that they are having as much fun serving you as you are having being served. Truthfully, with the best employees, they ARE having fun and they do enjoy serving you. They treat their customers as they would guests in their own homes.

Well, this was to be my next stop. The day I was fired from The Inn, I went straight to G's restaurant to apply for a job. The strange little manager with the shifty eyes hired me on the spot and I started the next day. I don't remember much about G's. Here too, business was never very good. The main bar had a few seats but mostly served as a service bar for the people who would come in for dinner. They were few and far between though because there was an old established Inn just down the block that had much better food and definitely a much better atmosphere. You'll read more about it later!

The downstairs bar at G's, was where the action was. Unfortunately it wasn't the type of action I was looking for. The place was quickly becoming a haven for drunks, not too bad for a bartender, but also for druggies.

I had gone through a period, before getting married and having a son, when I can't deny I was into that sort of thing. Working in the steel mill was almost the equivilant of working in a drug store. There was always a vast selection of mind altering substances to go around, but I digress.

G's was developing a very poor reputation and I was enjoying working there even less than I enjoyed working at the Inn. My second bartending job was worse than my first.  Once again, something had to change.