Tonight was my first solo flight behind the bar at the Local Restaurant. It wasn't a trial by fire, but it was certainly a trial by eight thousand fucking fancy fruity drinks. The hardest part was figuring out the computer system, actually. I had almost no customers that actually stayed to eat at the bar. The ones that did were very regular regulars that I had already met, and they were great. And I guess I impressed my boss to some degree. Basically the shit hit the fan in that place tonight, and rather than being available to me he was stuck in the kitchen expediting ttickets for over an hour, and when he returned I hadn't burned anything down, so things were fine. Again, I'm not saying it was pretty, but I worked it out.
The "Local" Health Food Store was pretty easy today. I wasn't really awake until about two hours into my shift, and since the weather was crappy I had many more customers than usual and spent a lot of my time doling out recommendations for wine and beer. Three more shifts and I am outta there. I will miss some of my co-workers, but certainly not the drive. After that I'm hoping to get some permanent shifts at the Local Co-Op.
Funny story about that, by the way. The manager in charge of Wine Related Stuff happened in to the Local Restaurant the other day. I did not know who she was at first, but I thought she looked familiar. Also familiar (even more so, actually) was the guy she was with. The guy asked for my boss. He was dropping off an application for employment. Co-op Lady recognized me, and mentioned to her friend that I was the one from Athens. And it turns out that he not only used to live in Athens, but he used to run a club next door to the bar where I worked for eight years. The phrase "small world" doesn't do justice to the weirdness here.
Anyway, I finally have some cash in hand and I also have a day off tomorrow. So I guess I will spend my day off paying some bills and doing some laundry and trying to memorize the ingredients for all of our ridiculous cocktails. Now to bed.