26 hour weekend.

One 13 hour shift on Friday.
One 9 hour shift on Saturday.
One 4 hour shift on Sunday.
6 hours sleep.

I started at Bar #2 on Friday and it was completely slammed for staff. 6 of us behind the bar, all 6 working full-tilt, 3 managers on, 600 people in the bar, $2 UDL's... it was a good introduction to the new place. When you start work in a new establishment, it's a pretty easy thing to grasp. You find out where the glasses are, where the wines are, where certain spirits are, whats on tap, you figure out the till, and then you get to work. The beauty of the bar is once you know everything, it's all about repetition. You pour the same beers, make the same mixed drinks, change the same post-mix bags and kegs, clean the same bar. If you're bored and you've been pretending to wipe that Toohey's New handle for the last 10 minutes, you can help out the waitresses during dinner service and drop plates off.

So back to my weekend. You hear a lot about bartending being glamorous... well fuck you, it's not. In a seriously busy, country establishment, you will be used like a slave to get everything done. I don't even understand why Bar #2 hires cleaners, we do everything.

My trial on Friday went swimmingly. Staff liked me, I handled the pressure, I enjoy the fast-paced atmosphere. They gave me a second shift on Saturday and asked I bring in my paperwork; always a good sign.

Saturday was less busy, thank goodness, but no less hard. They put me on the roster and I started a second job, which will actually be my main. So let's break down my jobs and the pro's and cons of each establishment;

Bar #1) is a smaller but very busy on Saturday nights pub. It's a nice English style pub and the management and staff are more like family than anything. We all get along, know each others stories and keep a close eye on one another's rosters. There's very little cattiness and the work is pretty evenly distributed. Bartenders double as barbacks, waitress's/waiters, food order takers, cleaners (to a lesser extent) and this is the kind of pub that even on a Saturday night, you can have a conversation with the patrons. I like Sunday shifts there. Also, we get free merchandise -- hellloooo Jack Daniels and Southern Comfort shirts. We don't pay for soft drinks and get great discounts on the booze.

Bar #2) is a very very constantly busy country theme pub. Not a high-staff turnover but new people arrive all the time and seem to disappear. I'd probably accredit this the fact we're HEAVILY overworked; no breaks during our 8+ hour shifts. Bartenders are bartenders, that is our main job, to serve alcohol, but we also share the barback work and taking plates out when it's quiet. We do not take meals. We do not know each other or really interact with one another except trying to get out of each others way during a busy weekend. This place has high security. Staff get nearly full-time or fulltime hours. Cleaning is a huge part of the job, I don't know why they even hire cleaners, we do everything from bathrooms to mopping to sweeping to restocking the kegs.

One is my money ticket, the other I'd do for free.
It's not glamour, but it is a wealth of fun.