Happy New Year's Eve!

Happy New Year's! This is my first "First Night" on this side of a bar in 5 years! I actually have no idea what to do with myself, but I am sure I will figure it out. Everybody stay safe and have fun and don't forget to tip! :)

New Year's Eve Behind the Bar

Here is an interview the Raleigh News & Observer did with me last Christmas; I figured I would drag it out since New Year's Eve is once again upon us....

Paper: News & Observer, The (Raleigh, NC)
Title: Make eye contact and have your money ready
Date: December 26, 2004

Good, bad and intoxicated, Jayk Kreider has seen us all.
Kreider, 24, a bartender, has become somewhat of a New Year's expert. His sober eye can detect a lightweight drinker at great distances while his unclouded mind records all that follows. He'll surely draw on those skills Friday night when he helps run the bar at Tir na nog, in downtown Raleigh. Kreider spoke with staff writer Frank Norton on the pros, cons and general freakishness of holiday bartending.

Q:What's the rowdiness factor on New Year's Eve?

A:Everybody is out, and all rules are off. People get wild, whether it's a couple getting real close to each other at the bar and not seeming to realize there are people all around, or just friends doing shot after shot, running around yelling and dancing. There are people who have obviously never stood on a dance floor in their lives who will get out there and try to shake it with the best of them right in front of the band. It's awesome to watch. The thing that gets me is watching how people change throughout the evening. A couple will come in and sit down and be so soft-spoken, polite and professional. They order that first martini and then a glass of champagne, and the next thing you know they're on each other's laps. You can break up people's behavior into several stages.

Q:Is New Year's Eve indeed an amateur night?

A:It can feel that way. You get a mix of people. Some don't seem to realize anybody else is at the bar, even when there are like 500 people and four bartenders to take care of them. Others drink a little more than they should because they're not used to going out drinking. It's also the night when you get the most people coming up to the crowded bar and saying "What should I drink?"

Q:To what extent is sickness an issue?

A:Part of the job is keeping an eye on people's drunkenness. Our policy here is that if somebody pukes, the last person that served them has to clean it up, so that's a pretty good deterrent to serving too much. If somebody has had a few too many, you don't necessarily cut them off, but you might just give them some water and tell them to give it a while.

Q:Do big tippers get bigger pours?

A:Not necessarily bigger; more like quicker. If you go out on New Year's Eve yelling "Bartender, bartender, I need a drink," it doesn't pay. Everybody needs a drink, and everybody is waiting. What doesn't hurt is to lay a big tip down on your first drink, introduce yourself and get the bartender's name. I know that when I'm busy I respond a lot quicker to my name than to "bartender, bartender."

Q:Is there a gender bias in the service?

A:When I'm out I always tell girls, even beautiful ones, that I can get a drink faster than they can. What you want to do is just go up to the bar, lean over patiently with a $20 bill and watch the bartender's eyes. When he's really busy he doesn't notice the hot girls or the people screaming at him, just who's making eye contact and who has money ready. That said, girls have flashed us here to get drinks, and that definitely gets your attention. If you're walking around a busy bar and all of the sudden somebody is topless and asking for a Midori Sour, you're going to remember.

Q:How much can you clear on a good New Year's Eve as opposed to a regular weekend night?

A:Double. Even though it's amateur night and only one in five people might tip you, it's so busy that you still make twice what you normally would. That could be anywhere from $350 to $500 or $600, depending on the mood, weather, location and definitely the economy. Restaurants are the first to get hit when people have less money in their pockets.

Q:How important is the holiday drinking season to your annual income and savings?

A:It definitely helps pay for your presents and then put a little away for the months when you know you're not going to earn as much.

Q:Is it hard going to work knowing that that everyone else is going out to have a good time?

A:Not really. Part of the allure of being a bartender is that you feel like you're throwing a party every night. It's no more stressful than having a Christmas or New Year's party at your house and worrying whether everyone is having a good time and getting what they need. And you're having a blast doing it. If anything, it's less stress than a typical Friday or Saturday night, just because everybody is in such a good mood. They're out celebrating making it through another year and are looking forward to a new one. It's one of the best times to work.

Q:Are bartenders allowed to have a little fun of their own when it gets close to midnight?

A:Not in North Carolina. In many states you can drink behind the bar on any night you work, but here it's illegal to consume any alcohol behind the bar. That part is a little bit hard, not being able to jump right in when everybody is doing their midnight champagne toast. It's not worth the risk, though, because the authorities are out just as much as everybody else having a good time. The thing to do might be to go out after work to an all-night place like IHOP and then to somebody's house to drink.

Copyright 2004 by The News & Observer Pub. Co.

Author: Frank Norton
Section: Business Work & Money
Page: E1
Copyright 2004 by The News & Observer Pub. Co.

More on New Zealand....

So, I have spent last night and most of this morning researching the feasability of actually moving to the South Pacific in a year. I have to say, that country is so damn helpful. the government website provides excellent, detailed information on basically every question you could have. There are plenty of headhunter websites, and lots of options for obtaining visas and permits. The trick is finding an employer to offer a job, so we can bypass the whole "Skilled Migrant" qualification.

New Zealand Bound!!!

For the past year or so my girlfriend Maggie and I have been kicking around the idea of moving to Italy in a few years and working in wineries, eventually opening one of our own back here in the States. The problem with Italy has always been balancing the beautiful aspects with the lack-of-amenities aspects. For instance, sports, internet, etc. Well, we decided tonight to move to New Zealand instead; if all goes well, we will leave next January. How cool is that?! So, this site may inadvertantly transform into a Kiwi Immigration bog.

Now, I am left with a dilemma: do I go work at a bar for the next year and just save, save, save? Should I continue my quest for PR work knowing I am leaving in a year? Or should I just get a few jobs and work my ass off for twelve months?

If anybody reads this and has any ideas, post away!

Jayk

New Zealand Government Immigration Site

Maggie and I at the Christmas Cocktail we hosted a few weeks ago...

Technorati : Italy, kiwi, new zealand, wine

Damn blog...

Well, I have been up since 7:30 this morning, and have managed to accomplish absolutely nothing today. More in a bit...

The Hunt For a New Career

As I said in the first post, I have quit my job at a popular bar in the 5 Points neighborhood of Raleigh. This has been a long time coming actually, though there were some events that sped the process along a bit. Have you ever worked so hard and so long at something, only to be eternally unable to shake the feeling that your eggs were in the wrong basket? No matter how many hours I put in, no matter how much fun I had behind that bar, I got absolutely no joy out of it whatsoever. Every time I quit working at a bar, and went and found a "better" job, it felt like I was either taking a step backwards in life, or, at the very best, sideways.

So now I am in the hunt for not just a new job, but a new career path. How scary is that? :-) I have decided, after talks and advice and much self-assessment to pursue jobs in public relations. I have a friend at the N&O (the local newspaper) helping me get started. I have known for a while that I wanted be a lobbyist eventually, and pr work (specifically press relations) seems to be a good way to start down that path. Plus, people have told me my whole life that I had a way with words and people, so I might as well take those skills away from an industry with only three possible levels of promotion (assistant manager, stuck-in-a-depressing-rut-general manager, and my-god-how-can-i-lose-so-much-money-so-quickly owner) to one with true advancement possibilities. Not to mention, how great will it be to finally work in an industry where companies are run by people who actually have the training and education to run a business. The main qualification every manager of almost every restaurant or bar you have ever been to has been an ability to carry food and write down orders without fucking up or pissing anybody off. That guy in charge of your local pub most likely has no clue how to turn income into profits. That is why restaurants last 6 years or less- untrained college dropouts run them. I have worked in bars that grossed $40,000 a week and LOST money! Simply because the people running it knew how to smile and ask if you would prefer Bacardi to house rum, but had no idea what to do with that extra $1.25 once they coaxed you into spending it. (Oh, and a tip- when you are out to eat, and the waiter asks you if you want something you didn't order, pay attention to see if he or she is nodding their head slightly. That is the oldest trick in the book. If I nod while asking you if you want to upgrade or add something, it is almost guaranteed you will say yes without thinking about it. Sucker.)

Anyway, I've gotten off point.

The Basics

Anyone who has ever had the chance to learn how to bartend begins by asking the same question: how do I learn all these drinks? My response is always the same; making drinks is, maybe, 10% of the job. Any schmuck off the street can learn what is in a Cosmopolitan [a 4 count of vodka, a 2 count of triple sec or Grand Marnier, a heavy splash of cranberry, a dash of lime....more on the counts later]. Knowing the drinks is not important. You always have a bartender's bible, a rolodex of drinks, or, at the very least, another bartender you can ask.

What makes a bartender? The ability to pour liquid into glass makes you a beer-tender, a drink-tender, but for damn sure not a bartender. Bars today have plenty of flash, plenty of style, but are seriously lacking in what I call the "art of bartending." What do you think of when you picture a classic bartender? A person walks into a bar and sees a tender polishing the bar. The person walks up, has a seat, orders a whiskey, and tells the tender to leave the bottle- then begins to spill his heart to whomever is behind the bar.

As a bartender, your primary purpose is to be a shoulder. I want each and every customer who walks in to want to be my best friend. I want to be the first person they come see when they get fired, hired, engaged, divorced, loved, hated, passed, or failed. A bartender should know every score to every game in every sport; they should know the front page, the business page, the best restaurants, and even the best recipes and the best wines to match those recipes. They should shake hands, learn names, and above all, remember what you drink. They should talk about everything but themselves. What do you do for a living? What are your interests? A bartender should learn as much as possible about every possible topic that you could possibly be interested in. I have to know Zadie Smith's latest novel (On Beauty), who won the Heisman (Reggie Bush), Carrie Bradshaw's favorite shoes (Minolo Blanics), and where the Malbec grows into the best wine (South America-specifically, Argentina, in my opinion).

Where are all the bartenders in this world?

Breaking Out

The past seven years of my life have been spent pouring liquid into glasses, making people I couldn't care less about want to be my best friend, and moving as fast as possible without actually moving forward. I have started this blog at the point in my ife where I recently quit a job at an excellent bar in Raleigh North Carolina to force my hand into moving on to bigger and better things. I am going to chronicle my search for these things, as well as recount some of my exploits as a bartender; I am sure there will be a bit of ranting and raving on the industry as well. Anyone out there with any comments or questions please speak up.... and any of you newbie bartenders with questions, don't hesitate to ask... I was the best in Raleigh, as plenty of my regulars will attest to.....

See you soon (but hopefully not from behind a bar!)

Jayk