Say My Name

"What Society thinks I do..."

You'd likely have to be a familiar friend and follower of my blog to get much out of this one today, or even get why I'd share this little piece.

Much of my writing here has been about my full-time waiting tables job, but as you know, I just got hired on for a part-time bartending gig.

Now I didn't mention this earlier, but I've been struggling with a few insecurities in the days since I accepted the position...

For starters, I'm not getting any younger. Bartending can be extremely physically exhausting, and I'm out of shape, and out of practice. It's been over a year-and-a-half since I last bartended for a living, and part of me has been wondering if I can even still do it?

Plus, I got hired at a major concert and sporting Arena, which means this will be an extremely high-volume job at times, with lines of people stretching 5 or 10 deep, all standing there wanting service "now" so they can get back to their seats before the intermission or whatever is over. Arena bartending seems a far cry from typical restaurant or fine-dining service, and while I have handled "high volume" before (as a Daytona Beach, FL Spring Break bartender) that was over 20 years ago. Have I even got what it takes for this job?

Well, we're all there for "orientation" - around 40 of us newbies, altho just 8 of us are newly-hired bartenders. After four hours of signing paperwork and going over the more general corporate policies that apply to us all, it's finally time for us to be broken up into groups and taken to our respective areas - Retail, Concessions, or Bar.

When this nice HR lady who was there for my interview, turns and says to me "You're a bartender right?"

It was a simple matter-of-fact question. She might as well have asked "You drive a blue Chevy right?" So I gave her a simple matter-of-fact "Yes."

However, long-time readers know that this was not the first time I'd ever been asked if I were a bartender...

And darn it, the second the affirmative answer left my lips, things got oddly surreal in Guy-land for a minute there.

There was this immediate sensation (with apologies to York) of warm water being poured slowly over my head, soaking me from within, oozing through my pores and trickling down every inch of my body, to my toes. Some of you won't like me putting it this way, but the phrase "fresh anointing" later came to mind. All I can say is that all of my doubts and insecurities about my abilities dissolved within seconds after answering her, as I found myself silently mouthing those words again...

"Yes. I am a bartender."

If you've ever uttered the phrase "I got this," then you know what I mean.

Stranger still, there was this ooey-gooey warm rush of emotion I felt towards my lovely HR lady and new best friend, as she was still standing right there beside me. It's as if I'd been going through my life for some reason as "Greg" or "Zelda Malone" for ages now - and she's the first person who'd called me by my name for over twenty months. She knows me, she really really knows me.

I feel like I'm someone who didn't realize they'd fallen asleep, being suddenly snapped awake again by a trusted friend.

Of course she'd think I was some kind of weirdo if I put any of this into words at the time... All she did was ask a simple job-related question so she could herd me along the right path with the rest of the cattle.

But I genuinely felt like telling her "That's the nicest thing anybody's said to me in a really long time."