Yo! Barkeep!

Well, scratch another item off Steve’s Bucket List: Bartender. Check.

I’ve often thought about going to one of those bartending schools and landing a part time gig at one of the great watering holes around town.  After all, who doesn’t like a good bartender?  They always seem to be smiling and having a great time.  I mean, how hard could it be, right?  Ha! I found out last Friday just how hard those smiling people behind the bar have to work to make sure that you enjoy your night, and I’ve got a greater respect for all of them.

When approached by Sara Steele, co-owner of Rush Hour Grille of Twinsburg, to inquire if I would like to participate in one of their Celebrity Bartending events.  She goes on to tell me that a percentage of all food and drink purchases and any tips earned would go to the charity of my choice. Additionally, if that night raised the most of the other celebrity events, my charity would get an extra $1,000 from Rush Hour.  I pretty much committed to it on the spot because she caught me midstream in my fundraising efforts on behalf of Train 4 Autism for the upcoming Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon.  The next thing was to pick a partner…well, duh!  That would be no other than Jill Earle, my running partner in crime and fellow member of Team Shenanigans, that fun-loving, beer-loving running team we tossed together last year for the Akron Marathon.  Since it’s always easier to beg for forgiveness than ask for permission, I volunteered her as well.  Lucky for me she thought it was great idea too.

After we picked the event date, an invitation went out over Facebook and we were amazed at the number of people who committed to attending the event, just on the first day!  To be amazed is one thing, but truthfully we weren’t surprised.  Our friends, fellow runners and the Twinsburg community in general are amazing people and would do anything to help out another.

We also decided to add a 50/50 raffle and a silent auction to the mix to get more bang for the buck and the Twinsburg locals responded in a big way.  We amassed 24 prizes for the silent auction in very short order.  Looks like we were on our way to an easy evening to raise money for our friend at Train 4 Autism…not so fast!

The day of the event, I showed up an hour before the start with my girlfriend to set up the prize table, hang posters and wrap up any loose ends. The prizes were in place, Jill was in the house and we were cruising. The plan was to grab a quick beer and order some dinner before the event, since I already knew I wasn’t going to partake while bartending.  My last food intake consisted of my usual post-workout berry/protein smoothie at about 4:00, so I was starving.  We ordered our beers and then Sara showed up…

She wanted to show us the layout of the bar, give us a quick tutorial on pouring liquor efficiently and teach us how to use the point of sale system (POS)…say what?  I thought we were just going to fetch beers, pour drinks and smile at the customers for tips.  Oh no. We were now a tad nervous since we were suddenly responsible for placing food orders, washing/sanitizing glassware, running tabs, making change and more importantly, on the hook for anyone that shorted us.  Lucky for me and Jill, we were paired up with Mike Dervic, not only one of my favorite bartenders and one of the managers of Rush Hour,  but a great guy who I’ve known for many years.  He just smiled and said “you guys got this.”  Yeah right Mike, you do this every night!

So now it’s four minutes to event start. I still haven’t ordered anything to eat and my beer with one sip out of it was promptly poured down the sink by Jill, who thought it was just abandoned by a customer.  She was doing her job already.   Sara issued us our bar towels and bottle openers and we were now on the clock. Cue the madness.

As I mentioned earlier, our friends didn’t let us down. They all showed up along with many others, hungry and thirsty.  The first half hour was like a horrible ballet between me and Jill as we bumped into each other, struggled with the POS and peppered poor Mike with questions.  I mean, how do you substitute cheese on a club sandwich on the POS. Can’t they just eat it without cheese and what the heck is in a Bay Breeze?  Just have a beer and a shot! The only serving mistake I made the entire night just happened to be to my long time friend Dawn. I erroneously handed her a Michelob Ultra, instead of her usual Coors Light.  When Dawn looked me square in the face with her opened bottle of beer and said ‘really?” I told her to “just drink the damned thing!”

Needless to say, we were swamped, which was a great thing for our cause.  The crowd was happy and as the night went on, the three of us were working like a well oiled machine.  We were flicking off bottle tops in rapid succession, pouring multiple drinks, serving up food (with the correct substitutions), sanitizing glasses and working the crowd like professionals.  I was watching our raffle ticket girls (Pam, Kim, Katie and Kelly) work the crowd and shake them down for donations.  They were having an absolute riot and it was fun watching them laughing, dancing and carrying on…the beer and wine certainly helped that cause!

After inviting my friend Christian Heller, the Cleveland Chapter President of Train 4 Autism, to say a “few” words (he was feeling good and was very wordy. Ha ha ha!) We drew the raffle winners at about 10:30.  Now, I must tell that was the most challenging part.  The girls were all wound up, giggly and feeling good themselves.  In order to win the silent raffle prize, you had to write your name on the ticket and if you didn’t and you had left the bar, there would be no way of knowing who had won, so we had to redraw a few tickets. Hence the fun part; as the girls drew a winning ticket from the numbered bag to the corresponding prize, they were crumpling them and tossing them the corner.  I can’t begin to tell you how humorous it was to watch all of them scramble, stumble over each other and sort through the crumpled bags to find the right one for the redraw.  In the end, it all worked out and all of the prizes were awarded correctly, but I still can’t get those hilarious images of them scrambling out of my head!

As the night wound down into the early morning, we knew that we had raised a lot of money for our team.  Christian was just ecstatic with our efforts and the successful turnout.  Everybody was complimenting us a great job and  a fun event.  Now it was time to wrap it up, call it a night and finally get something to eat.  Think again.  In reality, it was now time for last call, to restock the bar, clean the tables, put the chairs up, sweep/mop the floors, clear the tabs, count the money, and prepare the establishment for the next day.  We didn’t leave the bar until nearly 4:00a.m. and that’s when I realized just how hard bartenders really have to work, day in and day out.  I’ve got a new respect for anyone who tends a bar.  There is certainly more to it than it appears and it’s very hard work.

Mini rant:  I had an absolute blast tending bar, with two exceptions:  I had a stranger who sat at the bar and flung a bottle cap at my head to either get my attention or to show off to his friends. Imagine his surprise when I told him “You know, I don’t work here so I’m not worried about getting fired if I jump over this bar to kick your butt!”  The other exception with a few young customers. Seriously. You had a $60 bar tab and you left a two dollar tip? Wow. Perhaps you shouldn’t be allowed out of the house until you learn how to properly show your gratitude for great service.  I wasn’t offended for myself, but I was for all of the men and women and work in this field who get stiffed every night.

All in all, we had a great time that night.  We raised over $1100 for Train 4 Autism , learned some new skills, made some new friends and came away with a better understanding of our professional hospitality friends.

Sara and Mike, if you ever need help in a pinch, give me call. But I’ll make sure I eat first!

Specials thanks to:

Everyone who came out and generously supported our cause.  You all rock!

Rush Hour Grille:

Sara Steele, Mike Dervic, DJ B-Low and Big Lou, our security ace.

Giggly and happy Raffle girls:

Pam Loren, Katie Sorace, Kim Adams and Kelly Heller

Prize donors:

Twinsburg Paninis, Gitter Picker, Hair on the Square, Dawn Hendrick (Nina Michelle), Bay Lobster, Southeast Harley-Davidson, Jimmy Davis Photography, Romeos Pizza, Turles Gym, Gene's Outdoor Army, Armstrong Tack & Pet, Kristen Fennell (Scentsy), Justina Kurta (Tastefully Simple), Frannie Alesci (Alesci foods), Gary and Gloria Sorace, (two baskets and my smoking hot girlfriend Pam Loren (Hair Products).

Extra special thanks to Sheryle Kvitko for her very generous donation directly to Train 4 Autism!

If you would like to donate to Train 4 Autsim for our run in the Rite Aid-Cleveland Marathon:  http://train4autism.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=1056903&supId=376301187&fb_action_ids=4946282529108&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=288381481237582