I’ve Got a Mental Fixation
If there is anything that spending many nights in a row, completely sober and waiting on drunk “young professionals” has taught me, is that I value mental stimulation. As much fun as car bombs and dance music may be, I prefer a good old fashioned informed debate to any of it. I’m even responded to some of the most cheesy pick up lines ever heard, in hopes that that may simply lead to an interesting exchange of ideas.
I had a moment of clarity this weekend when I observed a group of young, straight, frat-boy types with popped collars jumping up and down, excitedly, and screaming along at the top of their lungs to Kelly Clarkson’s “Since You’ve Been Gone”… I’ve had enough.
Now, call it hypocritical if you will- I’m the first to admit I like a night out and a few drinks. But, I can’t handle the all-consuming lifestyle that accompanies working in a bar. Particularly one frequented by young kids who don’t quite understand bar etiquette (and I can’t fathom why they would even want to be crammed like sardines into my establishment in the first place, if no one is paying them to be there).
It doesn’t help that our staff has an insanely high turnover, so that most of my conversations with co-workers, your allies against the masses, have been reduced to “where you from, what do you do, why did you move to New York?” You can only play that game so many times in one summer before it starts to get old.
I did discover one kindred spirit recently. In order to combat sheer boredom on a recent August evening in the city, we decided to play games to pass the time. She suggested “virtual hide-and-seek”, explaining that we could come up with anyplace in the world as long as the other person could be well-informed enough to guess it. After she hid in the eyeball of one of our bartenders, and I countered with being on top of the hot water nozzle of David Beckham’s shower (smiling mischievously at anyone I approached while imagining the situation), I was hooked.
She quit last week.