This phrase may sound a bit cliche, but I actually learned a lot in my time as a bartender. Perhaps it wasn’t quite what I expected. Somewhere during the late nights spent enveloped in the thick smoke of expensive cigars and lingering aroma of perfume, I was somehow able to gain an important insight into the human psyche. For some reason, when I was standing behind the four feet of polished marble, I was subject to a publicly visible metaphysical transformation. Suddenly, I became everyone’s confidant, their psychologist and their best friend. I always greeted everyone with a smile, and was appropriately attentive to long, biased discussions about world events.
However, this invisible persona is not without its price. To be truly accommodating, to ensure that I functioned to the best of my ability as a bartender, I had to sacrifice some of my personal opinions. Now, that may not sound so difficult, and it does admittedly become easier with practice. However, I sometimes had to agree with potentially ludicrous statements, and feign interest in the most boring conversations. For example, I listened patiently to a wealthy business owner explain to me why all unemployed people should be euthanized. I had one individual tell me that books should be burned – public knowledge is dangerous. I met a guy who hated kittens (I wish I’d made that one up, but it was too ridiculously obscure not to share).
There are several topics that a bartender generally tries to avoid. These topics are: Religion, Politics, Fraternization, and Hot-Button issues (abortion, immigration, etc). The reason for this, is that it tends to become a discussion that other bar patrons may feel obligated to participate in. The majority of people are not able to have a truly objective debate, especially when alcohol is involved. One of the most important jobs of a bartender, is to keep everyone happy. This is accomplished by being accommodating, keeping up with drink refills, wearing a permanent smile, and discouraging controversy.
Anyway, I suppose I was just reflecting on this (for whatever reason). It’s a bit funny that in our society, there are occupations in which it is generally not in your best interest to share your personal opinion. People will pay for having an artificial companion, someone whose unofficial job description is to agree with whatever they wish to say. This could potentially be an argument for the arrogance of human nature, or simply reaffirming the fact that people like to surround themselves with people who agree with them. Try not to misunderstand – I am not condemning the people that require this type of social interaction. Rather, I am simply reflecting on the fact that our society is really based around attempts to solidify our feeling of self-importance. It could be argued that this is a negative trait, but I’m going to classify it as simply neutral. Confidence is important to the human psyche, and some people require extreme measures to be taken in order for them to feel good about themselves. I’m not entirely sure what the point of this entry was, I’m sure it’s mixed up in there somewhere. D: Anyway, I suppose if you ever become a bartender, you’ll understand. :p
