I am feeling absolutely drained.
My freshly cleaned black shirt now covered in all sorts of marks and spillages.
My apron cleared of my things and thrown on my table.
My shoes, shoes I used for sixth form college, for job interviews, for nights out, for parties, shoes, that have lasted about 3 years of constant abuse in some of the dirtiest clubs Liverpool has to offer.. now at the end of their tether and coming away from the soles.
Almost like me and my soul almost being ripped out after this weekend!
Friday I decided I wanted to step up from glass washing and collecting, and so asked a supervisor about Bar Backing experience.. since it was a friday and the opening of the Olympics, the bar was relatively quiet and they said I could try it out and get some basics..
I didnt realise the work that went into it... glass collecting is great, run around the club enjoy the atmosphere, if you have time chat to some customers and have a laugh.. being on the glass wash machines similar but you can have a laugh with bar staff... bar backing.. you are a slave.
Constant trips up and down the stairs to the cellar for spirits, crates of bottles, ice for the wells behind the bar, making sure the crates of juices are full underneath each of the bar tenders stations whilst keeping an eye on the levels of all the spirits in their stations and checking what needs refilling, but at the same time making sure every bottle is in the right order.. keeping the back of the bar presentable, clean and tidy...
It's a LOT more than just taking glasses of tables, wiping them down and putting them in a machine!
I worked 9 PM till bar close on Friday night and ended up at home for 5.30 am on Saturday morning and felt destroyed but with happy with a good £10 in tips and a £5 bar tab for making the strangest noise, my signature freaky laugh, in the bar staffs Funday Friday competitions.
This is the first weekend I have been given both Friday and Saturday shifts so I had to work again the next day, honestly felt like I wasn't going to make it through the night.
I turned up last night for the second shift and had a breath of relief when I was on the rota for glass collecting.. half an hour in.. one of the supervisors strolls over and tells me he wants me bar backing again tonight.. the busiest night of the week.. im his new protege and he wants me to work my arse off. At this point I thought. "I am not making it through the night."
But the idea of getting to know the bar and getting some experience involving where things go and how much of certain stock gets used in comparison to others is a very useful thing. Bar Backing is also the next step up from glass collection so being able to get experience in it in only my 4th weekend in the job must be decent.
The only problem was the fact that we were understaffed and had only one person collecting the bars glasses, washing them and then also putting them back into the bar.. a job normally done by at least two people. So I had to alternate between backing and floor work.
I began and started by running a load of popular stock from the cellar to the bar.. I say running.. I should say walking.. the previous night started to hit me as I attempted to use the stairs..
The night seemed to go pretty well.. until we were told that only one person was on the main bar for both collection and washing glasses and had been for an hour so the floor was a STATE.. so now I had to somehow back the bar I was on and clean the floor for two bars... bar backing on hold... to say the main bar was a state was an understatement... it was horrific.. glasses, pitchers, shots trays, were all piled high on all the tables..
The final part of the night that the bar was open I was devoted to floor work and glass collection.. when we closed I was thrown back to bar backing and had to restock every fridge on the bar, this includes all the beers, the ciders, the red bulls, every flavour of our own vodka shots, the bottles of water, the wine, the champagne... then after the bar staff had cleaned their stations.. I had to refill all the bottled spirits both behind the bar and also in all the stations, my bar having three stations with the same spirits in each one, mainly vodkas.
This took a lot longer than I expected but probably was due to me now knowing exactly what I was doing and asking everyone who was already busy for help... but it got done in the end..
Then I ended up helping the downstairs bar restock. which has completely different stations with them being based around rum cocktails instead of vodka... so again I had no idea what was going on.. but that also got done.. we went upstairs .. counted tips.. ended up with a nice £14 and a new flat cap I found cleaning bits of the bar up...
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| 9.30 AM in need of a good sleep. |
Overall .. a decent night!
