I worked a double on sunday. Bartending in the main building, then cocktailing at night. It's been a bad couple of days...lots of people and not enough me. And then the bartenders keep mysteriously disappearing so I have to do that too. Yesterday I was at the golf lounge. A guy came in whose wife and daughter were playing all 18 holes. We'd just gotten through a huge rush -- when the temperature hit triple digits every single person came off the golf course and wanted lunch. Being a monday, there was only one server. Guess who got to fill in!

So he sat for two hours while they played the back nine. This is the part of bartending I really like -- getting to sit and talk to the patrons. He was a substitute teacher for years and had story after story. And for the last hour I had half a dozen people there. Strangers, but all friends for the afternoon. Say all you like against alcohol and bars, but it IS pleasant when it more resembles a pub...