Down But Never Out!

Be aware, be very aware.....


The past couple of nights of bartending have been real cool but a little slow. A little slow because we 2 hours of lecture on alcohol awareness on Wednesday and 4 hours of the same thing on Thursday. When we are practicing making drinks, the time flies by so FAST, it doesn't seem like you've been there a long time. It was basically about knowing certain laws, and what to do in certain situations if a person becomes drunk. It is very important that you display customer service to all customers. Also very key to know all of the safety issues as well. We watched tapes of certain situations like carding people, people pretending to be drunk to see if they would get served at an establishment, results of bartenders not doing their jobs correctly. I didn't know that we was having a test on all of this last night, but I did pass it and that is one certificate down, and one to go! Today we will do cream drinks and get more practice on martinis and manhattans. I spoke with the bartender at the bowling alley last night. Was a pretty long conversation. He basically gave me some pointers on bartending. He also told me that not knowing how to make a drink will be the simplest of my worries. He has been there for 26 years. I think it depends on where you are working at of what will be the simplest of your worries. If you are @ an up-scale establishment like a hotel or restaurant, it may be important to know the drinks. If you are a spot like a bowling alley or a neighborhood spot, it may not be as important. They usually want mostly beer anyway, and then they tell you basically what they want to drink. They'll give you what's in the drink instead of the given name for it. So I think it depends on where you are at, but it is still important to know the drinks regardless.


No Longer Bankin'...


I went back to work this past Wednesday. I was so prepared to give them my notice of me leaving them but they called a meeting. Wednesday is the only day out the week that everyone in our department is there working. The meeting was wild. It was basically a decision by management that we are to start working on Sundays. When that was anounced, we suddenly were glancing at each other like, "Are these people fuckin' serious?" They said that starting February 27, we are to work 4 hours on Sunday, either 8am-12 noon or 10am-2pm. This was nothing that we had a say in. If we decided to miss a Sunday, then management will have a meeting to decide if you should stay on board. Well....I know you are waiting to read how I feel about this. Well, I DON'T LIKE IT AT ALL!!!!! I am not doing ANY collections on Sundays. I haven't in the past, and certainly not now. THESE PEOPLE ARE CRAZY!! I simply told them that I cannot do that at all. One manager stated that I will be jeopardizing my position at the bank. I had my notice in my hand, I slid it over to him. They didn't know I was going to be leaving anyway. I do not plan to work this Sunday either I also told them. It is not even overtime these cheap bastards. They would take 4 hours off of Thursday and add them to Sunday, so I would have to go out to Rolling Meadows six days a week. I told them "Peace!" and walked out. I went to my desk to gather my belongings and people were stopping me sayin, "Man, don't leave, don't leave!" I told them exactly, "I am out dis bitch and PLEASE do not try to stop me either!" I was out!!!! I suddenly then found out that I was NOT the only one to quit. Four other people quit at that time as well. One guy told me that Sundays is the only day that he get to spend the whole day with his wife and kids and the bank is trying to take that away from him. Management wouldn't even make any exceptions. He told me that he needs money to take care of his family but if it means the sacrifice of time to get it then it's not worth it. I was feelin' him. I'm not in that situation but his analysis of everything I could understand. People told me that I should not leave, but if I'm not happy, I need to do what I need to do to satisfy myself. So I was leaving the parking lot with a HUGE smile on my face and not looking back either. So where do I go from here you ask?????.......


Where I go.....


I did say that I was giving them my notice that day, so yes I have another position. I either start on March 7 or March 14. I traveled to Downers Grove yesterday to wrap up everything. Like my previous position, I had to get through two interviews to get it. The first one was simple. The lady really liked me. She gave an option of three positions. I took the Financial Aid Advisor position. Now with this, I will start off making less than I did at the bank. This is a temp to hire. I have to do 480 hours(12 weeks) if I am selected for this. Then they will decide if they want to hire me, if so I will then make more than what I was making at the bank. Kinda crazy hunh?...but I will and that's good. Also it is not collections either. Just helping people with their financial aid. In the group interview, there were 20 candidates going for this. I was told by the lady in the first interview that if they like all of us, then they will hire us all. If they like none of us, then you know what will happen. It was about 6-7 employers in the room, all had a hand in selecting the right candidate. The president of the university basically just opened up by giving a brief history of the university and an explanantion of the position. Then he went around the room and we had to answer several questions like define success, what are our top two attributes,most competitive thing we have done,etc. I was may the 9th person in the circle. I stood up when it came to me. I did they every time. Shit, you are supposed to!! Then the lady after me stood up. So crazy this was. I was very loose for some reason. I was str8 to the point, I didn't give a life story like some of the candidates did. I didn't hesitate or did my cell phone go off, like some did. I left there very confident. Two of the employers told me that I was very impressive. Even a few of the candidates told me I was good.......The next day the lady I had the first interview with called me. She told that they had their mind made up already before the group interview that they only looking for three candidates. I didn't know this. So a 100% chance of getting the position went down to about 15%. She told me not to worry because they told her that I was best candidate of the 20. They couldn't stop talking about me. They received all positive vibes from me. She also said that I should not worry about not being hired permanently by the university unless I don't like the job. My chances are very good unless I blow it, which I DON'T plan to do. I hung up the phone and I felt like........


-Da Original 1-