Day #1 at the Office

I blog today as a rich man... rich, that is, in the experience of having been a bartender/waiter. Note the slash in the predicative nominative; that's right, my job description expanded to include waiting tables between five and six PM when our waitress drives out from Laramie. But I get ahead of myself. Let me first introduce you to my place of business.

Sorry about the second picture, I found it on the web and it was only available in very small photos. It is, as you may have surmised from the sign above, The Centennial Trading Post. It includes a bar, restaurant, package liquor store (a.k.a. off-sale), dinner theatre, and art gallery. Note that theatre is spelled the British way. It's that damn good.

Anyway, let me tell you about my first day at work. The first cocktail I ever served was a Budweiser, neat. My first tip was a quarter even though I got pretty excited when I thought it was a dollar coin. The gentleman who stopped in really just wanted to use the restroom, but seeing that I hadn't had a customer in two hours, I told him that only paying customers could use the restroom, which earned me a quarter.

Throughout the evening, business remained slow. My total take: $54 in hourly wages (paid biweekly) and $13 in tips over 7 hours. So if you figure out the hourly wage, I'm right on par with my prior career as an internal medicine resident. I'm waiting for some wealthy out-of-towners to stop in and stay all night so I can make some bank on tips.

Anyway, I must go now, as my second day of work calls. The volunteer librarian seems to have sleep apnea, and is falling asleep at the desk and hitting his head every minute or so while ABC news radio plays in the background. More details tomorrow.