Belly Up to Bartending
During my last two years of college, my plate was full. Twice a week, I commuted an hour and a half – each way – to my university. I crammed all of my classes into two days – 12 hours each – so I was able to work at my unpaid internship in New York City the other two days. At the time, I was lucky enough to have my very own apartment. It was on the third floor of an old Victorian house situated right on the shores of Sunset Lake. My mom – and her then fiancé – had handed over the keys when they moved to New Mexico earlier that spring. I loved that apartment, but it wasn’t free; so from Thursday to Sunday, I worked as a bartender to pay the bills. I had gotten my first bartending job the summer prior at a Jersey Shore hot spot. I had been a cocktail waitress in high school, but I had never bartended. Luckily, my best friend Amy and I both got hired and started on the same night, but we were extremely nervous – especially when they assigned us to ...