Bartenders hear everything," Melissa Neuner said. "We're not trying to listen, but when you are talking about how you got laid four times last night, we definitely hear you."
Neuner, a fifth-year Education student, is a bartender at O'Neills, and her story is entirely typical. Yet, along with other bartenders on the Corner, she loves her job, despite other available options.
Work opportunities on and around Grounds are anything but scarce. When they can earn a paycheck in anything from work-study to retail to waiting tables, starving college students don't have to worry about wanting for extra cash (to say nothing of keeping up withthe cell phone bill and nights out on the Corner).
And for the most part, these standard-fare jobs are in relatively comfortable settings. But for some reason, bartenders subject themselves very willingly to bad lighting, disruptive mobs, sloppy drunks, blaring music and self-important frat boys on a nightly basis.
Why?
As it turns out, payoffs abound behind the bar.
"All I can say is that this job is very lucrative," said fourth-year College student Scott Reese, a bartender at the Biltmore Grill.
Tips have the potential to outweigh a static salary at a by-the-hour job. It all depends, of course, on the volume of clientele and how well you serve. This particular (inebriated) clientele, however,tend to be in quite the generous mood when leaving gratuity.
"Somebody once gave me a $100 tip," Neuner said, "just for working so hard."
Second-year College student Joe Steele, a bartender-in-training at Buddhist Biker Bar, has seen bar-goers scrawl out tips that are sometimes twice the bill - not exactly pocket change when you consider the size of some of these tabs.
And it is well-earned.
"This is not a walk in the park," Steele said of his nightly duties.
Though Steele has yet to learn all the ins and outs of his chosen profession, training comes with its own brand of difficulty.
"The hardest part isn't learning all the drinks, like a lot of people would assume," said third-year College student Chris Runyon, a bartender at the Biltmore. "The hardest part is learning your
method - how you want to set up and get organized. If you don't get that perfect, there's no way you can do this job. But the drinks you just sort of figure out as you go."
Several bartenders also said working on the Corner has been conducive to making great friends with their coworkers and customers.
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"I've met a lot of really cool people through this job," said Jeremy Lisle, a bartender at the Greenskeeper who graduated from the Engineering school in May. "Especially in a college town, the overall attitude is so laid back. It's so different from bartending in a big city."
Yet the real fun lies inthe observation. From behind the bar, college kids can absorb a raw reality as long as they are paying attention - and they are.
"Every bartender is a fly on the wall," said Jeremy Christian, a bartender at Buddhist Biker Bar.
At Buddhist, the Biltmore, O'Neills and the Greenskeeper, the responses seemed to be the same. No matter how busy they are (and they are extremely busy, so they ask that youall please stop screaming for their attention - they do see you), bartenders can't help but observe how their patrons behave.
"My biggest realization is how strong alcohol actually is," Reese said. "I've been working here four years, and at this point I know the intimate details about a lot of people's lives."
It is no mystery that alcohol can cause drinkers to reveal sides of themselves they'd rather keep private. Macho behavior, petty temper tantrums, scandalous love affairs and just plain sloppiness are among the lowest lows of human conduct that are on candid display each night on the Corner.
"Who isn't more at the scene of the crime than a bartender?" Steele said.
Not only are they the first at the scene, but they are there without the alcohol-clouded judgment.
The bartenders agreed that they used to drink more before they became professional servers. They have curtailed their habits in part because the juggling act of bartending requires sobriety.
More than that, though, bartenders realize their own behavior under the influence can't be much different than what they see each night.
"My job makes me behave," Lisle said. "I see what alcohol does to you."
Lisle seems to be one of many in his line of work who takes each day behind the bar as an opportunity to learn from experience.
"Being in this profession teaches you a lot about people socially," said Tim Yewsic, a bartender at the Biltmore who also graduated from the Engineering School in May. "From that, you can learn a lot about yourself."
Runyon sees problems similar to his own on display in his customers.
"It reminds me that I'm not the only one," he said. "I would describe my job as often therapeutic."
The healing goes both ways. Christian laughed that the stereotypical, brooding loner at the bar spilling his life story really does exist, and that on a slow night he'll feel more like a therapist than a bartender.
"In a scene straight out of some cheesy black-and-white, guys will sit down on a bar stool and ask me what I've got for a broken heart," he said. "But they often do have some pretty intense stories."
He would not divulge any such stories, noting all of them fall under the jurisdiction of bartender/customer confidentiality.
This level of loyalty may be a sign that despite the less-than- pleasant scenes they endure each night, bartenders don't entirely disdain the habits of their classmates.
"People just need to break out," Steele said. "It's just that sometimes they do it too much."
"People seem to forget how to act in public when they're out at bars," Neuner said. "But as soon as you give them a reality check, they realize they're acting ridiculous. In general, people are really pretty cool"
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