Not Bad for a New Guy & Saying Goodbye

So tonight I trained the new bartender. We're going to call him...Aaron. His real name is much cooler, and I'm sure that if I tried really hard I could come up with something better, but I'm sitting here, at my desk, with a plastic cup of skyy vodka and cranberry and I just don't care to think through the delicious buzz.

I think he's going to work out. I've never trained anyone before, and he could tell but he took it all in stride. He laughed at our jokes, teased back and after all of the hazing we put him through (not physical hazing, we just pulled out the stops on all of our crass, rude and inappropriate inside jokes) he's still planning on showing up tomorrow. In fact, I liked his attitude and capabilities so much that I went ahead and threw him on the bar for 4 days/week, which is twice what I had planned on when I hired him. The customers liked him, he learned quickly and had such a great attitude that I figured I'd treat myself and Katie to two days off each per week. It'll be a nice change of pace.

I explained to him why Guy doesn't work with us anymore, and he seemed appalled by the condition the bar had been left in those days. He restocked without asking, bussed dishes to the pit and reached the stuff on the tall shelves for me (have I ever mentioned that I'm about 5' tall?). I think I'll keep him.

On another note, today I had to say goodbye to two amazing customers, and I'm really really going to miss them.
Greg is from the same small town my Memaw is from - Decatur, AL - and is truly just one of the nicest guys I've ever known. The first night he was in my restaurant, I served him the wrong wine all night, and didn't realize until he decided to change to something else at the end of the evening. From then on, we played musical liquor every time he came down to the bar - he'd order something and I'd just serve whatever I could reach. It wasn't intentional at first, for some reason I just couldn't get his order right. I'm really going to miss the conversations and laughs - so I made a new AFP: Greg must return and bring me Big Bob Gibson's. The end. It's Ande's Fucking Policy, so you know it must be done :)
Jeff is a veteran who lost a leg in Iraq, and he has the best sense of humor about that situation than any amputee I've ever met. He does bar tricks with his false leg, grosses people out with it and laughs almost nonstop. He knows a famous porn star, likes football and beer, and can make almost anyone laugh. He finished a marathon a few weeks ago, and had to use a hand bike, but he finished it. How amazing is that? I'm really going to miss his smiles and his jokes, and the new AFP applies here, as well.

Happy Trails