St. Pat's

"I'm glad it's over."
-Jan (one of the owners)

St. Patrick's day is a day famous for wearing green garb, pinching people who aren’t, and getting drunk. I work at an English/Irish pub. We have Guinness on tap.

St. Patrick’s day is a day famous for being hell for waitresses. Last year, I vowed that if there was ever any way I could avoid another St. Pat’s, I would. I made some bucks, but it wasn’t worth it. Unfortunately, there was no way to get out of it this year. Fortunately, the place was not as packed as last – hallelujah for small favors, eh? Also on the bright side, I managed to keep from slipping into a foul mood – apparently doing so on Friday night was enough (not foul mood, murderous). I maintained my cool, and was even slightly chipper, for most of the ten hours (no break) I was at the bar.

All this, despite the fact that I got stiffed on tips more during that one night than in the past two months combined. One guy in particular bought around $100 of drinks for himself and his friends. I got five dollars out of him, only because he accidentally handed me a $5 bill when he paid for one of the rounds. At one point, he said “Did you give me change for that last round?” Yes, I had. I almost added, “and you put it all in your wallet without so much as a dollar for me.” I don’t like to be rude, besides, sometimes they leave money on the table when they leave. He didn’t, but you never know for sure. Then, there was the group who bought beers at the bar because they were too impatient to wait for me to get to them – when the damn place is packed, don’t assume you’re being ignored, assume I’ll be right over just as soon as I finish putting in three tables’ worth of drink orders – then they ordered four dinners from me and walked on the check (obviously, no tip). There’s more, but you get the idea.

In the end, I made more money on Thursday than I did on St. Pat’s. At least there’s a whole entire year to go before I have to do it again.