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  • So Where The Hell Have I Been?

    Quick update on happenings in the Life of Jester, everyone’s favorite uncle, mixologist, sports nut, and beer guzzler. Yes, everyone’s. Even yours. Stop living your life in denial.

    When The Bar closed at the end of April 2017, I had some decent job offers lined up. (Rewind: The Bar ownership was nice enough to give the staff a good month’s notice of the impending closure, and did everything they could to help staff land on their feet, including transferring much of the staff to other properties if they so desired. They had no bartender openings, only server positions, so I decided to become a free agent. As I later realized, my pride got in the way of my brain.) Anyway, the two main aforementioned job offers were both bartender positions: one at the Navy Air Base, and one at Bad Fish Restaurant. I took the Bad Fish job and turned down the Navy job through this thinking: the Navy job would only be part time and would require me to get an additional job, and a lot of my regulars wouldn’t be able to come see me at the Navy Base. What I DIDN’T realize at the time was that most of my regulars didn’t come see me at Bad Fish. (Great food, great place to eat, not exactly the kind of place you hang out in and drink.) But not only did I not see many regulars, I also wasn’t making much money. And while I liked my coworkers and management, and the few regulars I did have, the company itself sucked ass. More on this later. So eight months later, I saw that the Navy job was open again, and reapplied at it. The guy called me a few days later to ask me if I had, in fact, reapplied, or if it was a weird glitch in the system. I told him I was trying to correct an earlier mistake. He never even interviewed me a second time, he just hired me. I started there in February 2018.

    At the Navy Base, I quickly became relatively popular, especially my Bloody Fundays, where I featured my own homemade hand made Bloody Marys, with six different spice levels. I still worked at Bad Fish two shifts a week, because the Navy job was still only part time, and of course I had a side gig MCing a local fun event. (Still have it. Not hugely lucrative, but lots of fun, and only takes up a couple hours of my time, two days a week.)

    This last September, I noticed a local bar, The Whale, was not only hiring, but the new GM there had been my first GM at The Bar, and we’d been friends ever since. I applied, intent on getting rid of The Bad Fish job. It amused me to fill out the application, especially when it got to references, as I listed her on it, and her position as GM of The Whale. She hired me immediately, without bothering to interview, and I gave notice at Bad Fish. It ended up being a good five weeks notice, because The Whale was going to be closed for a few weeks in September for renovations (it’s our slowest time of the year here), and I’m not a complete idiot. I did compose an epic four page resignation letter to the company that owns Bad Fish, basically politely and professionally eviscerating them. I dropped off sealed copies of that at HR after I had worked my last shift. It set off a bit of a nuclear bomb in the company, and did cause some changes. (I may post a version of that letter here some time in the near future, and a summary of the phone call I got from the company owner a bit thereafter.)

    So things were going well, I was bartending at the Navy Base, bartending and serving at The Whale, and doing my MC thing. And then two things happened, around the same time. At the Navy Base, they hired a new F&B guy to take over all the operations of every food and beverage establishment on base. There are quite a few, including the marina beach bar I worked at. It took Black Bert all of two weeks to manage to alienate almost all the regulars and staff at most of these places, including the marina bar. I won’t go into details; suffice it to say he joined the pantheon of Worst People I’ve Worked For, so now I have a cool five people on that list. At around the same time, my Cool Ass Boss Lady (CABL) at The Whale offered me a full time position that included management. As the saying goes, I may be stupid, but I’m not an idiot. I took the offer, and gave three weeks notice at the Navy Base (though I am still available for the occasional pick up shift if needed). Few people were surprised by this, least of all my old boss, who wasn’t being phased out so much as was now focused solely on marina operations, rather than dealing with the marina and the bar. I won’t say Black Bert didn’t have something to do with my decision, but he was not the main reason for it. Had CABL made me that same offer before Bert brought his wrecking ball to the Base, I probably still would have taken it. (Bonus: CABL’s all about me bringing my Bloody Funday to The Whale!)

    So that’s where I stand today. Full time manager/bartender/server at The Whale, with the MC gig as well. Working my ass off, making great money, having a blast (The Whale is a fun bar and live music venue), and overall enjoying life. No love life to speak of at the moment, but whatever. Biking more than ever, fattening up my bank account, and drinking like a fish. And just about everything I hated about Bad Fish, they do the exact opposite at The Whale.

    So, greetings from Key West, and have another beer, kids!

    And yes, all names used in here (other than Key West) are completely fictional, as always.

    EDITED TO ADD: Forgot to mention one of the biggest changes in my life. I used to always say, “I cook, but I don’t bake.” The is no longer true. Last year, right near the start of the year, I started dabbling in baking. And I’ve been on a tear since, making a variety of quickbreads, a rum bread pudding, cupcakes, a couple different kinds of cookies, carrot cake, and most recently, brownies, all from scratch. I’ve had far more success than failures, though even my failures were educational. And I turned my worst failure into the aforementioned rum bread pudding, which people loved. So while I still don’t understand baking instinctually the way I do cooking—so much so that I haven’t come up with any original baking recipes yet, just made a few modifications of other people’s recipes—I’ve been having a blast and seem to be pretty decent at it.
    Last edited by Jester; 02-12-2019, 04:17 AM.

    "The Customer Is Always Right...But The Bartender Decides Who Is
    Still A Customer."


  • #2
    Glad to see that you are all settled back in after the hurricane. What ever happened with the old apartment? I thought you said that it was pretty well trashed. Did you end up moving?

    As for the baking, I will bet bottom dollar that you make a kick @$$ rum sauce for that pudding.
    Life is too short to not eat popcorn.
    Save the Ales!
    Toys for Tots at Rooster's Cafe

    Comment


    • #3
      Actually, my apartment came out of Hurricane Irma pretty much unscathed. Key West was mostly unscathed. The Middle and Lower Keys, however (Cudjoe to Marathon) got pretty whalloped. Key West got lucky; it was on the weak side of the eye. A shift of a few miles to the west and things might have been very different, indeed.

      Irma was also my first and, so far, only evacutation. Initially I went to St. Petersburg, but when the storm kept coming at me, I kept going. I had a lot of friends from around the country offer me invites, but my friends from New Orleans were terribly persuasive: I’d have my own room, I’d have my own bed, and they live a mile from the French Quarter. Ended up there for just under three weeks. Even got a temporary job there.

      "The Customer Is Always Right...But The Bartender Decides Who Is
      Still A Customer."

      Comment


      • #4
        Quoth Jester View Post
        Actually, my apartment came out of Hurricane Irma pretty much unscathed. Key West was mostly unscathed. The Middle and Lower Keys, however (Cudjoe to Marathon) got pretty whalloped. Key West got lucky; it was on the weak side of the eye. A shift of a few miles to the west and things might have been very different, indeed.

        Irma was also my first and, so far, only evacutation. Initially I went to St. Petersburg, but when the storm kept coming at me, I kept going. I had a lot of friends from around the country offer me invites, but my friends from New Orleans were terribly persuasive: I’d have my own room, I’d have my own bed, and they live a mile from the French Quarter. Ended up there for just under three weeks. Even got a temporary job there.
        Good to hear that your apartment didn't get too much damage, or the rest of Key West for that matter.

        One of these years I'm going to need to head on down to Key West, I've got a couple of family members that want to go as well so we might just do that one day. Most likely to try a few of your famous drinks -- and to see how beautiful the Keys are.
        Eh, one day I'll have something useful here. Until then, have a cookie or two.

        Comment


        • #5
          Sounds like a bit of a whirlwind, but you came up roses, so that's good!

          And FWIW, I always suspected you'd get into baking eventually Just remember that it's essentially chemistry, and once you know what each of the ingredients does, you can do all kinds of awesome things. I bet the rum bread pudding was awesome!
          When you start at zero, everything's progress.

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          • #6
            Quoth Jester View Post
            I did compose an epic four page resignation letter to the company that owns Bad Fish, basically politely and professionally eviscerating them. I dropped off sealed copies of that at HR after I had worked my last shift. It set off a bit of a nuclear bomb in the company, and did cause some changes. (I may post a version of that letter here some time in the near future, and a summary of the phone call I got from the company owner a bit thereafter.)
            OH PLEASE DO. I'm sure it would be... educational.

            Comment


            • #7
              Quoth Valentinian View Post
              OH PLEASE DO. I'm sure it would be... educational.
              Doing so now....

              "The Customer Is Always Right...But The Bartender Decides Who Is
              Still A Customer."

              Comment


              • #8
                Quoth Android Kaeli View Post
                Good to hear that your apartment didn't get too much damage, or the rest of Key West for that matter.

                One of these years I'm going to need to head on down to Key West, I've got a couple of family members that want to go as well so we might just do that one day. Most likely to try a few of your famous drinks -- and to see how beautiful the Keys are.
                They are beautiful, and you won't regret going. I just wish it wouldn't be another couple of years before I can get back.
                "Life is tough. It's even tougher if you're stupid" Redd Foxx as Al Royal - The Royal Family - Pilot Episode - 1991.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Quoth Valentinian View Post
                  OH PLEASE DO. I'm sure it would be... educational.
                  Just read that letter..is sure is
                  I'm trying to see things from your point of view, but I can't get my head that far up my keister!

                  Who is John Galt?
                  -Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Quoth Victory Sabre View Post
                    They are beautiful, and you won't regret going. I just wish it wouldn't be another couple of years before I can get back.
                    I'd love to, really I would. It's on my To Do List, it's just getting everyone else that's interested in on getting things done and finding decent deals on things. One day, though.
                    Eh, one day I'll have something useful here. Until then, have a cookie or two.

                    Comment

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