The madness:
Standing behind a bar on a party, having like 50 people around, back-to-back with your bartenders, shaking 16 espresso martinis or 20 jager bombs at times, loud music, loud people, managers are looking away when you drink a few shots on duty because they see that you must work super hard to stay above the water and they are grateful. Oddly I miss those things. No bullshit, just "right now" solutions and improvisation. It was hard to come back to corporate software dev. - where we have meetings for two weeks to decide something. :)
Brotherhood:
There is this tendency in hospitality, that the businesses are constantly testing how much they can decrease their used resources, without losing the quality of service or revenue. This often means that the crew has to work harder and harder to get through the night because they haven't got the manpower, or there is some other logistical problem that the business 'saved on'. But the thing is: the harder the work gets, the closer and more intimate you get with your colleagues. You get a kind of "soldiers together in the trenches" feeling, and it's very satisfying. You know that all of you have to work hard to keep the operation under control, and you must support each other. You never get that intimate with people in an office.
The small wonders:
Making fresh coffee by the Thames, keeping the bar clean and tidy, managing ales, teaching kids to do cocktails and latte art, explaining wines. I liked those things too.
+1: confession. I must admit I never really liked to serve people. Inside I'm more of an introvert. It was always a bit hard to play the nice talkative guy.
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Do you ever miss your old job, or certain aspects of it ? (like interactions with customers for example)
Yes, some things I do!
+1: confession. I must admit I never really liked to serve people. Inside I'm more of an introvert. It was always a bit hard to play the nice talkative guy.