How long have you been a bar back?
Quite a while. I started busing tables about 10 years ago at the Ram in the U-District, and worked my way up from there.
Do you find bar culture in general to be lonely and pathetic, à la William H. Macy in Magnolia, or more like a festive community, à la Fiddler on the Roof, where Tevye arranges the engagement between Tzeitel and Lazar Wolf and everyone sings and celebrates together?
It's different in every bar you work at. My last job was more of the former, but if you want a musical, you should stop by for Monday night karaoke. It's a trip. By about 10:00 p.m., all of the service-industry people get off work and flood the place. You've got guys singing in the corner louder than the person on the mic. By closing, everyone's dancing and having a good time.
You say it's like a musical—is it more like Tommy, with pinball wizards and acid queens, or more like The Sound of Music, with nuns and Nazis?
More like the Journey Power Hour. Five straight songs of Journey. It's alright if you can tune it out a bit.
