Slow nights are a blessing and a curse.
What is You’re 86 all about? Bartending, which is great job! Honestly, it’s the best job I’ve ever had and I think many of you would say the same thing.
But sometimes things get real shitty, like when that dude gets real angry because you won’t serve him his tenth old fashioned, or when you zest the tip of your finger off or when creepy customers try to hit on you. That sucks, and we don’t like to talk about it. We like to hope that it won’t happen so we can go back to inventing cool new drinks, having fun with sassy customers and learning how mezcal is distilled.
But that bad stuff does happen, it is going to happen again, and it is only going to be worse if we don’t ever talk or think about it.
That’s what You’re 86 is all about. We talk to real bartenders about how they’ve dealt with bad situations at the bar. We get their point of view on what worked well, what didn’t and what they learned from their experiences. We share their stories here for you, along with a bunch of other helpful resources and advice from experts, so we can all learn from it. And it’s free, because none of us make enough money either.
If you’re a bartender and you want to go further in your career and be better about handling the worst parts of the job, You’re 86 is your best resource. We bring you real stories and information from real people so that hopefully you can avoid these bad situations or at least have some better resources to deal with them when they inevitably arise.
I, your editor and host Justyn Myers, am a working bartender like you. When I started bartending in 2012, I quickly fell in love with the job, but soon ran into bad situations of my own. They left me feeling terrible and helpless. When I searched for resources, there simply weren’t any. When I asked the advice of my colleagues, I got something like, “Yup, that’s just life as a bartender. Just gotta deal with it,” or “Yeah every situation is different, you just sort of have to figure it out.”
All true, but not particularly helpful. That’s why I created You’re 86, so we can all learn and have some great resources when we have to deal with bad situations at the bar.
We’ll have new guests every week and new resources and downloads all the time. Subscribe to the podcast on your favorite listening platform, join the mailing list to stay up to date. Feel free to contact me with any questions or ideas too, I’d love to hear from you.
Cheers!