My Cousin Vinny

I’ve been bartending for about three years now and have many crazy bar stories to talk about it. The first story that comes to mind is my second or third time I’ve ever been behind a bar. It was in the evening and the locals were drinking their beer, sipping their brandy, and watching the local news.  One of the patrons yelled, “Another round!” So I poured him another double shot of Nikolai Vodka on the rocks. We’ll call him Vinny.  Vinny has had too much to drink at this point and I’m only about an hour into my shift.  Vinny is aged in his late fifties, stands at about six foot tall, and weighs around two hundred pounds. A younger lady who is extremely loud accompanies him.


The Bar

The alcohol has led this mischievously duo to a lovers quarrel. Vinny’s lady friend grabbed his mobile phone that was sitting on the bar and began to make a phone call. Vinny didn’t like this so he took the phone away from here. So, for about the next ten minutes she mocked him on every word that came out of his mouth and yelled more ferociously. Crack! Vinny delivered an “On the money” backhand. I was in disbelief. This poor girl ran behind the bar and tried to call the cops. A few of the local boys grabbed Vinny and “kindly” escorted him out of the bar. After all this commotion, I began to think about the backhand. I have never laid a hand on a woman in my entire life and I think striking a woman is completely wrong. However, if anyone had it coming this lady did. I think I wanted to quit bartending at this point since this was only my second or third time tending bar. I remember when I applied for the job and was asked one question in which I answered no. “Have you ever bartended before?” My words of advice for the day are: Making drinks is the easy part, dealing with people now that’s another story.What would you have done if you were in this situation? How would you have handled it? Would you have quit?