The Bartender

Chapter 4

It had been a month since Niccola had shared his story with me and he seemed to be fitting in with the other employees. It was Monday night and the crowd was fairly small. I walked over to the bar to check on how everyone was doing. Alice still looked tired, but not exhausted anymore which was an improvement. I stopped and chatted with her for a few minutes and found out she was on Thanksgiving break, so she could get a bit more sleep now.  She was soon called over by another customer and I continued my rounds. I saw Niccola pour a drink for a man sitting at the bar and nearly slapped him upside the head right then and there for doing it wrong.

“Nicholas, can I speak with you for a moment?” I said walking up to him. We had agreed that I would continue to refer to him as Nicholas when in the presence of other people.

“Yeah, sure. What’s up?” he asked with a smile on his face.

“Who taught you how to pour like that?” I demanded

“Jason. Why?” He now looked puzzled.

“Figures. Because you’re doing it all wrong.”

“I am? How?” he asked.

“Look, Jason learned to pour from Hollywood movies and no matter how many times I have tried to tell him that it’s wrong, he refuses to listen to me. So I have to retrain you and show you the correct way.”

“I didn’t realize there was a correct and incorrect way to pour a drink.”

“You bet your pretty little face there is. After we close, stay behind and I’ll show you how to pour any kind of drink you can think of.”

That night after the last customer had left and we finally closed I pulled Niccola over to the bar. I stood behind it while he stood on the other side facing me. I grabbed a scotch glass and handed a scotch bottle to Niccola. “Now pay attention. When pouring a straight drink hold it up high- no higher, higher, there you go! Now pour from there.”

“But won’t it splash everywhere?”

“Honey there are so many people who spill their drinks all over the place, the bar is pretty much any kind of liquid proof. Besides, it doesn’t splash that much.”

“Okay. If you say so.” He still looked a bit unsure of himself.

“Just pour.”

“In that tiny glass?”

“Yes.” He did as told and most of the liquid landed in the glass.

“Hey, I did it!” he looked so excited over his accomplishment.

“Yes you did.” I said laughing a little.

“So what’s the point of pouring so high up?”

“It’s a trick of the eye. Almost everything we do here is a trick of the eye. Watch.” I grabbed two more scotch glasses and two bottles of scotch. I lifted one in the air, the correct way, and I placed the other on the lip of the glass and poured both bottles filling the glasses to the correct amount. “Now which one does it look like I poured more in? Just based off my pouring technique.”

“The one in the air.”

“Exactly. Even though I poured the exact same amount, it looks like I’m pouring more in the glass when the bottle is higher because the liquid has farther to go to make it into the glass, therefore making the customers think they’re getting a better deal and want to buy more.”

“Well that makes sense.” He said. I spent the next two hours teaching Niccola how to mix and pour drinks.

“Can we please call it quits now? It’s four in the morning and if I have to mix another drink, my brain is going to explode.” Niccola said dropping his head onto the bar. I chuckled at his dramatic statement.