For University students who are poor, stressed and overworked, bartending is an option antithetical to college life.
Bartenders graduate from school in five hours instead of five years. Their education costs about $100 instead of 100 grand. Nothing they do involves syllabuses, theses or finals.
“Money is good, responsibility is low and work is like a party,” said bartender Tim Shipley.
For more than a year, Shipley has worked at Taylor’s Bar & Grille, a bar that serves food, beer and cocktails. Located on the corner of 13th Avenue and Kincaid Street., Taylor’s caters to mainly college students, whom Shipley said are fun to be around.
Wearing a ponytail and a blue shirt, Shipley said he also enjoys the live music that plays almost nightly at his workplace. By networking with the musicians and promoters who come to Taylor’s, he has garnered free tickets to concerts at local venues.
What Shipley said he does not like about bartending is dealing with drunks. Restricted by state law, Shipley cannot serve patrons who are visibly intoxicated. But if upset customers yell or cuss at Shipley, security will ask them to leave.
Sometimes, Shipley said, he has to work even though he doesn’t feel like socializing with patrons. But it’s part of the job. Although he likes to be left alone sometimes, Shipley said some customers still approach him when he is off-duty.
“People act like your best friend when you hardly know them,” he said.
Doug Beaird, Class of ’98, is the assistant manager at East 19th Street Cafe, a McMenamins pub at East 19th Avenue and Agate Street that has an attitude and clientele that differs from Taylor’s. It serves both the campus and the residential neighborhoods.
McMenamins pubs are known for their unique, warm atmospheres that, according to Beaird, attract good, nice people who enjoy hanging out. Because the pub serves microbrews instead of hard alcohol, he said it is more family-oriented than Taylor’s.
“Most clients are just interested in having a couple of beers with dinner,” he said.
Beaird said this more intimate atmosphere allows him to building a rapport with the regulars.
“I get to know what they do in their lives, and they are interested in what we do,” Beaird said.
The pub’s unique flavor is its emphasis of the counter-culture. Posters of the Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix and Fleetwood Mac hang on the wooden walls. Because the entire staff cooks, waits tables and pours drinks, the tips are pooled.
“We’re all communists here,” Beaird joked.
Beaird, who started working at the pub during law school, said bartending “is the perfect job for students.” He said it offers flexible hours, good money, a good distraction and interaction with lots of people. Beaird said he plans to keep his job at the cafe while he studies for the state bar exam.
Mike D’Amacio, bar manager at Mona Lizza, an Italian restaurant at 830 Olive St., graduated with a degree in business/finance, but swerved into the trade of bartending.
“If you lost your real job, you can fall back on bartending and make some good money,” he said.
Although he guessed that Eugene bartenders might make around $30,000, D’Amacio said that “it is not uncommon for a bartender in a big city to make $60,000 to $80,000.”
D’Amacio moved to Eugene from Orlando, Fla., where he worked at T.G.I. Friday’s and Black Angus Restaurant.
“Here it is more refined and conservative in restaurants,” he said. “People are more wild and crazy on the East Coast. Things stay open later, and people drink lots of shots.”
D’Amacio said in Florida more people drink cocktails or domestic and imported beers than microbrews. From his experience in Florida, D’Amacio said he knows more than 300 drinks and uses bar flair. He described this as a visual display of flipping cups and bottles that was popularized in the 1988 Tom Cruise movie “Cocktail.”
“It’s a good show; it’s something different and by going the extra mile, I get tipped better,” he said.
But Shipley disagreed.
“Flair is a joke,” he said. “It might look good to girls, but it just takes me longer to get or make my drink. It’s making a show of bartending instead of just doing your job.”