The Bitter Bistro

As a comedian, it's true to say that comedy is very subjective.  As a servant of the service industry, the same can be said for wine.  Depending on your palate, your taste preferences, and the strength of the Earth's gravitational pull that day can determine what you taste or smell in a glass of wine. One particular shift, an older man and woman were seated in my section.  They began their meal by presenting me with two drinks tickets given to them by the front desk of the hotel.  The tickets entitled them to two glasses of house wine, or champagne, or two well cocktails.  The husband felt he needed to educate me on what he should get for their FREE drinks. "Do these two tickets get us two free drinks."  He started. "Yes they do."  I professionally replied. "Me and the Mrs. would like two glasses of your best Chardonnay.  The best that you can give us.  What is your best Chardonnay?" "The best house Chardonnay?  That would ...

Over the years working in the service industry, I have come across people who have empathized with my plight of bartending and waiting tables to make ends meet.  These people feel the need to want to reach out and tell me how hard it is to do what I do, and that even though they have a "career job" now, they know what it's like to work for tips because they used to wait tables in college. This has become almost as bad as the customer who tells me at the beginning of the meal that they are "going to take care of me."  That never happens.  It is the "kiss of death," and the people who waited tables in college, did just that... waited tables in college.  There is a huge difference working to make money to use to go out drinking with your college buddies later that night, and waiting tables to make money to put into your bank account so you have enough to write a check to pay your landlord for rent at the beginning of every month. "Sometimes I...