Heather's Work Experience: Workplace 34

Think of the dodgiest suburban pub you’ve ever been to. The one with the same number of people on a Tuesday afternoon as on a Saturday night. And they’re the same people. There’s pokies in the corner, karaoke once a week and brawls pretty regularly. It smells of stale beer and sweaty people.

That’s where I worked when I moved to Calgary after Summer Camp and my epic road trip. It was on the same street as where I was staying, a few blocks down. And it was…dodgy. I could’ve earnt a lot more in tips at any of the pubs/clubs downtown but I had no idea how to get there or where they were. Gaaah! (Also, bar’s operate differently in Canada so for all you Aussies reading this I’ll explain. The behind the bar staff very rarely talk to customers. Customers sit at the tables/pokies and the wait staff take their orders, put it into the computer system, wait for the bar staff to make it then take it out to the customers who then pay for it. The wait staff keep all the change in their little bum bag (or fanny pack hehe) and at the end of the night count out what they put into the computer then keep the rest as tips. Can’t remember how the kitchen staff and bar staff made their tips…)

So I worked at Hexters. They sold lots of beer, some awful shots and cocktails and had the standard Canadian pub food. Plus wine, in either red or white! The staff never really leave, if they get fired they just come back and hang out as customers so everyone knew everyone. I worked there for about two months, earning $8/hr plus tips. I got to know a lot of the regulars and enjoyed it. It was a relaxed place to work most of the time. People looked out for each other and the little blonde Aussie girl was quiet a novelty. If you ever hear me say my name Canadian style, this is where I started doing it as no one could understand what my name was with an Australian accent.

The most vivid memory of my time there was one night when one of the regulars decided to take offense at something another guy in the bar said and started throwing the pool balls and cues at him. This was after lots of yelling and screaming at each other and a bit of punching… He broke a bunch of windows and glasses and scared the shit out of me. Fortunately one of the old staff members found me hiding under a table while this was going on and quickly got me out the back with the rest of the staff. Meanwhile a different previous staff member (I told you, they never leave) was yelling at him to stop being such a dickhead and she could take him yeah? She was very drunk and pretty shocked when we told her about it the next day. This guy was a true psycho. Anyway, once he’d left the rest of the staff just got on with cleaning up like it was nothing. Apparently it happens often enough to be common place. So we tidied up, gave our statements to the police and knocked off. I was a bit skittish at work after that and apparently the police are still showing up at where I lived even 2 years later for me to make a witness statement. I’m assuming every time he gets caught for something else? If you're in Canada please let them know I've moved on, ta.

Anyway. The other big night that I worked there was when they got a decent sized Canadian band in and the bar was PACKED. Like couldn’t even move packed. This was one of my last nights and I was really looking forward to earning a mountain of tips to fund my couple of weeks traveling to my mates at various snowboarding resorts. I was kept crazy busy all night, fortunately a bunch of the tables just wanted the same round of beers every time so they’d just wave at me as I was going past and I could bring their orders back as well. Most people were ordering doubles and several drinks at a time coz it took so long to get around everyone in my section.

My little apron pocket was so full of cash and I was really looking forward to the influx of wealth to my single digit bank account. At the end of the night the other wait staff and I were counting up our tips and it was awesome. Until I got to my total. $100 bucks? $100 BUCKS!?!?! The rest of the girls were pulling in over a thousand and I only got one hundred?!? Recounting made no difference. I wish I could say people took my money. Or that the calculator was wrong. Or even that ….something else. But no. The truth is that I am an idiot. In my rush I somehow missed that a double drink should cost more than a single and spent the night paying for peoples drinks with my own tips. Super sad face! No wonder everyone was so happy to see me and always ordered doubles. I am ashamed.

So after that super disappointment I worked a few more nights to scrape up the tips I could and headed off on my snowboarding journey of awesomeness. That entire trip is still one of my favourite memories but you’ll have to ask me in person as the stories have no place in this blog.

Memorable lessons when working in a Canadian bar – stay out of reach of the drunks, double check the cost of drinks, don’t spend all your tips/pay on the bar food and always know the escape route out the back in case of crazies.

If you actually want to see Hexters, there's pictures here: http://hexterspub.com/Gallery.php =) or below are some of my pics from one night there.