Gwyn Whieldon, grad, overheard a guy trick two girls into searching through his pubic hair for 10 minutes; Sean “Sully” Sullivan and Brad Weiss, M.M.H. ’03 stumbled upon a couple having sex in public, only a few feet away; and Gabe Dobbs ’10, learned how to concoct red-headed sluts and liquid cocaine by heart. This all may sound a little odd to some people, but for these brave souls, it’s all in a day’s work. That’s because Gwyn, Brad, Sully and Gabe are all Collegetown bartenders. In fact, they are just a few members of the revered coterie of expert mixologists who keep the wheels — and disco balls — of Cornell’s night life spinning.These dedicated individuals labor long and hard, working all hours of the night to keep the liquor flowing freely on the East Hill.
Dobbs, a bartender at The Palms, said, “It’s a high energy job, it can be stressful but it’s fun.” Dobbs is a fairly new addition to the ranks of Collegetown’s bartenders; he just began tending bar three weeks ago, after some hands-on training on-the-job. He said, “I thought it would be an interesting job. It’s a way to be in a social situation and give people alcohol but get paid and it’s a fun thing to do.”
Plus, he adds, “It pays and it pays well.”
Becky Fortgang ’09, is a bartender at Stella’s. She began as a barback, “because [she] needed money and because it seemed like a good environment.” A few months later Fortgang was promoted to bartender. She enjoys bartending because, “It’s one of those jobs where your performance dictates how much you make rather than an hourly wage.” Of course, she adds, the higher pay rate is a great advantage as well.
The high pay was also what initially prompted “Sully” Sullivan to become a bartender. He said, “I started bartending in 2000 when I was in school because it was good money for short hours.” Sullivan found the job opportunity when he responded to an ad on Craigslist placed by his current employer, Level B.
Whieldon is also a bartender at Level B. She explained her decision to seek employment there: “I had a very brief bartending job before and I was looking to make some extra money and I really like Level B.” She adds, “I really love Level B, it’s an awesome place — it’s the only place I would’ve considered [for employment].”
Whieldon justifies her love for Level B with a crazy story: “A friend of mine was there recently and he was talking to two girls and they were asking about his piercings. They were like, ‘Did those hurt?’ He said, ‘No, but my tattoo did,’ and he claimed that he had a tattoo under his pubic hair and they spent ten minutes looking for it, searching through his pubic hair in the girls’ bathroom until he finally admitted he didn’t have a tattoo there and wandered away leaving the girls standing in the bathroom in shock.”
Weiss is the owner of Level B, though he can also be found behind the bar many nights of the week. He provides an anecdote of his own about the place: “There was this girl here because it was her friend’s 21st birthday and she was sitting on this guy’s lap at the bar. They were making out and groping and everything and I told them to cool it down and they did for a second and then the barback — who’s tall enough to see over the bar —looked and they hadn’t cooled down. It just looked that way on the top half, but down below there was something going on.”
“It was hilarious,” Sullivan concurred with a smile.
Despite all the fun, power and prestige that it affords, bartending is a difficult job. Learning the drinks is not necessarily boring — according to Fortgang, it’s like mixing potions — or difficult. Dobbs said, “To be a really good bar\tender I think takes time, but just to do the basics — especially at a college bar — it’s pretty easy and pretty repetitive. It’s pouring a lot of beers, a lot of vodka tonics. There are only a few specials you have have to learn — things like Red-Headed Sluts and Liquid Cocaines.”
It’s not all about mixology, though, and sometimes other skills are far more important. Sully cautions, “You can know how to make everything, but if you’re not good at slingin’ drinks, it doesn’t matter.”
So what does matter? What traits are needed to make a good bartender? Whieldon says that a good bartender needs “speed and personality,” as well as “good people skills and the ability to deal with lots of stress under pressure.”
Dobbs concurs, saying, “I’m new, so I’m not an expert on this by any means, but one thing [that a good bartender needs] is efficiency. It’s really important, especially at a busy college bar … People are running around really quickly because they’re ordering a lot of drinks at once and you’ll need to get something on the other side of the bar and you don’t wanna bump into people.”
Fortgang, too, has a similar view; in her eyes, “First and foremost a good bartender needs patience and calmness because things get crazy and if you lose your head then you’re screwed.” Despite the stress, though, Fortgang is enthusiastic about tending bar — she is quick to respond, when asked if there is anything she dislikes about her job, that there is only one thing. She said, “Only the hours. Bars are open really late, so as a student it’s hard to juggle working ’till two in the morning and then getting up for class.”
Student bartenders face their own special set of stressors. Whielden says that the drawbacks of bartending are “…the stress, losing my weekends and drunk people acting kind of like assholes.”
Drunk people, of course, are a universal bane for bartenders everywhere. Despite the difficulties and drawbacks of being a bartender — especially while being a student — Collegetown nightlife will always depend on the diligent work and nightly dedication. Gabe Dobbs sums up the pros and cons well: “It’s a hard job, but it’s worth it; it pays well and I like it.”