I need sleep!

It has been a hectic few days to say the least. I spent the entire weekend being arguably at the wrong side of the bar - that is to say I was behind it rather than in front of it shouting slurred orders! To say we were busy would be an understatement as we experienced a seemingly endless stream of customers coming into us, and I’m not talking about a nice comfortable trickling stream, I mean a “hold on for dear life” rapids kind of stream!

Despite complaining to everyone who would listen that I was stuck behind a bar all day, it wasn’t all that bad! While being stuck making lattes, cappuccinos and frapamachiattes (okay, I made that one up) for customers soon lost it’s charm, I was able to make enough money in tips to pay for my nights out in the Forum on Friday, Saturday and Sunday! I was working all three days of the festival and managed to go out as well… for free! I like free!

All this fun comes at a price though! Whenever I go out, I have a horrible habit of waking up at 10am the following morning. While it’s sometimes nice to savour the beautiful morning air, it’s pretty annoying when you had just stumbled into bed in a sorry state a mere 3 hours beforehand! Going into work on Sunday, I was already knackered. I was due to stay on until 2am, but decided against taking a break during the shift so I could leave half an hour early and go to the forum. A great idea you might be thinking, but I can assure you that any idea or plan that involves not taking a break during the busiest day of the year and going out and getting hammered is not recommended, especially when you’re due in at 9am the following day!

Despite getting to the forum at 1:45, I managed to drink myself silly thanks of course to the generosity of the Waterford public (oh how I love them!). Crawling into bed at 6am meant I didn’t have much time to sleep! In fact, I managed to get an hour of sleep before 1 of my 6 alarms I had set started going off! I somehow got into work on time to find that I was stocktaking for the morning which involved counting every single bottle of beer in the bar. Just what I needed at 9 in the morning with the eyes popping out of my head!

If 8 hours of counting bottles wasn’t bad enough, I then had to face another 7 hours dealing cards in Dungarvan. I can tell you that it took a lot of Red Bull just to be able to remain concious and it took every bit of mental strength I had left to be able to do my job! By time I got home at 6am, I collapsed into my bed and pretty much fell asleep straight away. I woke up one hour later to the sound of the postman at the door who wanted me to sign for some DVDs that I ordered online about two months a go! Now that I was awake I decided to watch Eyes Wide Shut, an appropriate film for the state I was in but I don’t think I understood what was going on as I was so tired. The only thing I remember is that there are a lot of boobs in it!

So here I am, laying on my bed complaining about needing sleep! You’d think I’d just put down the laptop and rest my eyes and drift into slumber land, but it’s not that easy as I’m so tired, it hurts to close my eyes! If I stay away much longer I’ll soon lose what little sanity I have left!

On the other side of the bar

So, I started work in the bar in work. I look upon it as a graduation of sorts, even though I’m only wearing a different colour uniform! I’m liking it so far and am getting to grips with how everything works, although admittedly I haven’t been on until finish on any of the days yet! The latest I’ve been working is 2am which was for the Newtown Debs, which brought back some painful memories from when I was at the other side of the bar the year before, ordering triples by the minute!

The night started off with mostly everyone being responsible, as did mine from what I can remember but within moments I could point out the people who were going to be absolutely hammered by the end of the night. There was one guy in particular who reminded me of myself this time last year. He kept ordering obscure drinks that he was trying for the first time and when he could no longer afford them, he started doing straight vodka!

I had discovered Sambucha for the first time at my own Debs and whereas everyone else was ordering pints of Heineken etc, I was ordering 3 shots of Sambucha! It didn’t take long for me to realise that if I moved from the bar, I’d just fall onto the ground - so I spent the rest of my night (the keyword being MY) holding myself up at the bar. Of course, people started buying me drinks because I was standing by the bar and I managed to drink enough to make me think I didn’t need the support of the counter to stand up straight - I did!

My own Debs night drew to a close at about half one in the morning, while the music was still playing and the bar still serving - I’m such a lightweight! I distinctly remember being in my hotel room at that time getting sick all over the carpet to the sound of “Sweet Dreams” with my date nowhere to be seen! The fact that girls were offering me head for free drink the other night really shows just how badly I messed up my Debs night!

Thursday nights Debs was a cakewalk so to speak. Only 90 odd people. We’re catering for 350 or so in the coming weeks. I have no doubt that there will be about 50 odd people like me at that Debs. At least I had the decency not to get sick on the dancefloor or piss myself like people did the other night!