Last nite’s class was fun. We did a lot of pouring at the bar, making tons of drinks on demand. My first drink set, the instructor told me to ice up 4 chimney glasses, and then he rattled off drinks which I made quickly with no problem. After I was done, however, I wondered aloud what garnishes to put in the drinks. I was gonna leave garnishes out until intructed otherwise, but Cop Groupie chick (standing across from me at the other side of the bar) said to put a lime in the first and a cherry in the middle 2 and a lemon twist in the last one. I don’t know WHAT I was thinking but I did as she said. The instructor came by and asked, “What are these garnishes? Did you just decide to put these cherries in?” I said, not wanting to be a rat, “Sort of.” He said, “No, you don’t do this unless the customer orders it that way. The middle two get limes.” And then he took out the cherries and twist and moved my lime over, added a 2nd lime. The lesson learned: NEVER listen to idiots over my own instincts. My bad. The rest of the drinks went extremely smoothly. I daresay I’m the fastest and most accurate drink maker in the class; the giggly guy (boyfriend of the girl who turned 21 the day before class started) rushes through everything trying to go for speed, but makes tons of mistakes. He puts the wrong liquors in, the wrong juices (like how did his Screwdriver end up red?), shorts the shots even with use of a jigger, knocks things over. A lot. But he’s a nice fun guy and knows a lot of drinks cuz he apparently frequents bars with his girlfriend, he just has to put some finesse into his work. I’m so glad I got the extra practice in over the weekend, that helped A LOT. I was the only one who knew offhand what went into Long Island and Long Beach Iced Teas.

Toward the end of class, the instructor gave me a Boston shaker (tin tumbler + tall glass), strainer, wooden muddler, upright supply tray for straws, swords, etc., and a full-sized compartmented garnishment tray. And the Flair Techniques DVD. All for editing what turned out to be just 21 pages of his Course Manual (the last 3/4 of the manual turned out to be copyrighted ServSafe material for classroom instruction on laws regarding beverage service, so that was already fine). Everyone was very jealous. He also did a big giveaway, and tossed out glass shotglasses (got one), plastic shotglasses on necklace strings (went to the giggle couple), little felt pouches for jiggers and shotglasses (got 2), and gave out his trusty Swiss army-style barknife/corkscrew/bottle opener, which he handed directly to me and said, “Why don’t you hang on to that for me?” I almost bought one over the weekend, too. I’m glad I didn’t. Cop Groupie chick nicely offered to help me carry my stuff to my car after class, but I took a paper grocery bag instead and it was fine.

There was a visitor in class — a long-haired lady who graduated from his course a few years ago. She’s apparently having trouble getting hired. She said she went to places she wanted to work at, nothing happened, then she applied at places she didn’t want to work at just to get SOMETHING, that was also fruitless, and now she doesn’t know what to do. The instructor talked to us about the economy these days saying new employment may be a tad slow, and then he reviewed her resume and said it looked fine. Then he thought maybe she wasn’t interviewing right, but she said she only got 1 interview out of all her efforts. Okay, now that’s scary; I’d always assumed I’d just zip right in and get the job I wanted. =P