The Jersey Crew.....Amazing friends with loving hearts...

January 1,2010

Do you have any idea what the best part about my job is?It's the people I meet.I have come across some incredible souls during my work day and or night. I am always so amazed at how different and loving and courageous people I meet are. And who would have thought that bartending would be such a full filling occupation. Of course it's really great when you are in a position to make quick and easy cash and have a great time doing it.
My job is fun I really have a great time doing it...Especially when I meet characters or groups of souls who have connected themselves to each other for the greater good of each other.This particular night I thought was going to be just a quiet uneventful evening at Durgin. Not because it's like that all the time but because it was New Years Day and of course I figured everyone would be recovering from New Years Eve.The night was pretty quiet up until about 8:45pm, when a group of friends came in and sat at our center table for eight. My Mexican Princess who I love working with,her name is Ana, she waited on them at first. Got them there drinks and a couple of appetizers.
After they had a couple of drinks,two of the women came up to the bar and they wanted me to make a shot for everyone to do. Now that is one of my favorite things to do create a drink just for a particular moment or a particular customer.Its pretty cool, " Kim can you make us something sweet and strong?" the young women asks with a sweet yet unsure tone in he voice. "Of course I can ,how many shots do you need?" I said with a smile." Four,no,five wait just give me seven." So I lined up seven shot glasses and grabbed my shaker threw some ice in it and looked around to see what concoction I could come up with. A little bit of Malibu ,some blueberry Snapps,sprite and a dash of pineapple ,a quick shake and a long steady pour running smoothly across all seven shot glasses until there was nothing left to pour.
"Ok,there you go,your all set," I said as I motioned to the girls to bring there shots to there table and get there toast done...After they were done both women came up and asked "What was that ,it was really good?"
I looked at both of them and asked " Where are you from and what are your names?" I usually ask this before I make a drink for anyone,especially if I know they are going to be there for a while.Both girls looked at me and in sequence said."We are from Jersey," they had this proud smile that they both flashed at me and then looked at each other,it was adorable, "Ok, then we will call that particular shot, a Jersey Girl Shot" I said with a smile.
Everyone at the table thought that was great as they made some noise and went on with there conversations and catching up with each other.They obviously cared about each other and definitely had a good time with each other. But there was one young man who kept looking over at the bar and smiling .He had the most gentle look,his eyes were so gentle, you could sense automatically that he was a very caring and compassionate man, you could see his soul through his eye's. I meet people all the time and I talk all day long to different men, boys, whatever but this young man was like no one I had met in a long time.
There was something amazing about his journey ,even though I had not heard or talked to him yet about the path he had been on till he walked into Durgin. Throughout the night they had asked if they could play a drinking game called Flip cup.I had never heard of it before but it seemed harmless enough.Besides I didn't think they were going to get out of hand,and they did have a designated responsible non drinker with them.He was the very soul I felt almost like I new him,his name was Ryan and he promised me he would make sure everything was ok. I believed him it was hard not to.
So they moved over to a high top got a pitcher her of beer and started playing there game.They had the whole bar to themselves because there was no one else in the bar.Before they started to play I went over and ask everyone there name just so I could make there s at Durgin more personal.I find that if I introduced myself to my customers and I I get there names ,it usually makes our meeting and there experience at the bar more memorable.
So they all introduced themselves to me, Ryan of course who was the designated responsible person, Randy(Yetti) who was about 6'3 ,maybe 280lbs ,red hair, blue eyes and a killer smile..he was a big boy with the sweetest teddy bear personality.He was the type of guy you wanted to just hug and laugh with because it was easy..the reason they had all actually gotten together was so that Yetti could take this food eating challenge,5lb burger,5lbs of fries,the thought of eating that much food makes my stomach hurt.
Then there was Harrison ( Pirate) I didn't talk to him much ,he was kind of quiet, Alison and Emily were the Jersey Girls who came up to get the first set of shots. Kristin(Balls)was a producer for a a T.V. station and Kaitlyn who is now Boston local who brought them in and Laura and Eric. They were all extremely sweet and polite and you could tell they loved and cared about each other.I felt privileged to have had the opportunity to watch them interact with each other and be a part of the amazing energy they produced while they were together.I love being around loving energy it rubs off on you even if you don't want it to.