Personal opinions

The many faces of the barman

Good morning friends, I will soon go to the bar to do cleaning, even if it is the day of rest. The dust leaves no way out and there is nothing worse than seeing all those beautiful bottles with an opaque tone. And the nice thing is that I don't mind at all. Spending the afternoon dusting, rewashing glasses that are used less, going over the cutlery and utensils are an exceptional relaxation for me. Positioning all the goodies (also called dust collectors) given away by customers and friends well helps you relax to face a new week. And you also come up with new things to propose, to experiment. I have already said how much I love this work which, however, as you can well understand, has a side not seen by most. When a person is in charge of his premises, he must also practice doing a bit of everything such as maintenance. A sink gets clogged, the ice maker gets mad, the button on the toilet bowl doesn't work,… and all when, a little later, maybe Saturday night's work begins. You have to roll up your sleeves and try to stop somehow and make up for the malfunctions. It is difficult to find a suitable technician and if you find one, you have played for the evening's gain, with all due respect for the work of others. This work is not just the theatrical part of being behind a counter or in the room with people chatting; when these setbacks arise it is also improvisation and imagination on how to stop and solve the problem at least until Monday. The true professional is also this….
 hello friends and colleagues and to the next .... thoughts.

Trevirtu This is me in one of my performances !! THANKS to Pixabay for the FREE images !!

The unknown barmen

Thursday, hello friends, today I want to break a lance in favor of those barmen who have been carrying out their work for years with professionalism and dedication but who, like me, have not managed to emerge. And there are hundreds if not thousands who, when you are sitting at the counter in front of them, know how to convey to you all the love and commitment and passion they put in to satisfy your request. You can notice it from the moment you enter a place, be it chic or humble. All the furnishings, objects, the bottle shop have their own precise position, have a "meaning", and the smile of those who welcome you is sincere, it belongs to the person who has prepared all this so that you, entering his room, you feel at home even if you are a thousand kilometers from your family. It doesn't matter whether he knows how to prepare a Daiquiri or a frozen Margarita, what he will do, perhaps a coffee or a Milan-Turin, will be prepared in the best way he knows ... and he will have a special taste because he has been able to transmit the love for his work to you. . These people have never received the attention of the media, perhaps because they have never sought it or because they have not been able to "sell themselves" well (professionally). They have never found the right hook to be noticed in some magazine of the sector, they did not take care of public relations with insiders. They have always and only paid attention to their customers, to the service of hospitality to which, as a job, they have dedicated their lives. I dedicate these lines to those Barman (with a capital B) who may not know how to amaze you with the evolution of the bottles but they know how to make you feel emotions that you will find in the drink prepared for you, or in the phrase said to cheer you up or in the handshake in the time of goodbye. Yes, it is true, I am a little reluctant to new fashions, but I am not against generational changes, I am now from other times and I have learned to be a barman with teachings from other times. Young people are teaching me new forms of expression from behind the counter, it's interesting, but when I sip a Dry Martini from some colleague I like to see the linearity of the movements, the quantities cured by the drop, the mixing from the bottom up, the twist or the sliding olive, as if to remember the hands of a painter. These are the emotions that interest me, in summary, human contact even if far from the spotlight. Hello, to the next… thoughts.

Importance of the word "barman"
Hello everyone, my name is Sergio, aka Trevirtu. I have been a professional barman for many years by vocation and even if technology is not my strong point I try to express my impressions of this fantastic world (that of the bar of course), perhaps to share them with colleagues, but above all dedicated to young people who want to undertake this fantastic profession. I would like to give you young people some more food for thought before embarking on this path. According to the timing of my work I will write my thoughts from time to time also expecting criticisms that will be normal for them to arrive. I hope constructive. The importance of the word Barman, entered from English into Italian and Spanish. In the years between 1978 and 1983 when I was in my apprenticeship, it was a qualification that only true professionals could use. They were respected, almost pampered by people who could take advantage of their attention. The world changes, times change and for a person like me it can become difficult to understand and adapt to changes but I can say that the word barman has undergone unprecedented inflation. Today ALL the people who work behind a bar say they are "barmen", but do we realize the exaggeration? This profession, like all the others in this world, requires learning, study, a lot of practice, a lot of grooming almost to the point of wanting to cry and drop everything. But you don't do it because you like it, you want to succeed and you put the toad down because you have to keep learning and STEAL the trade, to become like your boss. Yes, the trade is STOLEN, you notice every movement, every gesture, every word as if it were all pure gold, at that moment you are just a bar commis and your boss has only reproaches for you. And he never explains anything to you, he lets you figure it out for yourself what you have to do; then after maybe years of lump in the throat, the boss tells you: ".. today you are behind the counter, I have other things to do ....", it's your chance, you are terrified and happy, the curries he gave you vanish and you think "... I can do it ...". Time spent in months or years studying books upon books and working hard alongside your teacher seems to be paying off. You did not notice it but in the time spent for the mess you noticed the boss in many different situations to deal with and you have assimilated the various possibilities. Customer management in high spirits, the one who is never happy, the desperate one, the pimp, the undecided one and so on. You have seen how the bar is managed, how the cleaning is done, the supplies are done and without realizing it you have become a professional, but in the meantime it has been years to learn the techniques of mixing, of service, notions of commodities on spirits, liqueurs, etc. And it also helped you to understand that mixing drinks is, yes, important, but it only represents 5 or 10% of the bartender's job. Now returning to the present, the new fashions of MIXOLOGY require other knowledge to do new things but a true barman must know the basic rules of mixed drinking without which nothing new can be built. I appeal to young people who want to start, do not get caught up in the euphoria of becoming a barman because you have seen the free-style of someone who has thrilled you, learning the trade is hard and there are many things, it is as extensive as becoming a good chef ; think if you really want to take this path and then the possibilities are different; attending a hotel school or trying to get hired by some well-known local, remember that to be a good barman you must also be a good waiter. Better and perhaps easier to start as a waiter in a restaurant. Today there are also many associations that offer courses for bartenders, many very serious and some less so, keep in mind that a non-intensive course of a few months can only give you the basis to continue learning by working with some good teachers. I had read this maxim "Three years spent reading a book is not the same as three hours of explanation from a teacher." So think if you could spend so much time with a good teacher how many things could be learned. I had this luck and after 35 years of this job I am in love with this profession as on the first day. Now I leave you until the next… reflection….