u/queencommie

Hey y'all, I'm from the Midwest but traveling out of town to visit family and thought I'd see if there's anything worth visiting. I'm having a hard time finding "real" tiki there. Jungle Bird in Cape Coral looks promising, but wanted to see if there's anything else. Thanks!

Long story short, I was recently promoted to management (co-managing with our other bartender). I've been bartending for the last ~3 years, in the industry for about 10, and I'm currently at a fairly high level craft cocktail spot.

The place is fairly new, opened mid-fall last year, I've been there since day one. Unfortunately we've had quite a few people come and go, mostly because the owners just aren't very good at vetting people. They either weren't a good fit and left on their own, or were let go for no-call no-showing, that kind of thing.

I have over a hundred applications to go through, lol. I've already got a handful of interviews set up for this week. I've managed before, but hiring was never one of my duties until now.

I have some questions in mind but looking for advice from y'all if there's anything I'm missing.

I was really against being open last night because we only had one reservation at the beginning of the night for 11pm, but the owner wanted to give it a shot since we're right near downtown which always has a big fireworks show. It actually ended up being a decent night, around 40 people total which is less than half of what we normally do on a Saturday night but better than I expected.

I had one couple in particular come in to celebrate their anniversary and we had a great conversation about spirits/cocktails and the industry in general. I brought them some dessert and Licor 43 since they saw it on our back bar and were telling me how much they liked it, and the owner had me invite them (and the other guests who happened to be in the bar when the show started) up to the rooftop deck to watch the fireworks. They had a great time and ended up tipping me $150 on a $95 tab.

I almost cried because I and the other bartender who co-manages this place with me work incredibly hard to give everyone a truly special experience here and it's just nice when people see and appreciate it.