Confessions of a Female Bartender

“My mother would pray I’d leave the job. She’d tell me family and friends were not happy that I was bartending”

I visited a bar in Mumbai a couple of years ago and saw this very  cute bartender. I chatted him up, and at the end of the conversation, I asked him if he could teach me a couple of those bottle flipping moves. He agreed. I never got to learn to toss bottles from him, but I did go on to take up a job as a bartender because this man had fascinated me so much. 

In 2005, I was 18 when I became an assistant bartender. My mother would pray I’d leave the job. She’d tell me family and friends were not happy that I was bartending. They said that it was a ‘low’ profession, especially for women.

Being a woman bartender, I have to face the problems that women face everywhere. Men letch and women look at me with disgust.  But they are such hypocrites, they still drink at my bar.

I make more than 20 grand a month and my boss makes sure that I don’t face any  problems from drunk or rude customers. Some potentially rowdy  customers tend to calm down after seeing a lady behind the bar. Everyone wants me to make their drinks. They are especially happy if I remember them from previous visits, and I also try to remember their favourite drinks.  At times, though, I forget, so when they ask me to get the  regular, I ask them to try something new.  
I visit other bars to see how bartenders there work. I look for new drinks that can be incorporated into my own bar. 

The job has its own pressures. I have to make sure that everything is moving without problems. The bar needs to be well stocked. Something as small as salt must be in its place and the garnish must not be stale.   

I really enjoy what I do. A little while ago, I brought my mother to see what I do. And I hope she has stopped praying that I give up my job.

(She is 23 years old and works as a bar manager in New Delhi.)

As told to Priyanka Michelle Das

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