The hardest skill to teach a new bartender is how to bite your tongue. I can teach you how to stir, I can teach you how to shake, and I can teach you drink recipes. But there are customers who are, by their nature, just plain difficult. You could make them the perfect drink based off of what they said, and it's just not going to be good enough."
So laments Trevor Frye, Beverage Director for the Jack Rose Dining Saloon in Washington, D.C. But that's about the only lament Frye has these days. According to him, he is in his dream job. "I'm one of the lucky people," he stated, during a recent interview with the Beverage Journal. "I actually feel happy when I'm going to work."
He started in the industry as a busboy at age 15. Since then, he has worked just about every job in the business, from barback to server to bartender. He even briefly owned a private event bartending and cocktail consulting company. "I eventually threw in the towel about four years ago and went full-time with bartending," he recalled. "I had reached a point in my life where I was ready to take a leap of faith and go with my real passion, and it's been awesome."