Hello Moose Lodge. Today's topic: "Bartending - a conversation with Ginger Machan.
In our Social Quarters all of our affable bartenders (Tammy leonard, Ginger Hachan, Michelle Floyd, Lori Marshall, and Angie Dixon) handle the necessary doings smoothly, it seems to run with a dollop of "Moose cheer" added into whatever you purchase. I sat down with our relatively new bartender, Ginger, and she told me a bit about herself, and how it all works.
Ginger originally came to the Lodge for the finger Mach an, line dancing. “I came into the Social Quarters to Bartender Extraordinaire get a glass of water—it just came up. ’Yeah, we could use some bartenders.’ I said yes, I could do that.” So they signed her up to be a member about four months ago. “I just started bartending, and I‘ve been here ever since. A lot!”
She was in the restaurant business for 30 years, and that's how she learned bartending. She's also held positions in office work and done some accounting. At ape 50 she wanted to do something different, so she went to school to become a medical assistant. That was her recent role until she retired.
Her philosophy of bartending: “I'm not a mixologist. I‘m just a bartender. Put the ice in the plass, put the liquor in the glass, put the mix in the glass. If they want a lime they get a lime. One of my main concerns is keeping the bar sanitary and clean.” I asked her about other drink ingredients. “We had a big event and we cut a lot of fruit but we didn't use hardly any of it. So, we'll use what we can this week. It's all refrigerated and sealed. And what we can't use we‘ll have to throw away. But the liquor doesn‘t go bad!”
“We have our ’well,“’ she explains, “which is what you're paying for, your Moose Lodge well drinks for four dollars, which is quite a deal, but then we have all the ‘call‘ liquors that are in the back. An Irish whiskey is eight dollars. The liaueurs like the Grand Marnier and the Kahlua, and the Baileys, those are all priced appropriately.” There‘s a liquor cabinet to which Tammy has the keys. “She keeps us pretty well stocked.” Ray Tynecki also helps keep things supplied. Besides the sodas, beers, juice, and water, the little bottles of wine are very popular. “They're very convenient. You don‘t have to keep an open bottle.”
An important aspect: cash management. There‘s a specific amount in there when she arrives. “I count it to make sure. At the end of my shift I re-count it, and whatever the diHerence is, is what we made that day.” If she needs change, Bob Uzzell is on hand. The tips go personally to each bartender. “Pays for gas! Some days are good days.”
The main thing for Ginger is just getting to know people and having the back-and-forth banter. As far as checking membership, if she doesn’t recognize someone, they’ll show her their membership card. Also, bartenders are required to get certified in TIPS responsible beverage server (RBS) training, she said. “It's pretty much a guide on how to hanale people and how to serve responsibly. It's important. But I haven't had any problem here at all. They do have a pood support system. People here are pretty friendly.”
Her specialty? “I make a really good Old Fashioned. It's a bourbon drink. I slice an orange and have those in a bin, ready. So, a nice little slice of orange, a maraschino cherry; then you muddle it with a teaspoon of sugars, with bitters, and add your bourbon to it. Then add ice, and put a splash of soda on top. It's delicious, a fun drink. We've started making Irish Coffees on Sunday too,” she added.
If you are still at a loss for getting to know Ginger, here's a sure-fire solution. Mention cats. “I am a crazy cat lady,” she told me after I admired her Christmas cat T-shirt. I didn't ask how many she owns, but she told me: “I have a few you could borrow if you need a cat.” Meow!