>I'm fascinated by bar/restaurant work cultures. All I know is from
>watching them, and reading Anthony Bourdain, but they're intriguing.
>They do seem to attract some misfits, some appealing, some not. Lots
>of sex, drugs, and rock & roll, no?
I used to work at an artsy cafe south of Market in San Francisco. A lot of the staff were musicians and there were lots of drugs around. Alcohol too of course. Once a couple of the busboys got drunk on the job and when one of them was throwing a bag of trash out the back he hooked his arm on a shelf full of water glasses. Each and every one of them broke. It was a great sound.
I wound up being the produce and equipment buyer for the place because I was one of the few people working there who could drive from point a to b without getting lost or stopping to do something else on the way. I was offered the job after this one time the kitchen ran out of pasta and I went to North Beach to get more. I didn't hurry but they were shocked I made it back so fast.
One of the co-owners left an engineering job to open the place. He was a guy with some extra cash who wanted more excitement in his life I think. He would hang around ogling waitresses and he took some of them on shopping sprees now and again. It never got him anywhere.