- So, you meet somebody, you meet a girl
and you're interested in her, like,
so what do you do?
Well, I tend bar over at blah, blah, blah.
They're like, oh, so what do you really do?
And I'm like, no, I really do that, in fact I was there
just a couple hours ago, I really do that.
(upbeat music)
Over the last 25 years I've spent
the vast majority of that working
the front of house restaurants,
both bar tending and serving, managing.
Yeah, server and bar tender has been in my blood
for two decades.
I've done fine dining and I've worked in wine bars
and I've done breakfast joints.
God, breakfast joints are so much fun.
It gets in you and it's an addiction.
A few years back I was dating a girl at the time
that was encouraging me, she was working in corporate,
was very successful, so I pursued having a normal job,
that's when I had my desk job, my normal job.
And I ended up working in insurance.
I went through the training and I went through all this,
I was getting up every morning and havin' my coffee,
driving into work, I would sit in this cubicle,
that's really what people wanna do,
and it's like, I can't judge anybody for it,
but for me I just remember that one morning,
like, it just hit me and I just sat down
and I just started crying.
I went from tending bar to having a desk job
and I went from working four days a week
to working five days a week and I took a third pay cut.
I guess I kinda convinced myself
having a more adult job was the next thing
I had to be doing.
Once I let go of that, and I started working weekend brunch
at a little joint in my neighborhood I'm like,
I was workin' seven days a week,
people were like, aren't you nuts,
you're working seven days a week,
and I'm like, no, no, no, I'm at work five days a week
and I get to go have fun at a restaurant
on the weekends.
'Cause like that, oh, my God, I was moving again,
I felt energized, I was so like,
it was amazing how much it was giving back to me.
When you're in the bar and restaurant business
you meet some of the most fascinating people
from all walks of life.
I mean, people who have traveled the world,
ministers, acupuncturists, master masons.
People I would never have ever come into contact with
if I didn't work behind the bar
or on the floor of a restaurant.
I work four days a week and I have three days
that I don't have to be anywhere
unless I've scheduled some things.
For me it's really important to have
down time where I get to work on side projects
and I get to have time to travel.
Right before I came to do this
I had a meeting with a guy about
a business model for a new concept.
At home I'm working on three woodworking projects.
I used to write for a magazine, host beer tasting classes.
I know that my lifestyle's not the most traditional,
but it's the way I need it to be.
Sincerely, you just quit giving
so much of a fuck about what other people think.
(laughter)
(cheering)