‘You have to use both hands at the same time. . . . It’s an absolutely filthy job.’
Cindy Morrison tends bar at Stanley’s in Sherman Oaks and works in the wardrobe department at NBC. She and her boyfriend live in Sherman Oaks.
I lived in Detroit until I was 19, and then I traveled around all over the United States. I didn’t like Detroit. I wanted to see more than tall buildings. New England was my favorite. It’s like you see in the picture books, all the Cape Cod houses. It’s beautiful. I lived in Maine and New Hampshire for about eight years.
My boyfriend is a musician. He had to be out here, and I believe in him, so here we are. We’re working on it. We’ve been here five years in November. It’s so different out here. The people are so different. They’re so fast. People don’t say, “Hi” to each other on the streets. It’s so slow-paced in New England, nice and easy.
When I was in Michigan waitressing in a restaurant, they asked me if I wanted to be a bartender. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance because it’s hard getting a bartending job if you haven’t had prior experience. So I said, “Sure, I’ll try it.” And I loved it. And I still like it. I’m good at it.
You have to like people. You have to be able to talk with people. And you have to be coordinated. You have to use both hands at the same time, keeping them always moving. If you pour the gin at the same time you pour the tonic, it’s twice as fast. And it’s a challenge. Memory has a lot to do with it, also. If you look at a cocktail waitress’s check, you read it once and hope it will stick in your head. Then boom, boom, boom, you make it.
My favorite customers are those who want to have a good time. I have my baseball boys. They come in every Saturday after they play baseball and drink beer. They get a little rowdy sometimes, but I keep them under control. They’re real nice.
There’s one cute little guy who comes in and drinks Miller draft because it’s bright. There are windows all around. He gets a big kick out of sitting there and watching all these people come in, because we have actors and actresses come in. He’s real sweet.
There are crazy women who just like to come in and drink their Long Island ice teas and have a good time. Long Island ice tea is a killer. It has all the white liquors in it, gin, vodka, tequila, rum and triple sec, sweet and sour and a splash of Coke. Put a lemon in it, and it looks like ice tea, tastes like ice tea, goes down like ice tea, but you don’t hold it like ice tea. It’s one of those bombs.
We were listed in Playboy as honorable mention as one to the top swinging-single bars in L.A. If you go in there, you’ll know why. People really dress up for each other. They go all out. It’s quite a show. It’s quite an attitude. Friday nights are the busiest nights. Saturday night they come in, and they’re really in a bad mood because they didn’t pick up somebody on Friday night. Saturday nights are the leftovers.
People don’t drink as much as they used to. I think they are more careful. I know I am. I think it’s because of all the media, the drunk driving, the accidents, MADD. We’re checking IDs more. We’re cutting people off earlier. Bartenders are much more aware of it now than they were. When a customer says, “I want just one more,” I say, “Uh-uh, I’ve heard that one before. No way.”
You get comments on being a woman bartender. A customer will say, “Have the guy pour, he pours a better drink.” Even if they’ve never had me pour them a drink. It’s funny that even in 1987 you still get that comment. I just say, “Sure, I’ll let him get it.” And I tell the other bartender, “Pour him a short one.”
We have a lot of young girls come in, your quote, unquote, Valley girls, and they say, “Gol, I’d love to have your job. What a wonderful job you have.” It’s an absolutely filthy job. It’s really dirty. You’re constantly handling dirty dishes and dirty glasses. You’re washing them all the time, but you’re picking up dirty beer bottles and dirty ashtrays. At the end of the night I’m lugging 15 cases of beer and putting them away. It’s a back-breaking job.