Second Chance Baby

That day we were trying out something new. Mondays and Tuesdays were always our slowest nights, unsurprisingly. Most bars and restaurants had their lowest crowds on the first two nights of the week. That was why it wasn’t uncommon to see especially small restaurants close on Monday nights. But we wanted to boost our crowds. Since we were closed on Sundays, we wanted to find something to rev up business and get our week off to a strong start.

As a fix, we were jumping in with a new type of theme night. It wasn’t going to be as big and elaborate as our other events, but we hoped it would carry on as a weekly thing to bring in more people. Trivia night was done in countless other places, so we figured we might as well try it, too.

Not only was it a chance to bring more people out, but it could appeal to another demographic. When we were forming our plans for the theme nights, we talked about appealing to a wide variety of people. We didn’t want The Hollow to be pigeonholed into only being for a certain type of clientele. Having a wide variety of different types of themes for our events helped to reach out to more people.

But the truth was, we were still narrowed down to the potential demographic of people who liked exciting nights out. They wanted loud music, dancing, lights, all those thrills. While that was a lot of fun for a lot of people, it left out the group who was looking for something a bit more low-key.

Trivia night was the perfect solution. Still fun, still with the opportunity for drinks and music, but quieter and calmer. To be honest, I was really looking forward to it.

“Where are you doing your interviews?” Jesse asked.

“I thought I would interview them right here at the bar,” I said. “If they’re going to be bartending, they should feel comfortable here. And this would give me the opportunity to ask them to come back and show me some of their skills. Somebody taught me that you can tell a lot about a potential bartender by watching them mix drinks.” The guys laughed. “And I want to see them pull a beer.”

“A beer?” Jesse asked.

“Yep,” I said. “Something I’ve learned in my time here is how important it is to be able to pour a beer well. I want to narrow down the options, then see who is able to give me the best pour.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Jesse said. “I’ll do my interviews at the tables toward the back, if that works for you.”

“Absolutely,” I said. “It’s up to you. You’re the one who needs to be able to work with this person and believe in their ability to help you do what needs to be done. You pick the one who’s best for you.”

My managerial pep talk over, we went our separate ways and started up running the interviews. It wasn’t completely foreign to me. I had been responsible for forming teams and overseeing projects in my former career.

As soon as that thought went through my head, I paused. My former career? Was that really how I thought about it? Coming back here to Oregon was supposed to be a temporary thing. From the very beginning, it was supposed to just be long enough for me to help Dad through his recovery and give Mom the support she needed. When that was done, I was heading right back to Michigan. To my life there.

Now all of a sudden, I was thinking of that time in my life as being behind me. It wasn’t the career I had paused or the one I was going back to, but my former career.

That was both surprising and exciting. I tucked the thought out of my mind, deciding I would continue to dwell on it later. I dove into the interviews, and three hours later, I still hadn’t made a final decision. I went over to talk to Jesse. He walked over to me with an expression on his face that said he was in just as much indecision as I was.

“Any luck?” I asked.

“There are a few people who seem promising,” he said. “But I haven’t been able to make a final decision yet.”

“Neither have I,” I told him. “I’ll tell you what. Why don’t we sleep on it? Choose the top contenders, and we’ll call them back for second interviews later in the week.”

“That sounds great,” Jesse said.

A few minutes later, Mason showed up. I was behind the bar taking a minute to drink some coffee, and he came over to give me a kiss.

“How did the interviews go?” he asked. “Did you pick anybody?”

“They went really well,” I said. “They were really enthusiastic and motivated to jump in. But I couldn’t make an absolute decision yet. There are a couple of them I want to talk to again, so Jesse and I each narrowed down the field to five people. Each position will have a second round of interviews later in the week after we think about it some more.”