Day 98 - How Things Are Done

Thursday, April 8th

Tanisha has just got to have 360 vision. There were over twenty one people in the bar and no direct line of sight from me to her, yet she was serving up my beer almost as I walked in the door. Damn that was awesome.

Tanisha was wearing a halter top which showed off her back and the full spread of her back tattoo. Hypnotic is the word I'd use to describe that image on her back.

I received my beer at the far end of the bar (near where Grant's skate was propped up against the wall) and took it over to Table 4 where Dean and Grant were sitting. Dean very kindly informed me that "I totally support what you're doing [here]." Coming from a regular like him it means a lot to me.

Dean then told me stories of what it was like here in San Jose five years ago when he first arrived in the area. Laser Man had come in by then and he corroberated Dean's description of one bar in particular that had the most beautiful bartenders in all of San Jose, each woman a different ethnicity.

Then Dean mentioned how he sort of set up a formal/informal barrier by allowing certain people who he came to know and trust to use his first name, while everyone else was introduced to him by his middle name and would naturally use that going forward. This way if he were ever in a crowded place/event and he half-heard someone call out to him with his true first name he'd automatically know it was someone he could trust, even if he couldn't quite see them yet/figure out where they were. Pretty smart idea, that.

He also reminded me in a roundabout way that there are several regulars at the bar who I don't really know at all since I haven't talked to them. Going to have to remedy that in order to make this a complete experience.

The owner of Jack's stopped by about then and I hit him up to make sure there were no issues that might have cropped up due to me writing the blog. He confirmed all was well, and that it would be of some help to him if I did not mention to people at the bar something along the lines of "Oh, there's the owner over there."

The owner prefers his anonymity and ability to enjoy the bar, for which I'll of course do my part to help him in that regard. At best I'll mention him as just one more of the bartenders at Jack's (which he said he's cool with me doing). Like Dean, he has a certain comfort level with people he knows well and I can appreciate that.

The owner then talked with me a bit about his working philosophy at the bar: when a bartender is on, it's their bar to run and pretty much their customers that are at the bar to be served by that specific bartender, whereas the owner is just there to make sure the bartender has everything he or she needs to succeed. That was his style when he was a bartender at other places before Jack's and he's clearly carried that operating philosophy forward.

In his words, there's a certain vibe to Jack's that nicer bars (in terms of seating, TVs, extras like food service) don't always attract. I get the gist of what he's saying, but I've not frequented enough alternate bars to really see what he means (going to have to fix that, in time).

I thought about this as I glimpsed the twin of my truck as it sat parked across the street from Jack's. Then I stepped into the back hallway and noticed how the light from outside shined through the two small, rectangular windows set high up on the wall. The light was almost cathedral like and it illuminated the upper half of the hallway, reminding me of just how high the ceiling is in there. At night with the lights on the hallway just seems smaller (even without the beer pong table deployed).

Back in the bar I met a man with a black shirt who's a Broncos fan. That makes all of two of us in the Bay Area lolz. I stepped around Jordan and Grant (who were play grabbing/play swatting at each other's balls) and back to my seat to finish my beer, then headed for home.

Note: There's plenty of Party Bus signage everywhere at the bar. Save your pennies and sign up, Dear Reader! I don't want to experience the Party Bus without you!

See you Friday at Jack's!