It’s only 8:30 p.m.. The Courtside Bar & Grill is already preparing for its Thursday night crowd. Mike Logue comes around the bar and sits next to me. A black sweatband is wrapped around his short brown hair. He appears intimidating, and yet, he is immediately friendly.
Logue recently finished his undergraduate degree at Ohio University. He proudly says that he is a certified pilot. Currently he works as a student flight instructor Monday through Saturday, but he takes his place behind the bar several nights a week as a Courtside bartender.
SY: Now that you’re a certified pilot, what are you working on now?
ML: I’m teaching kids who have never flown before how to fly. So I took some of my first student pilots up today.
SY: Sounds very brave of you. What’s your role here at the bar?
ML: We have a great owner that’s actively involved with a lot of things. We have a general manager who does scheduling, so as far as that yeah, I’m just bartending.
SY: With everything you do (he’s also applying to the part- time MBA program) how do you manage the late nights too?
ML: Its some sort of discipline I guess, I don’t know. I’m bartending this quarter Wednesday, Thursday, Friday night, you know, I got an 8 a.m. meeting Friday morning. It’s tough so you’ve got to have some sort of time management skills, be disciplined on yourself and still have a good time at work and have people around you having a good time.
SY: What do you enjoy most?
ML: Well I just enjoy being with the people that I work with, you know, that’s one of my favorite parts of the job, just like anyone enjoys in their work place. Another nice thing is if students actually come in and show some sort of attitude towards a bartender that they would in any city or town…like tip. I had a guy last night stealing tips off the bar. I’m like are you serious and he tried to justify it and I was like no you gotta leave the bar. That’s even more disrespectful than not tipping someone that’s serving you.
SY: So, What kind of customer annoys you the most?
ML: Someone stealing tips off the bar (laughs). The most annoying is someone that just pushes their way up to the bar, pushes everyone out of the way, spills someone’s drink and starts yelling at you for drinks, like ‘hold on I’m working over to you.’ And I’m not gonna serve you if you’re pushing over…girls like you. You know spilling my friend’s drinks. No one wants that.
SY: Have there been any extra interesting evenings?
ML: Athens is always known for its shuffles and shufflers and stuff. You know its always interesting. Probably some of the most interesting nights, in the summer when there’s not a lot of people in here, when a bachelorette party comes in because it’s kind of good, wholesome clean fun that girls are trying to have, send their friend off into marriage you know. And they’re not in there causing trouble, annoying anyone else or pushing people over for a drink. So bachelorette parties are pretty fun. They tip, and all they want to do is flirt with guys and that’s kind of the environment at the bar too. People are flirty and you have to have some sort of personality just to be able to pick up a conversation with anyone. That’s one of the things I really enjoy about bartending; being able to speak to anyone just about anything. I’m very open on that. |
