Bar Talking Talking Bar

From Vet Tech to LEAD BARTENDER: How MENTORSHIP & MENTAL HEALTH Changed Everything

• Bar Talking Talking Bar • Episode 46

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In this episode of Bar Talking Talking Bar we sit down with NATASHA ARCE, BAR MANAGER at SOMEDAY BAR in BROOKLYN, to talk about the journey from being a vet technician to becoming a NYC's LEAD BARTENDER—and the MENTAL HEALTH breakthrough that made it all possible.

Born in Philadelphia (and a die-hard Eagles fan 🦅), Natasha grew up watching her mom work behind the bar. Hospitality was always in her blood. But her path wasn't linear. After working as a vet technician, she realized the job wasn't her passion. A chance meeting with Megan Rickerson, founder of Someday Bar, changed everything. Megan didn't just offer her a job—she became a mentor, a friend, and the catalyst for Natasha's rise to Lead Bartender.

But the real turning point? Being diagnosed with ADHD. For Natasha, therapy and medication weren't just helpful—they were game-changers. Now, she's a fierce advocate for mental health, proving that taking care of your mind is just as important as perfecting your craft.

Recently engaged, Natasha credits her girlfriend with helping her balance the demanding world of NYC nightlife with family time and self-care. This is a story about mentorship, resilience, and the power of mental health advocacy.

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SPEAKER_01

Whether it is the art of bartenders and the costly high hospitality or the wildest bartels that spec raw conversations and the people or your favorite cocktails to keep the deni life alive. If you love bars, it's great. And the stories that bring them to life, follow us, and subscribe to keep the conversations flowing.

SPEAKER_00

It's weekly. Welcome to another week of the photo podcast.

SPEAKER_05

I'm a guy and this and I'm Nully Drawlist. And I am Natasha Artie.

SPEAKER_00

Thank you, Natasha, for coming. It is really nice having you here. I know we have been talking about this for a while, but we finally have you at this part.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, yeah. Busy schedules and all we're doing. But before we start, we're gonna uh uh thank our audience, all the people that have been uh watching us. We officially are uh this is our first year. We're celebrating, well we're gonna celebrate our first year.

SPEAKER_00

First year we launch in August, the first time.

SPEAKER_03

But we're very happy, but we're very proud of uh, you know, everybody who's working in the industry that uh inspire us to do this. And thank you as for this amazing year.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Um and also, you know, keep uh liking, subscribing, and sharing so other people can know stories like the one we're gonna have today. Okay, yeah. So no, it's okay with me.

SPEAKER_00

Right behind you.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, okay. Sorry. Um anyway, but today we have the the honor and also another VIP guest, Natasha Arce. Uh she works at Someday Bar in Brooklyn. Um, but why don't we start like we always said, uh I know we know you, some people know you, but other people probably don't. So if you want into the tops.

SPEAKER_06

Absolutely. My name is Natasha Arcee. I am a where I'm the bar manager at Someday Bar, NYC. We are located on 364 Atlantic Avenue, right over by Barclay Center. And I will be turning five with them this year. Five years. Five years in the industry and five years as a bartender.

SPEAKER_00

Amazing.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah. So um the owner there, she is an incredible badass of a human being and gave me an insane opportunity when she approached me and has is now my mentor. So I'm a very, very lucky person. Um, in general, just to have somebody who had welcomed me and then who turned into just being an incredible human on top of it. So um that's really cool. So shout out Megan Richterson, the one and only.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, so Megan, we know we know you're uh, I mean, back and forth between uh the city and upstate, but uh hopefully one day we're gonna also gonna have her here uh sharing her story because I think it's pretty cool that you know what she's done also.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, and um with the bar story, the bar is only turning seven this year, so I've been there the majority of the time with them. Um it's been really cool to just watch what she has done for our community overall, which has affected my journey in hospitality with just going into it so blindly because I was in veterinary care prior to hospitality. Yeah, I loved it. And you know, I have two cats out of it, and I'm very happy with my little babies, but I'm happier to be where I am now. Um and just she made that transmission really meaningful into hospitality and again just like opened all these doors. I was like, here are classes you could take, here are programs you could apply to, you can go to Kentucky, you could do all these wonderful things and continue to further yourself. So, you know, a lot of people like we had talked about earlier that are like that's not a real profession, and I'm like, no, this is this is a career, this is a career, and isn't that an easy one? Yeah, it's it's great to be a part of, and then you know, it's like connections like this, it's just genuine, and it's it's really cool to be uh like a part of something that's bigger than other people can see when they are just walking into a bar for the first time.

SPEAKER_00

Exactly, especially for the audience. I mean, now the audience, uh the customers who don't understand what we do, why we do it. Uh I think it's important that they they see the different part of us, you know, like the human part. Uh not there's a hospitality part, but uh we do like we go home to like tender pets, uh tender house, uh do other things, like I don't know, if you want to run a marathon or if you want to whatever you want to do. No, no, no. Whatever it is, whatever it is that you do outside from this, I think it's just like that's what uh people don't don't understand.

SPEAKER_03

Um but before we talk about the industry, um we want to know, and uh obviously uh the audience want to know you. So we're gonna go back by back. Uh where are you from?

SPEAKER_06

Where you were born? So I was born right outside of Philadelphia. Actually, I was born in this little town called Contrahawkin, one square mile town, maybe 30 minutes outside of Philly. My mom and um all my aunts and uncles were raised there. We actually had moved from Pennsylvania up to Long Island when I was three years old. So I've been in New York my entire life, essentially. Um, unfortunately, that still counts me as an Eagles fan, but like I have to I have to admit it so my family doesn't come after me after this. Um but my mom actually, this is a really cool part of just me in general, was bartending when I was first born. Oh, yeah. So she was between two or three places, and I had lived with my grandmother and my uncle and the house that they had grown grew up with, and my older brother. So it was like all hands-on deck mentality from when I was born. So there for each other. Um, my stepfather pick came into the picture at a really early age too, so he was there too, which was awesome. Um, but I was a bar baby. I got to go hang out at my mom's bars, and I don't remember a lot of it because I I was an infant. Yeah. Um, up until two or three years old, I do remember going to like my the bar pets that my mom worked at, right? On I want to say it was Fad Street or something like that. Um but it was something that has always been ingrained in me. And to this day, my mom is retired and she bartends Monday nights at the Moose Lodge for fun.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, that's so cool. I hope I have Reliao also says when they might my pilot wear birth in the house. Yeah, yeah, she loves it.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, she's definitely gonna be going around with everyone in the bike from this community.

SPEAKER_03

I um sorry to interrupt. No, no, no. I was gonna say, like um, I guess also going to work in this industry, you have like advice from your mom.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, yeah, and she's told me very embarrassing things that she's done, like dropping spaghetti on a man's head. And I'm like, I thank God I will never carry a split a spaghetti behind my bar.

SPEAKER_03

Well, um uh for me, I used to work in a place that we did um um bottomless uh brunch. Okay. And uh I remember I was like, like, you know, showing off every day, and I was like, I can carry 22 glasses of mimosas, and I was like, la la la. And then one day I was like walking and I was sure that I would I could pass, and then the guests move a little bit, so I got scared and then all the 22 mimosas going over this guy. Yeah, 22. And I feel like you know, it's it's embarrassing, but also it's like one when what I'm gonna do. We have to pay the the the laundry and everything, but it's so it's this one.

SPEAKER_00

It happens, you know. It's it's uh happy accident. Yeah, people I'm sure they're gonna you know they want it at some point.

SPEAKER_03

You got a new shirt, right? It's fine. And then I learned that take this in me. Maybe 18 is better than 22. Uh so you grew up in in Long Island, and you said you have a brother?

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, my brother is um six years older than I am. He and I we duped it out as kids. I wasn't cool until I was like 21, 22 to him. Um, but he's really he's an incredible guy. He also has two kids uh with his fiancee, Brittany. Uh she actually manages a bar out on Long Island as well. Oh, amazing. Um, so it it's just all around us that we have this in our family.

SPEAKER_04

That's okay.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah. And um Grayson and Harper, um, they're bar babies. They go to Harp and Hound. Unfortunately, uh Harp and Hound had a fire a few months back, so they were shut down. Oh, but the good news is they opened back up a week and a half ago. Oh so she was actually filling in at a few other spots throughout there, but you know, um, it just kind of showcased how well, how much the community needed that space because so many people were obviously helping out, probably helping out. Um the there was, I'm pretty sure there was a few fundraisers I want to say, but when they're reopened, it was just so like everyone was so excited. It was like happy to be back, people feel at home again. So um, and there aren't an excessive amount of bars on Long Island that you're going to, right? Like we're smaller towns, there's a main street strip, yeah, that's where you're going, or you're going out to the beach, you're going to Fire Island.

SPEAKER_03

That's and it's it is true that people who live in this, like I don't want to sound like silly, but like people know everybody. Kind of. Yeah. Yeah. Like the movies.

SPEAKER_00

You might run into somebody who you've seen throughout your life if you live there, I guess, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_06

You know more than my uh my brother is uh firefighter, he's been a volunteer firefighter since he was of age too. Uh he was a lieutenant in our local fire department, and then he is an FDNY as well for the past several years. Yeah, so I really respect that.

SPEAKER_00

I really I want a shirt actually of one of my really old friends, he told me he was gonna give me a shirt at FBNY. Yeah I'll I'll wear it with like right.

SPEAKER_06

It's they're they're really, really great guys. Um, I have a brother on my dad's side as well, he's in the Marines. So, you know, I just all around, I have so much uh respect for both of my brothers because they're out there doing really incredible things that not everyone has the ability to do or wants to do.

SPEAKER_00

But you have to be brave to do any of those things, honestly. Like to go into a fire or to deploy and go to a different country. Uh yeah, it has to, you know, I mean be strong and brave. Have to be strong, brave, and and and courageous, because not everybody does it. It's like 1% in the in the work uh population. Yeah, it's so scary.

SPEAKER_06

This sounds terrifying. There's certain firefighter movies that I see, and I'm like, nope, no, no, like I am not watching that. Like um, but so when it comes to a small town setting, I have an extended family outside of my family that is the fire department. So it's like I have all these guys that are buddies with my brother, and they all have kids, and they have like this little cool clan of like these like bros essentially that turned into dads.

SPEAKER_05

And I'm like, when did you all get kids? It's crazy.

SPEAKER_03

You get the chance to go to the um department and you know, like I'm just lighting the thing.

SPEAKER_06

So I actually um out on Long Island and some places upstate, they do drill team racing. Oh so it's like old school drill team racing where they will get onto these trucks, speed down a track, essentially stop, hop off the truck, hit the hydrant, rip ass again, and then hit jump off again and hit the target, and it's all timed. It's it's a really interesting organization and it's fun to watch. Like your families were there, the fire department's there, and they do it on Saturdays, Saturdays, Sundays. I was on the juniors team, though, is what I'm getting at. So instead of us jumping off trucks, we had carts and we would pull the carts down the truck and we would hit the hydrants and like do the whole thing. So I got to do all the fun stuff with the fire trucks. That's pretty cool. Yeah. Um, but ever since I was when I was in Pennsylvania at the age of two to three years old, my uncle would be like, All right, all the lights off. We're gonna pretend to find a fire in the house. And you'd have us crawling around and feeling the doors with the back of our hands. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

So have uh skills to survive.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, it's uh I have bartending background and fire department background. So that's that's where you need me. I guess I could somehow do something about it.

SPEAKER_03

Uh but before um, so I guess what as you mentioned, you were uh in the veterinary field. How do you I mean it was your like, oh, I'm gonna go to veterinary and that's it, or how is it? No.

SPEAKER_06

I actually um out of high school, I had taken American Sign Language all four years of high school, and I wanted to study linguistics and do interpreting. I was not responsible at the age of 18 to be like, I can go to class, I do this on my own, I'll do my homework. Like I'll go later. Yeah, I I wasn't the best in high school either. Like I just like I did well enough that I wasn't failing and I didn't have to put that much effort in that I was like, why would I go to class? Which, you know, go to class, please go to class, people. But um, you know, I I just wasn't meant for me at that point in time to take school seriously. And I was like, maybe we shouldn't be forcing people to make life decisions at this young of an age when you know I had dropped out twice actually. But my my main thought was linguistics and sign language, and I didn't like the program and I didn't have enough self-discipline. Um, and then I went to a BOSIS program to get an assistant certification and then move on to uh an online school for tech to get my um license for veterinary technician. Um, I had worked in what is that volunteer work where I was at a shelter and I was doing like an assistant to a tech essentially in a small dog ward. They were the biggest snow-kill shelter on Long Island, really incredible organization as well. I went to a GP practice, I worked in an ICU ER unit, and then I was in a general practice in Guanis over in Brooklyn.

SPEAKER_04

Wow.

SPEAKER_06

Um, so I did a little bit of everything. I have one cat out of the six years of veterinary care that I've done. So I'm proud to say that.

SPEAKER_00

And you had that thing uh up from the same.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah. So North Shore Animal League, Howard Stern's wife, crazy cat lady, Beth Stern, puts so much money into these animals. It's really incredible. Um, so she'll take in litters or really special medical cases or old cats. Like she is just like, if I could help them and somebody turns them in, she'll take them.

SPEAKER_00

That's amazing.

SPEAKER_06

Um, and she works with this one doctor. I'm not sure if they're still at that hospital or not, but um, I had worked under this doctor and she was like the cat whisperer. She had all these litters, she did all these incredible things with like just really unique medical needs.

SPEAKER_00

It's so funny because everybody all the cats might most happy and follow her around.

SPEAKER_03

She can't leave the hospital and also it's it's it's super cool because cats are super complicated. Yeah. When they when they are like cat whisperers, it's like really hard work because cats are very tough to discipline or understand.

SPEAKER_06

I was scared of cats uh going into the field because I had always grown up with dogs, and I was like, it's like you bite me, you that's bad, the scratching. Um, but my one cat, she came into the ER and she was like, That little baby, and she has no eyes. So she just had a growth effect where she didn't fully develop and she was like a forever kitten, and she looked like a creepy little coralline with no eyes. So but it's super cute. Yeah, seven years now with her.

SPEAKER_00

So that's that's amazing. You know, like uh I always say adopt, don't buy when it comes to animals. Because the I mean a lot of them deserve a second opportunity if they haven't had one. Or if they had one, they need to be with a family because a lot of them uh well actually a lot of people who don't know how to take care of an animal because they've never had it. And we have it as a pet, it's not even a pet anymore, it's part of the family.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, yeah, and and mostly like adults that they're supposed to be responsible. Like I get mad when they get like pets to the kids, and then eventually the kids like super rough with the cats or the the pet. Or they get like annoyed because they have to take care of them and not the kid. It's like and then they ended up like you know, yeah bring into the shelters or like abandon them. It's like, dude, how do you do that to a like small animal?

SPEAKER_06

It's uh it's basically very similar to a child. You have to advocate for this creature. You and even in there later in life, you have to advocate for this being that can't talk for themselves. And you know, honestly, I think a lot it kind of rolled over into hospitality a bit too, because it's like seeing people's needs before they need they know that they need something or anticipating what is coming next.

SPEAKER_00

Exactly. Yeah, kind of like understanding and reading uh besides reading the room, I think uh the personalities too. Every personality is very different and every personality needs something, you know? Yeah, um but yeah, it's pretty cool that you did that, honestly. And I mean we cat lovers, we love cats. I I've had pets since I was a kid. Um my grandparents had all kinds of animals in the farm when I was a kid. So I so I feel like I also wanted to be a veterinarian at one point. Uh I never had the chance to go because I didn't want to uh pursue my education in that sense. Uh but I mean to you guys who have done it, who have been in a veterinarian world, I think it's uh just amazing because you just see it from a different perspective. And like you say, you know, you use that uh hospitality because you can actually see different things differently too in a way. Like everything that we do i i in our lifetime helps us be we are now, but it whole it also kind of like you can use that kind of like uh experience in a different way, you know, with people.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, unfortunately I couldn't go to veterinary school. I applied, I went to the first semester, but things happen with the school, so I I drop up. But uh that was my dream. Like you know, helping like little cats.

SPEAKER_00

She did everything, she did nursing. I've been doing like a lot of crazy things. She went to so many things.

SPEAKER_06

I work in a house, but now I work, I don't know. I wouldn't ever be able to do with people. And like I think it's funny because like people are like, well, you could deal with animal blood, but not people. I'm like, if I had a scratch on my own, actually, this is um I have a scar right here. Yeah. Um this is from a bottle of prosecco. Oh, what?

SPEAKER_00

Exploded when you opened it?

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, no, no, no, it's not when I opened it. So, you know, we have the risers in the in the storage downstairs, so everything's the X amount of inches off the floor. This bottle of Prosecco fell like that, not a big deal, and I was restocking and it was a warm bottle. It rolled over, fell off, exploded, and then there was a piece of glass in my neck. And I went like that, and I went upstairs. I walked from the stairs and I was like, Chef Goss. It's like gas. I was like, I was like, I don't know. I was like, I'm just gonna lay on the floor here.

SPEAKER_00

Especially with when those bottles are hot, they're like basically an extended.

SPEAKER_03

I learned that day. I learned. Uh so going back to like veterinary, so you study uh and then you worked that. How long do you work as a veterinary?

SPEAKER_06

Um, I was by the time I was actually in tech school, I think it was only a year and a half that I was like going into doing the hours for my licensing exam. Um, but in total, I did it from when I was maybe 22, 21, even to 24, 25. Okay. So three, four years, something like that. Um and what happened? I fell in love with hospitality. Um I did find hospitality. I actually, the doctor that I worked for, she is so incredible. We just weren't work meant to work together anymore. I still bring my animals to her. I have friends that bring all of my their animals to her as well. I learned so much from this woman, truly. Um, it was just my time to not be in veterinary care anymore. And you do get jaded at a point. That's part of it. And it's physically demanding. I actually did have um, I was in a car accident in 2020 and sprained my neck and back. So that hindered my ability to do some things as well, and it still affects me in hospitality with my nerve damage in my hands, but um yeah, it was just time to go. And it was a pretty dramatic breakup between that veterinary office and I, I will say that at the minimum. So I had left without any backup plan.

SPEAKER_00

So you just one day decided to do that.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, it was just done. It was post COVID. Um, it had to be 2021, and it was just Just the end of the relationship. I was fed up. I didn't, I had never had a reaction to a job where I was like, I'm gonna leave. I'm not gonna say anything. I'm just gonna take my shit and go. So like I didn't, and I was a 24 years old. I was like, I don't, I don't have a brain yet. My brain's not fully developed. What did I just do? Um and so the relationship of Megan Rickerson and I is really interesting because we had met through a friend of a friend. I was doing marketing and events for Coney Island Brewery. So I was on their on-prem team pre-COVID as a part-time gig when I was in veterinare. Okay. So I had met her through one of my coworkers. And right before COVID hit, she was like, Hey, my friend just opened this bar on the block. We were somewhere in Gowanis, we walked over, saw Someday Bar for the first time, and I had been going there for a few years prior to working at Someday. And um she introduced us, they were roommates, that's whatever. Um, and during COVID, she just shit hit the fan. And she had a lot on her plate, and we just she knew that I was going through something, she was going through some other things, and we were on very similar wavelengths, and we were just like, Hey, you good, you good. And then it came to a point where we were really good friends. And I told her, I was like, I just I quit my job. I don't, I don't know what I'm doing. And she's like, Hey, my friend who owns a bar in uh Astoria needs a host. Okay. And I was like, sure. I was like, I I don't care. It's like I haven't been in a bar setting since I worked at Dave and Busters when I was 17. And I was like, I was a host there and they let me bust for a little bit, but they were never gonna let me serve. So I think I had moved on to a very other random job that I had post that. Um, but she I had hosted for this bar River Crest in Astoria, cool little sports bar on 35th in Dittmars. Awesome space. Um it's it's a pretty large space and it's fun. The bar food is just so good. Um, our friend Kira, who owns it, is also a badass. And um, I was there for several months, and then Kira was like, Hey, my husband, he manages a place in Soho. He needs a host. And I was like, sure, I'll do it. So I went and hosted for the two of them, I guess for like seven to nine months, and then Meg was having some turnover at the bar, and people were just like being kind of inconsistent with who wanted to work there. And I think there was a point in time during COVID where people so everyone needed somebody. So people were being picky about where they wanted to work.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, because I remember during the pandemic, it was like that kind of revolution in the industry as well, because people were like, you know, like we see that owners they need us and they can pay us. So also I'm gonna choose where to work and they respect me. Because obviously we have to be also honest, right? There are places that they own restaurants or bars, and they're like not really like nice uh owners or you know, leaders. And also people were like leaving their bar jobs because they they were scared and they moved to other states, and you know, it was like crazy time, but for other people it was also the big opportunity.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, people were like I could pick where I want to go right now in a world that that's never really been the reality. So people were really just like hopping around at a point. And I guess maybe if I was where I was in my part of my career, maybe I probably would have done something similar. I don't know. But um I Meg phrases things in a much nicer way than I ever phrased it. I she essentially was like, I can teach you how to bartend. I can't teach you the other part of being a good bartender, which is hospitality. And I was like, uh, okay. I was like, I'll learn how to bartend. I was like, I'm sure I could be good at it. I was like, I could talk to a wall if I had to. So um, you know, she she gave me the opportunity and she taught me how to bartend from the ground up. Um it was a little rough at first. Uh I didn't know my wells for like the per like the first four months. And I was training on Taco Tuesdays. I just I couldn't figure out the well, and I was definitely making like half-ass daiquiries for people's margaritas for like a month and a half. And then my my buddy was like, Hey, what are you doing? I was like, has he's like, Did you notice what your well looks like right now? And I was like, no one said anything. He's like, well, they won't. They don't know. He was like, it's like when they asked for a skinny margarita. I was like, okay, I'll understand that one day too. But you know, it it really was um just like learning and for something with me, and I'm sure I know that there's so many people in the industry as well that deal with ADHD. Me coming into this industry with a new diagnosis of ADHD. I was like then trying to figure out all of my things while processing that information, which bartending and but ADHD for everyone who knows it is like, oh my goodness. Because you're like having this overload of information come to you. You're trying to not like your hands are moving faster than your brain, and people are like, wow, you're really doing it. I'm like, you don't understand that my brain is on fire right now, and I'm grabbing for the things, and I'm just trying to keep it on track. So when you're waving in my face, like I'm not being rude, I'm like, hey, I got you in a second, but I really am trying to figure out how to rework my brain behind the bar without coming off like I don't know what I'm doing.

SPEAKER_03

And sometimes people, we you know, we have this um habit of like saying things out of like the blue, like for example, when it's just like, oh, I'm I'm I'm having anxiety, but people is like, oh, you're just crazy, or or they diminish certain uh no, you look fine. Yeah, oh they they you know sometimes people who don't have a mental um problem or a syndrome or something, they don't they just joke about it, but at the same time, people who have or us we have a certain um di not disability, but like a different uh personality, it's hard to like sometimes work because for example, if uh if people that has anxiety and it's a chronic anxiety, it's really hard to work because everything gives you anxiety and it's hospitality, and so you're like you know, boiling. Yeah, yeah. But I I believe like ADH is also harder because then like you say, your brain is always looking for like feeling.

SPEAKER_06

You're like, okay, I completed this task, there's four more behind me, but which is actually supposed to be prioritized right now? So you're like trying to put together a really quick puzzle in your head while keeping your hands doing the correct thing at the same time. But I think really what took me the the longest about it, because I was able to learn how to, you know, pour at the correct speed. I was able to figure out my tins. I'm, you know, I don't have to free pour if I don't want to. It's you know the classic recipes, they were like, okay, this is my basics. Like I could put that on a flashcard and I could learn. But when it came to our specialty cocktails, I was like, this is insane. And anyone who's been to someday, we do a lot of menu, like specialty menus, we do a lot of drag, so we have a lot of sponsorships that come in and change weekly or monthly. So we're swapping out four cocktails a week on a single day.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06

Or we'll do a drag show on a Saturday, that has a special Monday. We have a reading event on a Monday that has a different menu. So that's something that is um not ADHD friendly or anxiety friendly. Um, but I mean, it was a really interesting transition to be like trying to figure out the best route to learn in something that I've never really deep dove into before. Because, you know, I was able to figure out like my little isms when I was like studying for veterinary care and like, you know, having systems that I had to now implement in different ways to learn what even a back bar is.

SPEAKER_05

Yes, exactly.

SPEAKER_06

Which I actually have more of an appreciation for the way my brain works now because I'm like, oh, you see it in this way, so when you explain it to somebody else, it makes much more sense because you put a solid foundation into it.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah. No, that's okay.

SPEAKER_00

Um like he's bringing out everything with them.

SPEAKER_03

Yes, we have some listen to that. Um I guess it's like the most cool thing, like you know, going to like established bar and you have not just a friend, but the owner trusting you, like, I don't know anything. Okay, we're gonna build you from the scratch, and then here you are, like you're the head bartender. And uh yeah.

SPEAKER_06

Um, I mean, this is fairly recent that I have taken over management. I'm very grateful um for the opportunity. I I think that I wouldn't have been ready for this anytime sooner, truthfully. I would have doubted myself a lot. Um, and like we said, with mental health things within it too, I've had a large struggle, I've had a long struggle, I won't say large struggle, um, with being diagnosed with new things within my first few years of being on the bar and learning how to navigate that while I'm dealing with people and like dealing with people carefully. But like I was given the structure to be supported. So like I was really well supported in all these things as well, which made me finally be like, oh, yeah, I can take on these more things. I am ready to learn more from you. I'm I'm excited to be in this position now. Because if this was a year and a half ago, I would have been like, no, not me.

SPEAKER_03

No way. And um, if you don't mind, you don't have to answer as well, but how do you find or how do you when do you feel like, oh, something is wrong with me, or like, how do you get diagnosed?

SPEAKER_06

Um, so I've dealt with mental health issues since I was a child, and I am so comfortable talking about any of this stuff because I think it's really important to think about this, especially in the hospitality industry, and not for people that are just in it, for people who may be viewing this that aren't in the hospitality industry, and then maybe view a bartender who might be in a bad mood, or someone like snapped at you, like, hey, maybe they are actually at their absolute boiling point and have no choice but to be nice to you. And what would you do if it was the other way around? So I um I have been dealing with anxiety and uh depression since I was a teenager. That was like very easily known. Like, I've been in talk therapy almost my entire life. I think that is at the minimal everyone should be in talk therapy. It's at the bare minimum. Um, but I always knew something was I don't want to say wrong, but I don't know how else to say it because it's not wrong and it's not something bad, but it was something was off, and I was like, Yeah, someday it was uh uncomfortable for you. Yeah, I was like, why can't I process certain things? Or like, why do I get stuck at one point? And like it would be something like, oh, I want to wear this outfit to this night out. Can't I I I imagine it looking this way. I find the shirt, I find the shorts, it doesn't look that way, or I can't find the shirt, and then my night is done for. I'm like, I'm not going out, I'm crying, I don't understand what's happening, I don't want to do anything anymore. Yeah, like my my entire mood is derailed. So that was like many times my friends were like, stop crying and put on this t-shirt. Like we're going out. And um, you know, single shirt.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06

It's my jersey, it's my comfort jersey.

SPEAKER_00

My sleeping phone.

SPEAKER_06

It's my uh Kelsey brothers. But it would really like just throw me for a loop, and I would be like, I don't understand. Or like even with my ADHD, I'd be like, people are like, oh, you're such a space cadet. Like I was voted my the biggest spake space cadet on my cheerleading team, and I was like, people are like, that's you, and I was like, oh, cool. Yeah, you guys are right. Oh, that was so cool. But at 27, so this is now going on a four-year diagnosis. I was bi diagnosed with bipolar too. Um, I had spent several days in in the hospital being institutionalized after having a huge manic episode, which people do have that view of bipolar as like hot, cold, gonna snap. And it's like, that's not how that goes. That's not how it goes at all. And I have been behind the bar countless times in these episodes, and it really is, you know, taking if you even have access to it, which there are so many things for people who don't think they have access to mental health things, like there's something there for you. So there's that part of it of like figuring out how to access these things. And for anyone that is has the ability to access these things, it's so important that they do.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06

Because at the end of the day, it is going to be so rewarding to learn something about yourself if you're questioning anything and you're like, I am uncomfortable. These thoughts don't seem like everyone else has these thoughts. Um, what can I do? Who should I talk to about it? All these things.

SPEAKER_03

Um and I think New York City, uh, that's what I love, this city as well, because not just for the industry, but I think this city has a lot to offer for like everyone when when you look for help, either for mental health or like uh insurance, for jobs, for everything, there's something, there's always something that is gonna help you. Yeah. And just just don't be afraid or don't be ashamed of like feeling where like we said. Um, because therapy at the end of the day is very like helpful, but we also have like this uh you know bias of like, oh, if you go to the mental uh doctor, it's because you're crazy. Yeah. Or like, you know, why am I talking to a stranger about my feelings, right?

SPEAKER_00

I think uh now that you guys have mentioned it, we want to uh see if we can find some links and put it in a description so people can reach out and just like you know, if if we can help in this way, like someone in the community out there watching us and listening, uh having the link, I think is more accessible for them. Just to click, click a button. Nobody knows if you want to be anonymous, just click on it and then find out. If it's for you, it's fun. If not, uh you might be able to recommend it to somebody else, right?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, because also I think in this industry, well, we well, we said that the same. We go to your buy and it's like, hey, have a shot and everything, but sometimes we don't check in you know to each other. And uh we also have like you know, people that they're like going through like very bad episodes, so there's always like a helpline to go, and also, you know, I think it's very important to check up on your friends and as co-workers.

SPEAKER_06

And it's hard to tell. Yeah, it's hard to tell even when you are checking in with people. So it's like I think uh it just even us saying this out loud and somebody seeing it somewhere on one of these platforms, is like, hey, this person also has felt this way at least once. Like it's not just you, like it's not just you having these thoughts that you don't think are normal or it doesn't seem like other people or something like that.

SPEAKER_00

Sometimes we don't want to like showcase our emotion or our feelings because we would think we're gonna be judged in so many different ways. But in reality, if you are going through uh through a difficult time or you feel right, I think the best way is for you to check. Check yourself. Uh the second thing is uh, I mean, if your friends see it, uh it's okay if your friends tell you, right, like, hey, what's is something wrong? Like they're checking on you. So I feel like um the community of Barton in in a way um kind of like helps each other. Uh but that's also a barrier that we don't want to say, like, oh, I don't want to, I don't want them to I don't want them to know. Like if you don't have a job, for example, uh you try to look for a job, but you don't want to tell them that you're not jobless, you know, like if you have no money, for example, or if you will short a rent, or or hey, I I'm at place having hasn't paid me for the last three weeks, you know. I need three years, and like these little things that we don't say. Um but I'm so glad that I mean what you mentioned is is pretty pretty good because it's helpful. And one of the things in the previous episode uh with Erin, she also uh talked about the ADHD uh uh menu that they created, which I think is pretty cool that's for the squirrels, right? Yeah, uh I think it I mean that's another thing, but yeah, um it's something that it's here, right? Uh it's in there. Uh we know we know because we've been working in the service industry for a while. But I think now it's more uh it's it's I don't know, I don't want to uh what would be the perfect word? It's uh it's more visible. It's relieving like it relieves, you know, like when you say something like yes, this is happening, it's okay, whatever. Nobody cares, you know. Like nobody cares in the sense that uh what I have to say for my own persona is gonna benefit me or or you, you know, in this case, or or or Nori. Um and it's just for the good of the person, right?

SPEAKER_03

And and also, you know, like talking mental, but as as well, like especially that we work in in hospital, like you guys are bartenders. There's also people that are struggling with like alcohol addiction and sometimes they don't want to recognize it, or people are like, oh, he's just having fun, or she's just like, you know, a little tipsy or whatever, but like the same, it's uh something sometimes we deal uh with our emotions with you know alcohol. So it's good to talk. And uh, like you say, you were able to find this help. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

That's cool. And then so during these three uh five years in Someday Bar, um, you when you started, when you started learning all these cocktails and all that stuff, uh was the time that you were like, okay, I'm I'm like, I'm um 100%.

SPEAKER_06

I don't know if I'm still 100%. I feel like boast best. I mean, um, it really is because it's like you're it's never-ending the things that you could learn. And that's like what something that I had taken from Megan and her being like, here's all these things, like take it and run with it if you want to. And the thing is, is that you have to want it. Because if you don't, like you could you could show up to your shift and do your things and um, you know, just leave. You're like, okay, I I serve the people, I brought them their food, I did my silverware, I'm out. That's yeah, you know, you could do that and you could leave it at that, and really, but if you want to make more about it, and like why I I just don't see I I feel like there's such value in pushing yourself to continue to learn and going to these classes and things like that. So I don't think I'll ever comfortable be comfortable saying that I am at 100% because I feel like there's always going to be more to learn. Yeah, then so I think within the past two to maybe maybe two years, I'll give myself that I felt really comfortable with just even experimenting with building new cocktails and coming up with something on the fly about like, okay, we need to throw together this brand on tonight's drag menu. Let's do it quick. Um, so you know, it's it's something that I feel like is always evolving.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Um I just I don't want to go for it and I don't want to also like make you feel like you have to talk about it, but I feel like you you didn't finish your point of like how you were like uh, you know, after diagnose and how you dealing with, you know, like bartending and feel like, you know, I'm boiling and I have to do this drink for this uh customer that he's not being ugly, but I feel uncomfortable. Yeah. He's not being nice or he's being nice. Um so how do you feel like what once you get a diagnosis? Like how do you what were your tools to like manage working with that diagnosis?

SPEAKER_06

Well, the first thing that or tool that I utilized is the genuine support that I had for my workplace. It was taking that little bit of time off that I needed to take off. It was putting true effort into being going to therapy programs and, you know, taking a journey with medication, which isn't for everyone, but if you do choose to go that route, then it can be extremely helpful. There shouldn't be any type of stigma about taking medication if that's what you choose to do with your life and what you could, what could potentially really help you in the long run. Um, so it was really leaning into the support of my owner and staff around me prior to even getting back onto the bar. So it was genuinely taking a beat, being like, this is what I have to do, this is what I have to learn about myself. So when I do go into these episodes, that will always happen. I don't have a choice that will never stop in my lifetime. Um it's about mentally taking a step back and being like, Where are all the things that you learned? How do you implement your coping mechanisms in this moment before I turn around and I'm like, hey, get the fuck out of my bar. I don't like you. Like, because that could be a very easily uh like reaction if I'm just like too snappy and I'm not actually thinking. Because that could be a part of it, is me just being not, I don't want to say short-tempered in a way, because I don't want people to relate that to be like hot and cold bipolar, but it is more so like a my patience is done. I've just probably did seven things before you spoke a single word to me, and now you're interrupting my thought process. Like it's not a mood thing, it's more a frustration thing. Um, so I don't want that example to seem like that. But um it it is taking care of yourself at home, accepting that this is what you're going to um, that this is what your life looks like, and that's okay. It's a little bit different than other people's lives, but you are just as valuable and you are able to do things just like everyone else, no matter what your diagnosis is. Um so I and then let me see, like a train of thought there, sorry. Um I think it it is really just taking the time to learn yourself, learn your diagnosis. It's gonna be an everyday battle of waking up and saying, yeah, this is what it is, but it doesn't, it's not a bad thing. Like it is okay to be who you are and to continue living the life that you are as long as you're putting the proper work into it. Exactly. It's not going to affect your work, it's not going to affect your social life. Are you going to have hard days? Yes. And even if you don't have diagnosis like this, it's going everyone's going to have hard days. So this is something that in my core and has been really pushed into me is kindness overall. I think kindness is one of the biggest things in everyday life, not just in our hospitality life. Um, is you really get back what you give to the world.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, and I feel like, you know, thankfully you have the support at work, but I guess also you have support at home. You know, you you have your partner, I guess your family as well is part of the support system. And like you said, it's very important to like follow the steps for like uh like the coping mechanisms because for example before like I I I'm I suffer for anxiety and I when I work I was like short tempered because I wouldn't I didn't know how to manage that. And then eventually when I learned the like the breath uh mechanism, it would take me two seconds just to chill myself out and be like, okay, this is something that it gets me anxiety, but I can still process the whole service, right? And um, and also sometimes when you tell people, it's like it's not your uh also your problem with what people think about you, but it's like for example, I have uh my opinion, right? Stigmatism and I wear contact lenses. If I lose one, I would be like, you know the same.

SPEAKER_06

If I lost a contact during service, I would bar would be closed. Yeah, it'd be like, I'm sorry, everyone.

SPEAKER_00

I lost my glasses when I was driving once, but that was the worst. I would have gotten on the side of the road so quick.

SPEAKER_03

Uh but I think when you have a you know a certain thing that it it makes your daily life a little harder than other people, it I think mental issues are the same. You just not like I'm gonna put you in a bubble, right? That you're super different. It's just like, you know, at a moment, you just need like 10 seconds probably, or like I don't know how long it takes for you, but you came back to the sense of like, you know, I'm working. This is how I can tell myself and follow the next step, right? Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, it it and I think this also goes back to showing kindness to yourself because you wake up and you're kind to yourself, you're kind little crit creatures that you have in your house, whether it's your any type of pets that you have, and then you start that mentality off, is it's gonna bleed into your day and natural means and any person that you come into contact with because you know, part of bar world for me, and when I am creating the environment that I want to create every day when I open the bar and I'm you know, that's my space that I'm in charge of is making somebody's day one percent better. It's like they could be having I don't know what could be going on in their world. Anything could have happened to them that day, and they come into my bar, whether they want to sit there in silence, whether they want to read a book, be on their computer, sit here, chat my ear off about, I don't know, books, yeah, something or the Neeks, yeah, or they're like, wow, nice lemons. I'm like, I have 50 more to cut, dude. I don't know what else to say. Hence, hence, hence. Um, but it really is. It's like you you might be copying a little bit of an attitude with me. I'm not having a bad day. You are, you could probably use somebody to be a little nice to you right now. So, and even if you can't change their day and they're just grumpy all the time, I'm like, all right, man, like I tried. I tried.

SPEAKER_03

So when we met, we were at this um, you know, event that we were like hunting house, whatever, up for Halloween. And that I that's how I remember you, right? Because others uh I think we met probably before. But I guess like, you know, um seeing you and uh, you know, now that you're a head bartender and all the process during these years, I feel like it's cool when you see other people that even though we don't talk to each other a lot, but then you see them on Instagram or like, you know, around events um growing. So how what what is for you like being in hospitality?

SPEAKER_06

Um I think for hospitality, I I think it's such an interesting question because like you said, everyone has such their own take on it. Um I think this ties into creating somebody's day 1% better, but also um just creating a space that people won't feel welcomed in and they feel safe in, especially in someday specifically.

SPEAKER_00

They feel relaxed too. Yeah, we want to go relax and help drink.

SPEAKER_06

And um for our like queer community at someday is huge. We have such a large community and we're not a gay bar. Megan is a straight cis woman, and she doesn't want to claim a space that isn't hers to claim. And she's made jokes about it where she has turned around and was like, you know, I didn't know what my bar was gonna be. You know, she's like, I wanted to have a neighborhood bar, but my bar told me it needed to be this queer space, so it is now, and I love it, and the people love it, everyone loves it. So we call ourselves an everyone bar. So we have dogs, we have kids, uh, more dogs. Um, we host multiple drag shows a month. We do all these other just like we do writing events. There's so many things that pop up in the bar, and people are so excited to host their post-weddings, their happy hours for work there, and it's such a wide variety of people that we're catering to a little bit of everyone when people walk in. So it it's the most important to me to make sure that everyone feels safe from the moment that they walk in. I want them to feel like they could create their own little um bubble if they wanted to sit at the bar and read by themselves. But I want them to know that we are there to take care of them. We are there to make their day better, and I want them to think that this is a spot that they always want to come back to.

SPEAKER_03

Um for me, when I uh knew about the the bar someday, the first thing that attract my eye was like it's a women-owned, right? And then it was kind of like the tag of like it's a queer space, because I think most people know it, but it's good to know that and also you know, people recognize that the honor is not, but that doesn't mean that it's uh, you know, against it. And I feel like that's why I'm very happy of like talking about the LGBT community because I feel like if you are also an ally with that with them, I I feel like we're also creating more spaces to talk about it and even though we're a little further on on respecting and dealing also with other states that are not as open as New York City, uh, to normalize. And I'm against labels, but unfortunately, like I always said, like we have to use them because that's how we can manage censorship or like abuse or discrimination. Um I feel like that is the community that it's always bringing a lot of like stuff for the bars, uh, fun and you know, the the the Pride Month and the Pride Parade. It's always like being uh very proud of like how the city is supporting them.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah. It's gonna be Pride Month for us, it's my favorite month of the year. I mean, Pride is my favorite month of the year.

SPEAKER_00

Do you have any planned for this month?

SPEAKER_06

We will have our weekly flamboyant show all four weeks of the month on every Wednesday with Nancy No Good and Raina No Buena. They are, I guess we just turned three or four. No, we just turned three with them. Um we will be having Antonio Moore is our Sunday brunch drag queen. We normally do it the last Sunday of every month. We will be doing it on the Saturday, the 27th, before the Pride Parade in the city. We will have um a RuPaul drag queen with us. So that's under wraps right now, but it is very exciting.

SPEAKER_00

So you guys know that you guys know, you guys know.

SPEAKER_06

The 27th.

SPEAKER_00

Uh guys are around to City, go to Swam Day Bar. Uh, make sure you guys have a drink or two.

SPEAKER_06

We do have bottomless mimosa. Oh, yeah. You guys see me there. It's awesome.

SPEAKER_00

So we've we've been uh we've been at Swam Day Bar uh several times, uh a few times for different events. And the last time we went there with actually Jimena, when she came from Mexico, they did a pop-up.

SPEAKER_04

Yes.

SPEAKER_00

Um I really like it. I think it's a great book. Oh, actually, we went also for the Lasagna uh Oh, the Sagna night.

SPEAKER_03

Lasagna night. I was like a year ago. I'm always I'm always late. And I always miss everything. I I think Edgar was like, um, I think since we met, he was inviting me to events. He would be like, Yeah, there's this event, and and he would be like, It's from 7 to 11, and I will be there at like 10:30. He would be so mad at me. And it's like, where are you coming?

SPEAKER_00

7 to 10:30, I'll probably not be really happy. You know, like it's just not coming out at this point, you know. I'm about to leave.

SPEAKER_03

I changed a l a little bit now, but I I think also I missed that.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, we've been there, we've been there for several times. Uh we know Megan because, of course, you know, uh through this uh fabulous trip we had also when we met uh the Behind the Barrel event with uh Walter Key and the compart group, um, that's when we met Megan and then we ran into each other in Orleans uh a few times actually. Uh at different events also, which it was pretty cool because you know, we've seen somebody from New York who recognizes us, uh, or that I recognize, I'm like, hey, hi, you know, like it's pretty cool. Um and like honestly, one thing that I really love about this uh community in in general, um, is that you know, it doesn't matter where you work or what you do, you know, like if you can be a front of the house, back of the house, you can be the general manager of like that trim Michelle style restaurant. If you say hi to me and if I say hi to you and it is like the communal kind of like uh friendship, that's that's the greatest thing, right? Because I don't want to be above you or you don't want to be above me. Because then when that happens, it's just it becomes like conflicts. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

And then you know and they're super cool, like you know, like for example, like I said, I I don't know you a lot, but like the fact that I see that you have cats and it's like, oh, we work in the industry now, so she has cats. So when the next time we see each other, it's like, oh, how's your cat, right? Yes. Um, but also we want you to be here because I feel like um, you know, uh you have you started to tell you're part of this industry, and it's been a little bit that we don't have bart uh bartenders. And I feel like um, you know, because we have uh a guest with brands and everything, but I love the story of bartenders because then you know, even though you just work a Sunday, uh during those kind of stories like you said that the beginning you didn't know if you were they they they give you a migraine, it's like oh okay.

SPEAKER_06

I was like, I didn't even know what the specs of a DAC really are. They're like just I was like, well, I'll never I'll never forget what a DAC is now.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, and I think those are the cool experiences because when you don't know uh and you're willing to learn, yeah, and and somebody else is like opens the door for you to like, you know, like hey, this is the space where you can learn, become uh I don't know, bartender if they live with the Pasina Millie. And I I've been somebody has to be very trusty, you know. Trust and you have to be trustworthy as okay, right?

SPEAKER_05

Someday's not an easy spot, it's not easy. Um I didn't recognize that the back bar that you guys have is huge, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

It's a lot of bottles.

SPEAKER_06

Bananas. I was like, uh somebody said something about it the other day. I was like, I don't know, man. I was like, I don't know what to do with all this product. We have to get through some of this. Like she did a lot of favors here, but it's it's a solid back bar. It is been um, but you know, it's just given me so many opportunities, even outside of the bar. Like I said, I've gotten to go to Camp Runamuk, I've done the day of behind the barrel, I've done several classes at Diagio or Kampari Academy. And um, I even I try to bartend music festivals whenever I can. So uh that's I learned volume when we started doing our black lagoon pop-up. Like we've always had like decent volume at the bar. And I've worked a handful of music festivals in Pennsylvania. That's volume, of course. What I learned was gen pop volume because I was in GA bartending. I had my first experience as a VIP experience bartender this past September. Oh wow, um, at Louder Than Life and Bourbon and Beyond.

SPEAKER_02

Oh.

SPEAKER_06

So I worked um for Angels Envy and their ultimate VIP experience. I like um we were averaging 15 to 1600 cocktails per bartender per day. Wow. Um there was 20 of us, and I was like, I came back and I was like, I am damaged. I was like, I am damaged. And Meg was like, hey, we signed up for Miracle, and I was like, I'm dying. Um, but it's like there's so many opportunities outside of the bar that then set me up for things inside of the bar as well. Because I came back from bartending those two festivals and I was ripping it. I was like, I am ready to do a Christmas pop-up.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Uh so now that you mentioned uh volume and coming from veterinary, like how do you see that? Do you always like? I mean, the question would be like, did you imagine that you would be like this or or like using your arms a lot and being like, oh my god, no, no, it did not. It's a workout.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, well, even just like from the start of it to like us batching all of these things, and we're batching 200 cocktails at a time, and then we're like, I'm like pulling up all these cases upstairs, just the prep of it itself. I'm like, okay, now I'm having five gallons of candy cane syrup. Like, are you kidding me? And carrying this up and down the stairs, and um, you know, it's just like we're run the stairs really kill me apart. Bar, like, I know we're in New York, everyone's gonna have stairs, it's just not fun. Um, but running back and forth up down the stairs, that that takes a toll on your legs. You're moving kegs throughout your shift. Like the physical aspect of bartending is people just like write off all the time. They're like, oh, whatever. And I'm like, Do you understand what we're lifting downstairs?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, because I I believe, you know, when you start um in a bar that you don't know a lot of or you don't have experience, depending how you shake, right? And you start like, I see people they shake here, like, you know, and then eventually, like my mentor here, um, he tells you, like, oh, you should shake here because it's easier, blah, blah, blah. But you learn that with the the during the process of becoming uh more experienced. And um, so your partner how is she part of the the community?

SPEAKER_06

No, she um actually works in real estate. She is a senior leasing officer. Off I was gonna say officer. She's an uh sorry, officer uh senior leasing like cups up um in Chelsea. So she works, uh she deals with people like uh customer-facing position regularly. She's touring people in the buildings all the day. She's dealing with a lot of the back end of leasing and stuff like that. So um I always said I would never train her to bartend, but she would probably be one of the best bartenders. She is, you know, she has the personality, she is detailed, she she could do it. I don't want her to do it. Like then we're competing.

SPEAKER_03

And um how do you deal with that kind of difference uh, you know, in the streets?

SPEAKER_06

Well, so it's she's such a people person, and like it's funny because if whenever she comes and sits at the bar, I'm like, hey, stop making friends. Like, stop talking to the drunk strangers, please. Like, we don't need any more friends or Instagram followers. I was like, knock it off. Um so I mean, we're one and the same with our personality. Like, we could talk to anyone. She is an incredibly kind human being, and she's my biggest support as well. Oh, that's people. Yeah, she is she's awesome and she deals with a lot with me. Yeah, I'm a big personality man. I can't, I can't like I can't do anything about it.

SPEAKER_03

She doesn't she doesn't get bored, though. No. She might. And and you said you you recently got engaged, right?

SPEAKER_06

Yeah. So God, last year. It's been a long engagement. Yeah. So it's, you know, we're in deep wedding planning, but it's gonna be fun. She's actually picking up her custom-made suit tomorrow. Um, she has she got a three-piece suit done. It's this queer-owned um business right in downtown Brooklyn, so it's very exciting. But I mean, I will say the hours are a little rough because and even outside of what I do versus what she does, is like she's like a dad. She's like, nine o'clock. I uh uh weeded today, I grilled, I'm good. I'm like, oh, it's 1 a.m. I have time for two more episodes of something. Like on my true crime, like, oh yeah. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

We watch uh past two or three a.m. Today's we'll watch like you want to watch a uh uh a show or something? It's like 2 a.m. You will still watch 30 minutes and then 5 a.m.

SPEAKER_06

all the time. But um I think that's like rough for us because like she I can function off of minimal sleeping. Like I'm fine with it. It's not great. I'm not don't do it, yeah, but I'm able to. So for her, she's like very scheduled with her sleeping, her eating routine. Obviously, me on the bar eating, there is no schedule. I am eating pizza over a trash can, even though that's her stereo I will live by that stereotype a thousand percent because it's true. Yeah, it is true.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, we give you like eat in three seconds.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Especially if you're busy.

SPEAKER_06

The chef's like, I have a cookie.

SPEAKER_00

I'm like, yeah, or sometimes you don't eat during uh the shirt your chef if you're busy. At the end of the night, you're like, Oh, I need a snack.

SPEAKER_06

You're like, why do I?

SPEAKER_00

Exactly. Oh, I didn't drink enough water because sometimes you're busy, you you have no time to drink water, uh you have no time to eat. Uh especially if you're preparing a cocktail for a menu. Like for the moment you walk into the store, uh, you create a cocktail, you print in the menus, you're making sure everything is ready for for the for the event. Uh, once the event is finished, you have to finish cleaning. Once you finish cleaning, you're like, I'm too tired. But I'm still hungry, you know. And I feel like uh a lot of people don't see that part of bartending. The creativity part, which is like, you know, creating a cocktail and coming up with a menu because also coming up with a name that has to make sense for the event, uh, you know, all these things, the little details that uh a lot of folks don't see from outside. Um the bartenders who are watching and listening, they can relate to this because this is what we do. But a lot of folks don't know. And you know, like you mentioned earlier, having an event on a Saturday and having a different event on a Monday, excuse me, on a on a Sunday, uh total different, totally different cocktails. Uh it it's a little bit um uh hard, you know. It takes a toll on your body. Your body's aching, you need to rest, you need to rest at least one day because shaking fifth sixteen hundred cocktails or starting sixteen hundred cocktails is not an easy task.

SPEAKER_06

So I was born. Most insane things I've ever done my body through, truthfully, because it was 128 hours and eight days. Um, it was well worth it financially. I will always do it again if I am invited back. Yeah. But um it's also this is like a different part of our community. Yeah, it's like a sub-genre community, I guess. Um, was the people that I met there.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06

Oh my goodness. Some of them I had met through well, the way I got the job was through Camp Runamuk. So they have the Facebook group, they have a Discord, they have whatever, all these different ways to keep in touch with that community specifically. So I had gone on the Facebook group, searched on the bar, and was like, hey, anyone do festival staffing? Like I've done it on my own through a friend of a friend, and I was like, How do I get into a cool festival? Like I want to do this, and it's it's hard to crack the code to that. Like, do you really gotta know somebody or somebody has to be leaving and being like, hey, take my spot? So I had found uh a friend of mine now uh on Facebook in that group, and I was like, Hey, really interested. And every three months I'd be like, Hey, I'm still really interested. I want to work for you. Um, and then she had actually come to New York. We had met by chance at the bar, and we both had hard-shaped glasses on. We were like, This is so funny. She ended up hiring me. I went down there, and it was like almost like the real world because they put us up in an Airbnb for 13 days. Um the only thing I had to pay for was my flight to and from there, and then like groceries when we were there and whatnot. So it's like, you know, I got off the plane, got dropped off with the Airbnb. There was only three other girls in the house when I got there. They were like, they'll claim a room. They'll claim a room. And I was like, Oh, okay, like I'll go right now. And they're like, Yeah, you gotta bed. Like, only like two people had to be on an air mattress or something. But um for 13 days. Yeah, it it was a bond. Like it was an instant bond. And it was funny, one of the girls in the house had the same exact lenses on that I have on now. So it was not only the first person and I, it was another friend of mine that I'm now very close with.

SPEAKER_04

Awesome.

SPEAKER_06

Um, but yeah, we spent the two weeks in the house together. We bartended, we went back and forth, we carpooled every day, we came home, we had meals together, we all the most incredible part of this operation for me. Uh, when I bartended festivals, I were like, yeah, here's a nine-hour shift, take 45 minutes, good luck getting food.

SPEAKER_00

Um especially going through this crowd.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah. Or a line is gonna cost like be 20 minutes to get a piece of corn. I don't know. Right. Yeah. But they um they made sure we were fed, they made sure we were hydrated. If you wanted a snack break, you wanted a cigarette, they would swap you out, you would do prep for two hours. And this is the thing, this is like this was like true hospitality that these people are receiving through a festival experience. So it's not just like a like a turn burn, here are cans. Right. This was here's four cocktails at once. I mean, it was all batched with thank God. Yeah, imagine like yeah, build a little sketch. Yeah, I well, I was scared because I I didn't know. I've never done something like that. So when I was like bash it, how smart as if like that wouldn't be their first thing.

SPEAKER_03

I I did a event on uh New Year's Eve uh in Manhattan, and we have to do cocktails, like it wasn't batch, so it was like uh espresso martinis, I guess. No, espresso martinis we were doing I forgot, but it was like crazy because the moment that people start it was like one like I think like four bars and then the main one you have all these people because it was like um like a what is it? Uh the one that I did on uh the lorry side for was it was like a gas bee party. Oh so everybody was like super nice dressed and everything, but it was crazy because you know like the first uh probably like the first two, three hours everything is like smooth or like organized. But then when people start getting like you know tipsy and everything, it was like then it just started running low of things and it's like I don't have vodka, I don't have tequila, and this like that. And it was like running to grab the other person and then do drinks, and then you know, uh charging cards. It's it's it's crazy, but I think it's fun.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, so the the cool part were the the not cool cool part, I guess I'll say, is that the end of the second weekend because they do both festivals Thursday through Sunday, and the last day and a half, they do this thing called like they call it a type of shuffle. I forget the exact name for it, but they want to hit net zero. So they're like, okay, like at a certain point, we're not opening other batch bottles, we are not opening up any other well bottles that we have. So if people are ordering cocktails and there's four of you left on the bar that normally has 10 bartenders, you are sprinting back and forth to be like, you have orange juice, you have Bloody Mary mix, because these people are ordering Bloody Marys at the most absurd times at a metal music festival. I'm like, wow, I was like, what drugs are you people doing that you want to bloody marry right now? But it's weird, it was exactly like that. It was like, I don't have vodka. They're like, go down there, call it up from bar two. And I'm like, we're calling down a bottle of vodka from a bar, like just because we weren't allowed to tell them no. Yeah, everything was on the way. Wow, yeah, there was like I went to say something, and my coworker was like, Don't do that. Don't if you get hot saying no, you're gonna get in trouble. And I was like, I don't like that rule. Okay, I'll learn.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I mean, now that you mentioned that, it there's different kinds of events and and the badging uh helps you have uh consistency and three cocktails is easier to bang. Uh where where uh see building a cocktail, you know, like even if it's uh one-on-one, like a tequila soda or a mescal soda or or a bike soda, sometimes it'll take you a little longer because you have to pour it out of there. But at the same time, it takes you to shake in, uh takes you to build. But by the amount by the moment the moment or the time you spend going trying to sort that bottle is you're losing time. And I always see this effectively, like I always say, uh, if you have a party of 200 people, uh batch.

unknown

Yep.

SPEAKER_00

If you have a party of 50 people, you can then manage it. But it's just like depending on the party too, because if you have somebody who's turning 65, they're not gonna drink as much. You have somebody who's turning 21, they're gonna go all in. Because you know, like first time uh you were able to drink, uh people so it's like, yeah.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, they're gonna like feel like haha, you want to try something really new?

SPEAKER_00

Exactly, exactly. And then like, shots for everybody, you know, like uh it's a different it's a different kind of party. Yeah. But that's that's good, you know. Like this experience is I think like you said, like help you, you know, be faster. Uh no, no like different aspects of hospitality when it comes to like to these events, because this this event is a big wow.

SPEAKER_06

Um, the first Black Lagoon event that we ever did, we actually did not think about batching. And we had to learn how to batch like essentially on the fly after like just crumbling because we were like, what do we mean? We have like seven touches here. Yeah, and so and we're a small staff. We're we're just like these this little little army, if you will, of seven of us. Yeah, so it's like we all really have to be on the same page, everything, everyone has to be on top of everything, and like it's thankfully we're as small as we are because it's much more easy to manage to be like, okay, well, if someone's messing up, it's gonna be pretty obvious who it is, and like yeah, it's like the accountability, even if you don't want it, it's there. Yeah, it's in big red letters.

SPEAKER_03

And I think like, you know, all this thing that uh we were talking about during this conversation. I feel like that's that what makes you, you know, experience or season, as we call it. Uh and you learn, like, you know, especially being accountable, you know, because if you hide like a mistake or try to blame someone else, it's like everybody notices, but also it's it gives you less credibility as a team player, right? And uh, you know, learning your your your your staff as well is like we would say, right? If you take care of everyone, the business is gonna be also take care of it. So we're glad that we're having this conversation with you and you were able to come here and and tell people where you work, what you're doing, and uh someone also feel inspired by you. But thank you.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, it's pretty cool, honestly. Uh why don't we uh help the audience uh know your uh sojour handles and where they can find you? Uh I mean the address if you can share with us, uh Sunday Someday Someday Bar.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah. Um okay, so once again, I am Natasha Arcy of Someday Bar NYC. Um we are located on 364 Atlantic Avenue in Borham Hill. Our Instagram handle is just at someday bar nyc. And then for myself, I am um what's my name? My name is My name is Natasha, and my Instagram handle is just Natasha uh with an extra a dot two three at not not at gmail. I'm gonna do that okay. I like my email, Instagram, everything. Um my Instagram handle is Natasha with an extra a dot two three. Um and that's we're gonna we're gonna put it though.

SPEAKER_03

But uh some some people they don't watch the like the the YouTube, but uh also they're listening in their you know platform. Uh and you know, we're glad that we're part of their day and uh get to know you. Uh thank you so much for coming. Thank you. And uh we'll we'll see you around. Megan.

SPEAKER_00

Is there anything you would like to see that to the camera or to acknowledge anybody that you uh um that you like?

SPEAKER_06

I mean, two of my biggest supporters, the one within the industry is Megan Rickerson. Um I love her to the end of the earth as a mentor, sister, best friend, and especially in the hospitality side for being able to open the door to be where I am today. And then my um number one supporter at home is my soon-to-be wife, Caitlin Andrews.

SPEAKER_00

Shout out to Kaylee.

SPEAKER_06

Katie. We joke around, we're like Caitlin Gray. So um just for always supporting me and letting me be who I am and supporting me throughout all of it. So thank you so much. And then all my cats. All the cats, you know, all the cats in the world, all the cats in the world.

SPEAKER_00

Yes, especially Catilla. Hey, uh, thank you so much, folks, for watching. Uh, for more episodes like this, go to our website w bartalkit talking bar nyc.com or go to our socials, uh bartalk at talking bar nyc. Excuse me, bartalk talking bar uh on Instagram, uh, TikTok, and everywhere.

SPEAKER_03

You can find us everywhere, you can listen to us everywhere, and uh don't forget to subscribe and share and comment and uh you know the algorithm algorithm uh algorithm it's it's uh tricky but help us to grow and like we said uh we can have more episodes like this and you can meet more people and learn from them as well because now you're gonna be your mentor for other people.

SPEAKER_00

So I was gonna say something. Why don't we leave by saying uh this is the bar talking talking bar? I will move the count to say two, three. This is bar talking, talking bar.

SPEAKER_06

I did it backwards. Bar talking talking bar. Talking bar talking, talking bar.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, okay. Okay.

SPEAKER_03

Well, two, three. This is bar talking, talking bar. Thank you, everyone, and see you next week.