For many people, the idea of bartending conjures up thoughts of Tom Cruise in Cocktail. In reality, it’s not quite as glamorous. There is a lot less bottle twirling and a lot more glass washing.

Like many, I’ve done my time behind the bar, albeit nearly a decade ago. As rusty as I may be, that experience came in handy when I spent an evening guest bartending at Nathanael Greene’s Publick House in Downtown Greene.

I’m not going to lie; I was looking forward to the experience. I figured I’d get to do all the fun stuff that goes along with bartending (the socializing, the putting tips in the bucket ...), without any of the real work. I was the “guest” bartender after all. If I was expecting an evening of leisure, I was sadly mistaken.

The second I walked through the door on the night of my little adventure, I was put to work. Bernadette, the bartender I shadowed (you can interpret that as “got in the way of”) all night, said a quick hello, showed me where to stash my things, then pointed to a customer seated at the bar and told me to get him a beer. Good thing I remembered how to pull a pint.