An undisclosed Patriot player has paid sophomore Alex Maiocco $100 to smile. She has been tipped $400 by another pro athlete. And she has finished up work at 3:30 a.m. only to stick around for another hour with her coworkers drinking their share of free alcohol.
Maiocco started bartending at the Rack in Boston last May after garnering an invitation from the owner, to whose children she gave swim lessons. Days before, she had been struggling to get past the front door with her fake ID -she was 20 at the time - but she could now spend hours at a time at the Rack, earning upwards of $1,000 on a Saturday night.
"It's fun because you get to go out and you're working at a bar, so there's music and stuff, so it's a fun atmosphere," Maiocco said. "It's definitely not a typical job."
The perks are great, but the work is hard. "It's a different lifestyle," she said. "When I work, I can't function during the day. It is a fun job, obviously, but it's hard to get used to."
Maiocco began work as a cocktail waitress, but was soon promoted. She had earned her bartending certification, so the owner gave her a shot at the bar. "You don't even need the course if someone can train you," she said. "Most bartenders don't have a license."
Maiocco said that the course only teaches the 20 most popular drinks, and that her time behind the bar was her true training ground. "It's good when you start working at a bar because you start making all these obscure drinks you've never heard of in your life," she said.
Of course, that training requires time and patience. "My first night I wanted to cry because I was so busy and people were constantly asking for drinks, most of which I had never heard of," Maiocco said. "It was non-stop moving."
That night, a group of eight guys kept returning to her with bizarre requests, such as a "woowoo" shot. "I had no idea what it was so I had to ask another bartender, and it was overwhelming," she said. "They kept making up these names that I didn't know." Maiocco finds the position of a female bartender to be a peculiar one. The job often seems like a trade-off between getting hassled by drunk guys and getting a lot of tips. At the Rack, all but two of the bartenders are women.
"You definitely get hit on more [as a female bartender]," she said. "Drunk men definitely overstep boundaries. [Male bartenders] don't have to deal with that as much, but they also don't get tipped as much either. It's better to be a female bartender."
The rules are simple: watch your patrons, and don't drink while tending bar. The first rule concerns liability: "Technically if you over-serve someone it's your fault, so you need to keep track of how much everyone has been drinking," Maiocco said. "So many people get too drunk and get carried out. I remember I worked on New Year's Eve, and I think I saw about 20 different girls puke."
The second rule concerns professionalism. "You are not allowed to drink, but some actors come in and if they want to take shots with you, you do it under the table," she said. However, this practice does not go unnoticed.
"So many people I have worked with have been fired for [drinking while bartending]," she said. "It's hard [to resist] if friends come in."
But resisting temptation has its benefits: on an average weekend night (Thursday through Saturday), Maiocco earns between $800 and $1,000. Of course, Monday or Wednesday nights can yield as little as $400; still not bad for five hours of work. Considering that the pay she receives from the bar is negligible, she relies heavily upon tips.
On a typical night, Maiocco arrives at the Rack at 9 p.m. She tries to get a ride with a coworker or have someone drop her off because parking is a hassle, and she tries to avoid tickets. Things at the bar won't pick up until 11 p.m., so she can ease into the night.
The bar will be packed by midnight, which is when the job becomes chaotic. Fortunately for Maiocco, she does not have to make shots past 1 a.m., "so my life gets easier." The bar closes at 2 a.m., but there is still work to do. She and the other bartenders have to take down the bar, replenish any used alcohol, clean up the bar, count the money, and divide the tips evenly among the bartenders.
On most nights, Maiocco is done by 3 or 3:30 a.m - the first point in the evening when the bartenders can capitalize on their unlimited access to drinks. If she stays to commiserate, she generally does not leave for home until 4:30 a.m., to sleep and - some weekends - start all over again the next morning.
On nights like these, there is no time to spare. As a result, Maiocco had to learn her trade fast. Now she can handle a group of eight like the one on her first night. "If you don't know what a drink is, there's someone there," she said. "Worst comes to worst, we have a book of drinks at the bar to look it up, but that's a last resort. They'd rather you make it up than look it up. It takes much longer."
The job has taught Maiocco confidence and street smarts. "When I first started working I was honestly afraid that someone would reach over the bar and grab me, but then you realize they're just drunk and you learn how to handle them," she said.
"Being a bartender and working those hours makes me so glad I'm in college and will not being doing this for the rest of my life," she added. "I couldn't do it for more than four months straight. It's really draining."
