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by ASHLEY BENNERS
Intern Lifestyles Reporter
Benefits of the new liquor license sweep Watauga County, permitting mixed drinks to pop up on menus all over town. However, excited consumers are not the only ones to reap rewards.
Jennifer A. Mackey, senior electronic media and broadcasting major, has been bartending for three years and was recently hired at Boone Saloon thanks to the new liquor license.
 Stacy N. Campany makes a drink at the Makoto’s in Boone Wednesday afternoon. Campany is an alumna with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a student bartender before becoming the assistant manager at Makoto’s, the first restaurant to offer liquor by the drink in Boone. Photo by Alisha Park |
“I
specifically went to find a [bartending] job in Boone because I have
liquor experience,” Mackey said. “Because there was no liquor license,
other bartenders in the area don’t have the volume of experience with
liquor that I have.”
A native of Atlanta, Mackey said she was raised in a restaurant family.
“My mom has worked in restaurants as a bartender or a chef since she was 17,” Mackey said. “I was raised in that mindset.”
Mackey learned to bartend at Manuel’s Tavern in Atlanta, where it was “sink or swim,” she said.
Since then, she has spent the past 10 months as a server and bartender at Pssghetti’s in Blowing Rock.
Mackey said at Pssghetti’s, bartenders make $4 per hour as opposed to the $2.15 servers make.
One of
the toughest challenges, Mackey said, is balancing school with work. On
weekends, Mackey arrives at the bar around 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. and does
not leave until 3 a.m. or 4 a.m.
“It’s
not easy,” Mackey said. “I only work on weekends but it still requires
a lot of catching up on schoolwork because when I’m not working during
the weekend all I want to do is sleep.”
As a non-smoker, Mackey said working in a smoky environment does get to her.
Back in
Atlanta, Mackey said she grew accustomed to the smoke. Until recently,
she had not been exposed to an extremely smoky work place.
“It
hurts my eyes a lot,” Mackey said. “I’m sure my boyfriend doesn’t
appreciate me coming home smelling like an ashtray at night, even after
I shower.”
Mackey is also familiar with the ups and downs of being a young, female bartender.
“The
difference between being a male or female bartender really depends on
the establishment,” Mackey said. “Here in a college town it doesn’t
matter as much, but back in Atlanta, especially the chain restaurants,
girl bartenders make significantly more than the guys.”
Mackey
has personally experienced the bias of male customers to a female
bartender, as she has dealt with countless unwanted come-ons.
“They think they are suave and charming and they’re not,” Mackey said. “We get some lewd comments from time to time.”
In Boone, the most common mixed drinks served at Boone Saloon is a vodka cranberry or a Jack [Daniel’s] and Coke, Mackey said.
“I think people are just getting used to us having liquor,” she said.
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