Be nice just to be nice

“Hey, Jeff,” said the guy sitting at the bar.

He comes in every week and has for a long time. He's come in post-pandemic, mid-pandemic and even pre-pandemic. He is the definition of a regular.

“I was in here last week,” he said, which I found somewhat amusing because that didn't really differentiate anything at all.

“I think I made a joke at your expense,” he continued.

If he had, I didn't remember it. Jokes are made to me, from me and about me all the time. If you are thin-skinned, you don't stand behind the bar for too long.

“I hope I didn't offend you in any way,” he added.

Both now seemed offended. I shrugged, because neither one really cared one bit about my side of the situation. And I was the one with sweat running down my forehead.

And there it was. He actually cared about what I thought or felt. And he took the time to apologize for something that I hadn't even noticed. Customer service is a two-way street, just many customers forget that.

You get what you give, most of the time. Far too often, and especially during the holiday season, service people are seen as a means to an end, a way to get what you want, with little or no regard for what is happening right in front of you.

“You know me, right?” said the woman not asking.

I am not in the business of embarrassing people, so I just shrugged. Sure, why not? I know everybody. I am a veritable Will Rogers. She said it again when I told her she couldn't sit in someone else's seat and again when she moved the bar stool blocking the fire exit.

“We know each other, right?” she said, reaching out her hand to shake mine.

But I couldn't shake her hand, because I had a Manhattan in one hand and a martini in the other. I wasn't trying to be rude, I just didn't have a free hand to offer her. Physics is physics.

“I want a 50/50 martini,” said another man, in a heavy British accent, whom I also didn't know. “50/50 what to what?” I asked. “You know,” he said.

No, I don't know. That is why I am asking. Funny how many customers take a clarifying question as a personal attack or an assault on their belief system. Not everybody has the same level of allergic sensitivity. Not everybody knows what liquor is supposed to go in a French 75, or what glass white wine is typi