The Gospel of Cocktail Podcast

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01:06Do a 30-minute demo and I will give you a free hat or I will give you a free t-shirt for Nashville Restaurant Radio. Just DM us on Instagram and let us know you set that up. Go check them out right now. We are super excited to introduce Maintain IQ for Restaurants. Maintain IQ is a modern digital checklist system that simplifies your operations. They are designed specifically for restaurants. You can standardize, track, and manage food safety procedures, temp logs, daily checklists, preventative maintenance, and ongoing repairs. He's saying that managers will save up to 10 hours per week. You can reduce repairs and maintenance spend by $5,000 a year. Staff will know what to do, how to do it, and when to do it. Everything is digitally recorded. Minimize liability, ensuring safety, cleaning, and compliance standards are upheld. This is the best thing since sliced bread, guys. And we're gonna talk about that in just a sec with Sharpies.

02:08But we are talking about a checklist to do every single thing in your restaurant that's all kept nice and neat in a little app. You need to call Will Joxon. His number is 888-534-0261 and set up a 30-minute demo. If you do that, I'll give you a free Nashville Restaurant Radio hat or I'll give you a free Nashville Restaurant Radio t-shirt. Just send me a message on Instagram. Check out Maintain IQ. Welcome to the Gospel of Cocktail podcast. Now here's your host, Kayla Ellis. ["Gospel of Cocktail"] Welcome, everybody. I am so excited to be talking with you guys today. As always, I am Kayla Ellis. I am your host for Gospel of Cocktail. This is the podcast that we are doing with Nashville Restaurant Radio.

03:09Brandon Styll is awesome letting us do this. So it's been wonderful. We are on the last episode of the six-part series and it looks like we might keep going with this. It's been a lot of fun. I think we're all having a good time. I know I am. I've really enjoyed getting to talk with different bartenders, hearing their story, getting to share a platform with them. Bartending is the best. It's just what brings me the most joy. So today we get to talk with Akinde Olagundoye. He is absolutely incredible. And Akinde has been in the industry for quite a while. Here in Nashville, he's kind of a celeb. We all love him. He was the president of the USBG for a little while. He is now at Mother's Ruin. If you want to hit him up and get a drink with him. So we're gonna get into it with him. We get into some deep stuff. I was really happily surprised with the realness that he was willing to share and his vulnerability and his generosity of his time.

04:09It was really special. I really am appreciative of it. So thank you, Akinde. I'm really excited to get into this with you. But I also want to tell you guys about this group. There is a group called Just.Glass. And you can find them on justiceindustries.org. I am so impressed with what they're doing. So they actually have a way to offer curbside pickup for all of your glass and recycling. What they're doing is really inspiring. They're taking folks that have had trouble getting jobs in the past, whether it be class differences or getting out of different difficult situations in life. And they're giving them a job or giving me a chance. So this is a really cool operation, Just.Glass. And you can sign up for it on justiceindustries.org. That's the kind of stuff I'm down with. I'm so into finding new ways to solve problems and giving people hope for a better future.

05:14I mean, that's just, that's what life is all about. And honestly, it's what we try to embody with this show. So I'm really happy to get to have their sponsorship. It's a huge blessing and kind of an honor. It's really cool. So without further ado, I'm really excited to introduce you guys to Akinde. Welcome. I'm just gonna start recording so you don't have to do anything. So how are you doing, my friend? I'm so good. I've missed you. It's been a long time. Here, let's get that mic up real close to you. Yeah, I want to catch everyone. You kind of have to eat the mic. Yeah, you should. I wonder if you don't. How about now? I don't. I don't. I don't. I don't. I don't. How about now? I don't. Oh, I hear you now. There you go. I hear you. Am I in? Yeah. All right. There we go. Howdy. Howdy. Well, yeah, I miss you a ton. I haven't seen you since we were possibly going to have you over at Oak.

06:18And that was fun because I got to work with you for a little blurb of time. Yeah, that was actually really nice. Yeah, it was cool. Because you've been in the industry for a long time. I've seen you around Nashville for a long time, and we've done different competitions here and there. Mostly, I think I just see you at USBG stuff, the United States Bartenders Guild stuff. Yeah, so I have been in the industry for a long time. It's been 19 years now. That's awesome. Yeah. How much of that has been bartending? 14 of it has been bartending. So the first five years I was serving, which I think it's a good way to get into it. I think so, too. I mean, if you can't juggle five tables, six tables at a time while keeping a smile, then you probably can't make eight drinks while juggling a whole bar top and the entire restaurant's worth of drinks.

07:19Right, and then the service aspect of it also is something that you might miss if you don't serve first. Yeah, I know a lot of people like that. Well, how would you describe it? I guess premeditating guest needs and the small details like putting down bed naps and just being more courteous. I think it's a more humbling position, you could say, as opposed to bartending, which is kind of like you're the leader of the show. Yeah, I think that's true. I mean, definitely, I agree. I've said this before, but humility to me is like the number one character of a good bartender. And we kind of treat it the opposite. Right. It's like more bravado. Yeah. Yeah. And I think that's been true for a lot of bartenders for years. And I don't fault them for it. I feel like they survive off of their ego in order to keep thriving.

08:20Rather than finding a different source of energy and a source of kind of encouragement or strength or whatever you want to call it. A source of something to keep pushing. They pull from their ego rather than pulling from humility or teamwork or whatever. I think that's helpful, though, sometimes, unfortunately, like in the eyes of maybe some guests or some management where they see that as like a skill. Yeah. As opposed to like respecting humility. Yeah. It's kind of like, I don't know, you need that bravado to show that you're good in some ways. If you don't have the other stuff, it certainly helps. I guess. If you don't have, yeah, for me, a lot of the bartenders that are that are all show, they're the same ones that aren't like willing to get ice for the well or mop. They're like the first ones out.

09:22So I can't help it. I feel like I'm a little bit I'm just kind of turned off by that type of bartender. Same. Yeah. Like, yeah, I don't really enjoy it. I don't know. It's like the person that will stand in front of you and talk to you, but not fill up your glass or not notice that you're empty and actually cater to your needs. Yeah. Like, as a guest, you're right. Like, as a guest, it's not a good look either. Like, I'm glad that you're telling me about how you got into this and everything. But my water's been empty for 15 minutes. Right. Yeah. Cool story. Well, how did you get into it? So it was my first summer after starting college and I went back home from Brooklyn, New York. So I went back home for the summer and I was just looking for work and they had just opened up a Red Lobster in like close to the highway. Okay.

10:23Okay. And at the time, that was like a fancy restaurant in my eyes. So I went and I applied and no experience and they hired me. So I went in. They taught me how to serve, you know, following all the guidelines of Darden restaurants. Yeah. And I thought it was cool. I was not very comfortable whenever I was talking to people. Like at first, like every time I got a table, it was like terrifying. Yeah. But now, you know, it's like riding a bike. Yeah. I think it's really good. I do. I mean, people in the industry say this a lot, but like everybody at some point should work in the industry. I think for a lot of people when you're younger and you didn't quite get what you needed out of school or what have you, there's a point when you're serving or when you're working towards service that you start learning how to read people and you kind of start to see what they need from your conversation.

11:31And it really grows you up. It's like a very maturing process. Yeah. I mean, the way I feel about it today is totally different from how I felt about it then. Like I said, I was scared every time because I had to approach these strangers and talk to them because I guess naturally I'm not extroverted. Yeah. I love the introverted bartender, by the way. That's a good characteristic. Well, thanks. But now I have like a different level of confidence when it comes to it because I've done it for so long. And I kind of know what the flow of it is now. I know what they're here for. I know how to figure out what they want and how to keep people happy. Yeah, totally. I know with me, I'm an extroverted person in general, but I have to recharge. So I like teeter between extrovert and introvert very quickly. Like when I'm done, I'm done. It's time to go.

12:31I got to hide. In fact, hiding is my favorite term for it. It's like, OK, it's time to hide. But I also really love people. And so I do get a little bit of energy from other people's energy. I just won't notice sometimes when I'm starting to deplete. Right. And so it kind of sometimes for me, I'll notice like, you know, in a long stretch with no breaks, no days off, all of a sudden realize, oh, I've got nothing left. Do you have any experiences like that? Is that similar? Is this me? Yeah, I feel like it happens probably every few months. Yeah. Honestly, where it's like, all right, you have to recenter and just like figure out what's going on, because that could be expressed in different ways. Like for me, sometimes it can be it can be drinking. Yeah. And it's like, all right, I've been drinking a little bit too much. Yeah. That's just a symptom of what is actually wrong. Like, are you working too much? Are you having like personal issues?

13:32Is there something else that you need to take care of? Yeah. And so I try to take those times. I actually recently did that when I went to New Orleans. OK. For Tails. Yeah. How was that? It's a strange way to like get away from it, because it's like going into a whole nother whirlwind of things, you know, drinking. Tails of the cocktail is wild. And yeah, in New Orleans. So but it was nice. You know, it was just a way to get away from from town, from the familiar. Yeah. And just like focus on what I want to do in the future. Well, for one, where can people find you now? And two, when you talk about the future, what does that mean? People can find me now at Mother's Ruin. Love Mother's Ruin. I love Mother's Ruin too. As a bartender's bar right there. Yeah. It was my favorite bar before I started working there. And I had a time when I was like trying to figure out what I wanted to do next, as we talked about, you know, I almost came on at Oak.

14:38But I was just really trying to pick the job that was going to be like what I thought was going to be the best fit. And I think Mother's is that for me. Yeah. Like the best fit for you in the sense of its vibe, its technique or just for what you need right now. I think the vibe, the technique is kind of a big change because I've been using jiggers for the past as long as I can remember right now. And we free pour and that kind of takes me back to like the beginning when I first started. And, you know, it's just fun. So like for our listeners who aren't in the industry, a jigger is how we measure everything. It's how you get like a precise pour, a precise cocktail. But when you free pour, you can actually achieve that too.

15:40It's a skill. It's a technique. Right. It's sometimes looked down upon because a lot of people when they switched or went into craft cocktailing, it was like live or die by that jigger. Right. I do respect free pouring when people are like actually about it. Right. I think that's like one of the things that's kind of like perceived the wrong way because you still are measuring when you free pour. It's just an accounting system. So like I've had people in the past that they see me measuring with a jigger and they're like they think that you're shorting them. Or they think they're getting more because you do a long pour, you know, with a free pour. But we're still counting. Yeah. It's not really any different. It's the same if you know what you're doing. Yeah. Like you should actually know how to free pour I think. I think it's a skill. Yeah. I do a free pour test out that is not going to lie designed to fail. Yeah. Where they have to do and we cheer each other on.

16:40It's not like I'm waiting for you to fail. It's more of just like it's a hard test. Right. But it's the equivalent of making two cocktails back to back and two free pour two ounce pours back to back. So it's in covered glasses so you can't see what you're the inside of the glass. And you have to do a quarter ounce a half ounce three fourths an ounce an ounce and a half and a two ounce pour. That's hard. And then you have to do it twice. But it's the same as making if you can't make two cocktails back to back because there's two cocktails might have you know like a if you're looking at like a Vukre or like that's three ounce touches. That's that's three one ounce touches and then a quarter touch right there. So if you can't get that right then I'm sorry but you probably can't free pour cocktails back to back.

17:43So it's tough. That's fair. I mean I think it takes like a lot of practice and you know testing yourself just like what you're saying to actually make sure that you're being consistent. Yeah. Because I mean sometimes I doubt myself I've been doing it for so long. Yeah. It's just repetition. Repetition. Also checking yourself. Yeah. If I do free pour something frequently if I've got the time I'm I'm pouring it back into the jigger just to see. And then if I'm like hitting that line I'm like yeah good. That's a good feeling. Yeah it's a great I'm like hell yeah. Yeah. And when I talk about the future I mean like the immediate future like tomorrow or like. The next hour. What do you feel? At the moment just to be locked in on what I'm doing as far as work. Yeah. And my personal life so as far as work just making sure that I'm bringing it every day when I go to work. Yeah. Coming there with the right attitude and cater to people's needs.

18:46Yeah. And then I get my personal life make sure that I'm doing things to better myself you know physically mentally. You've been doing that that group that work. You're in a group that like works out. Is that it's like a. I was doing that. Yeah. That was at Praxis Fitness. OK. Praxis Fitness is a gym owned by Austin. OK. He used to be. Austin Reese. Austin Reese. Yeah. I actually went to high school with him. He's a really good dude. He's a big guy. And he was doing he was like putting some efforts forth to try to get bartenders out to come work out at the gym. Yeah. For free. I love that motivation. It's hard to be consistent with the gym. It's so hard. You know no matter what. Yeah. If it's free. It doesn't matter. Yeah. It's hard to go to the gym consistently especially with like late nights and. With the life we live. Personal lives. It's so hard. Yeah. It's so hard because I mean we're like if you're not in this industry this may sound very obscure or weird to you.

19:50But there's so many nights where we're working until 1 2 a.m. And then you're still wound up when you get home. So you're not falling asleep until 4 or 5 a.m. Right. And then you're sometimes doing a podcast all of a sudden at 11 a.m. Right. Or yeah there's something. There's like some tasting you have to go to at noon or you know some kind of training. Yeah. And right now I mean I'm getting home at like 4 or 5 in the morning. Yeah. So. Because Mothers is a late night spot. It's a late night spot. Yeah. So it's challenging you know. So I have a gym membership at the Y. OK. But I don't really go. You know I tried to. But I started doing my push ups. Nice. At least I'm getting something done. That's what I do too. Like do my push ups. Yeah. At least I did something to you know get myself in a better state. It's not being intentional. Yeah. Because like I can't do push ups.

20:50I'm like the wimpiest wimp of push ups. I'm a strong person. I'm a big girl. Yeah. I'm not small. I'm a. And I am strong in general. Right. But I'm not intentional. So I can't do push ups. It's so hard. It's like I'm dying. I can do squats for days. Yeah. I can do that all day. There's like a lot that. You know I'm running up and down stairs with kegs occasionally. When you're working in the industry like you're you're standing for hours. So there's a certain level of exhaustion you hit where it's really hard to convince yourself to keep pushing in this other physical aspect to take care of yourself. Right. How do you deal with that. Like I mean we've talked about your personal and work balance like it's not easy. I mean I feel at it every other day. Yeah I feel like at times like I've thought about it as like being an athlete our job because it is extremely physical. You have to move quickly. You have to lift heavy things.

21:51And I think if you're intentional about like taking care of yourself then you'll be like an athlete that's training for whatever sport. Absolutely. So even though when you play the sport you are getting your exercise you still need to be conditioned for that. That's like the game time. Right. And you have to condition yourself for game time. Right. So sometimes that can be as small as like all right I want to I want that burger but no cheese. No mayo. I'll take the beef. You know just cutting things out and then trying to do whatever I can to get that little exercise in. Just make it work for what you need. Yeah. Even if it's like helping the barbeques put away the liquor order. For sure. That's just like getting my blood flowing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean there's so many days where I wake up and I'm really fighting it like actually today was one of those days like the dream world was so much nicer.

22:59I wanted to stay there. Yeah. And I mean I love what I do. I never want people to misconstrue this. I love what I do. I love the people I work with. I was so stoked to get to come and talk with you today. I mean I was looking forward to this and yet still it was like oh man I just I really just want to stay here. I totally get that. I think it's like I don't know the hardest part is just getting up. Yeah. And you know and then once you figure out a way to get yourself out of bed when you're tired. Yeah. Then you can then it's easier at that point. Yeah. I don't know if you drink coffee or whatever it is that you need to do a glass of water take a walk around the block. Yeah. Do something just to get yourself going and then then you're then you're up. You need like an activator. That's what I call it. It's something. Yeah. It can be difficult sometimes too especially like with us going to work at 4 p.m. or 3 p.m. Yeah. Whatever it is in the afternoon and you don't have to be up.

24:00It can be difficult especially since you go to bed so late. Yeah. So it's like we're on a different schedule from the rest of the world. Yeah. But in a lot of ways we need to also interact in that part of the world. I think if we don't then we start to you start to feel a little bit like you're just living in this cave. It becomes very there's a lot of solitude. Right. It comes with that. For me like one of my like I call them activators is like music to activate me. So like no it's not a secret. I'm a huge Beyonce fan a ridiculously big fan of Beyonce. And so she just has a new album out. And so I was like I really don't want to get moving. I don't want to do jack shit. I don't want to. And I played Renaissance which is a new album and I'm like OK I know I don't want to do it but if I have this activator it's like I get to kind of move without thinking about it. I'm not really thinking about what I'm going to be doing next.

25:01I'm just like OK I'm listening to music so I don't have to think about the fact that I'm getting ready. You have to think about the fact that that I'm going to see people today and have to put on my show today and have to you know we're doing some cool stuff with our new menu coming up and that's all exciting but it's still work. And so I don't have to think about it. I'm just going to active put on my music and activate myself. And yeah like I like the idea of coffee like if I've got like a little treat waiting for me I'm like yeah I'll go get that. I kind of want to get one of those coffee machines that just like you can set to brew for you. Yeah. That's my other thing is like I don't actually want to go make the coffee. No exactly. I just want it there. And it's not. That's rich living right there. That's the opulence. We can all strive for richness. Well speaking of opulence and richness let's talk about this cocktail a little bit. So here clink glasses. So I've got this this little drink.

26:01We usually do this at the beginning but I didn't have Campari at my house. I was so bummed. I never don't have Campari. It's like such a core ingredient. And so I made us this strawberry gin with sip smith the sip smith strawberry. It's actually really nice. I don't always love like like fruit infused spirits like vodkas and different things. But sip smith I think is doing a really good job of this. I've never had this. I should have brought the sip smith just so you could try it by itself. Dang. But then I and I did Sue's. We did just a touch of ginger syrup in there just to kind of give it a little kick. And then Luna Amaro. I haven't I forgot that I had it and I was like well this will this will be nice. And then just a little bit of Kina Kina. It's not the best. It's very good. I think it's I like it. It's like but I like rough.

27:02Okay. Okay. It's still nuanced and like I think it's balanced. I mean it's I think I'll drink it. It doesn't suck. But I was just I think I just really wanted that strawberry Campari combo. And then we I didn't I have to have citrus on my stirred cocktails. I have to have citrus oil. Yeah. And so I didn't have any lemon or anything. So I got a tangerine from my roommate. Make it work. I think that's what we do. It's not bad. I like it. Well I think you're being I think you're being a harsh critic. Yeah maybe. I just yeah I just really wanted that Campari. So but no it's yummy. It's yummy. Sue's is always good. It's nice. Yeah. Sue's does a good job bringing the better. What are your favorite cocktails to make. My favorite cocktails are generally spirit forward. I am on the rocks over like up. Yeah. Person. I don't know. I don't know. I think it's just because I like spirit forward things in general.

28:03I like high proof. So whiskey I guess would be my go to lean more to rum now like age drums. Yeah. All the cool bars use rum. Yeah. But spirit forward for sure. OK. I like making syrups. OK. All kinds but use in small quantities. OK. And things that are not going to overpower but more like just compliment. Just give it that little weight. Yeah. Yeah. Are you big into making tinctures. I'm not. Not for any reason. I just never really got too much into making tinctures. I never got into shrubs. Yeah. Yeah. But I like them. I just say never was in a position. I think I think some of it is like the way I came up bartending was I learned most of it on my own.

29:04So I so I started in New York as a server. Then I went to Huntsville Alabama continue waiting tables there until I got into the bar. Yeah. It was a huge switch. So I went to college at Oakwood University. It's a small Christian school in Huntsville. And yeah like I said I went I was waiting tables. Then I got into this one place called the scene lounge at Monaco. It was like a new concept at the time which was like a restaurant inside a movie theater. Oh fun. So one of the bartenders there we worked together and she would just like show me how to make drinks. Yeah. I learned a bit just from watching. Yeah. I could see like that makes certain drinks like the ones that stand out the most are like different kinds of martinis. At that time it was like people were still drinking apple teenies and martinis and all the time all the teenies and then mojitos and margaritas.

30:04OK. Yeah. So I watched them. That's a lot of people's like rearing. Yeah. You're not. That's that's it's crazy. So many people we got. That's what we got brought up. Yeah. That's like early 2000s. So and at the time they were that was like a craft cocktail bar. Yeah. It's not not craft. I don't know. Apple fucker. But I could see that it was like the same timing every time that they would pour this item or this ingredient. And so I kind of knew how to do a lot of the things before I ever like actually got behind the bar just because I was like your eyes open infatuated with watching them. Yeah. One of the bartenders she wasn't really that much into actually making drinks. So she was I don't even know if I would say that she wasn't into making drinks but she was more like inviting to let me come on the bar.

31:04Gotcha. So she would let me make drinks you know as opposed to some of the other guys which would be like not like get what do you get out of here. So she gave you space. Yeah. She gave me space to actually learn and like actively make things. That's sick. So yeah that was really cool. And one day I go to work and it's a Sunday brunch and the bartender didn't show up. So I told the manager I was like I can do it. Hell yeah. She was like no you can't. I was like you don't have a choice. Can you do it. So yeah they let me work and that was my first bartending shift. Hell yeah. I love it. I love the stories where someone else didn't show. Right. Like that's Robert Chambers. He was our first episode and he's awesome. He's just an awesome dude. But he had a very similar like the chef got a little twisty on something or other.

32:05Wasn't feeling right. Had some sort of accident needed to get out of there. And so Robert stepped up to the plate and he was like 16 at the time. And this is in the kitchen. Yeah. And he was too young to realize he could be like no I don't know how to do this. Right. But yeah they put him up to it. But I love those kinds of stories because you kind of it's sink or swim. Right. The cool thing was I mean or I don't even know if it's cool but the interesting thing was like even after that they didn't really want to give me a chance to bartend. Really. Not seriously. Until like I kind of like pushed for it and then they finally started giving me a shift here and there. And then you know I kept on learning from the other guys. There's always going to be people that are going to be helpful and there's going to be people that are resistant to your growth. Yeah. I feel like there was definitely people that were resistant to it but then there were some really cool bartenders that were like helpful and just kind of guided me through the process.

33:11Yeah. I mean you're right. Like there are so many times where there's the people that lift you up and then there's the people that because of whatever their own garbage is whatever their own story is they feel like they've got to make you fight as hard as they did. Right. Or you've got to they gatekeep. They're like no it took me this long to get here you can't just walk in here and do it. Right. And I think it's hard for me to explain to bar backs who or people in general who want to get into bartending who are like you're you're like there's a difference between gatekeeping and giving you tools. And if I want if people can develop a relationship with the person that's guiding them then maybe they can trust that relationship and know the difference and see okay she's got my back. Right. She's going to make me a bartender when it's time because she sees that she's not going to feed me to the wolves. And I've got a lot of bar backs who didn't have the patience or endurance to wait that process out.

34:16Right. And it's hard for me to kind of. I really want them to know like no I want you to bartend. I don't want to gatekeep. I keep all my recipes open and available and any techniques I've got they're yours. Right. I feel like I'm that way too as far as like sharing but I do sense sometimes and people that they don't want to go through the process. Exactly. And they just want to be you know they want to be at the end of the race as opposed to like actually running the whole thing. Yeah. For bartending it's one of those jobs that everybody wants to do and everybody thinks they can do. And in a sense anybody can do it. But you still do have to learn the steps along the way and like kind of going back to the service aspect like don't forget like this place needs to be clean before anything you get started. Like we can't even talk about drinks yet. It's dirty. Let's wipe it down.

35:19Let's put everything away. And then let's let's start with simple syrup. Yeah. Let's start with that. Let's start with mop. You know. Yeah. We have to juice. Yeah. Don't forget about that. Yeah. The people who think that bartending is just the show they don't know the half of it. Right. They either they just have no clue because when you're a bartender you're still a bar back. Right. And you're still a server. Yeah. You're still a bar back and you're still a server. And a dishwasher. And a dishwasher. Plumber. Uh huh. Literally Michael Stevenson one of our bartenders over at Oak the other day was had his whole body underneath the sink and unhooked one of the CBC pipes. Yeah. And just pulled out a clump of stuff that shouldn't have been there straws what whatever. Right. And then hooked it back up and he was like well there you go. And the most gnarly aroma in the air. Yeah. And it's like this is what we do. This is the job. That is. And I think just the glamour of it is what attracts people.

36:19Yeah. But they don't realize necessarily what all goes into it. Exactly. Like yeah you are going to get dirty. You are going to be cleaning most of the time. Yeah. Like I feel like I clean more than I make drinks. Absolutely you do. Absolutely you do. That's fine. That's just that's the job you know. You got to carry these heavy boxes. Yeah. Do all that. Like I don't know. I'll make stuff at home sometimes too and it's the same concept. It's like all right first we have to clean everything. Yeah. And then we can start. Yeah. But yeah that's just the things that people don't really see or like realize goes into it. It's it's fun to keep that a mystery to the guest. We don't want the guest to know what that takes because then that pulls away from I think the experience of the drink. Right. And that moment that they're having. You know if you're a guest and me as a guest as well and I know what's up. I know what it takes to be a bartender.

37:19But still when I'm a guest I'm coming in for reprieve. I'm coming in to either sit with a book or sit with friends and it's kind of like that same moment of like the dream world. Like I didn't want to leave my bed. I want I want to have those little moments of hiding where you realize OK I am more than just mopping and and cocktails and production. I'm more than production. And so those little moments where you get to remember that is really nice. And so going to a bar is that's what it's about. That's true. We're going to take a quick break to hear a word from our sponsors. We absolutely love partnering with Sharpies Bakery. Aaron Mosso has been selling bread fresh baked bread to locally owned and operated restaurants six days a week for 36 years. Yes. Her father started the company 36 years ago and Aaron took it over five years ago and it is doing amazing things.

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39:23I love it. And I just I love that. They're so perfect because they work with locally owned and operated restaurants better than anyone. And let me tell you how they do it. No minimums no fees no fuel surcharges no surcharges anytime they deliver seven days a week. They have twenty four seven customer support. You can call text chat email anytime from anywhere or you can reach them at five oh two five eight seven nine zero one two. They have a diverse line of products. Their chefs have access to thousands of items across many different categories that allow them to receive fresh product daily. What chefs want is the perfect addition to any broad line company as they've got all of your fresh produce delivered daily plus custom meats anything that you need that your broadliner can't get. Give them a call eight hundred six hundred eighty five ten or visit them at what chefs want dot com. I think one of the most overlooked things that you can do on a PNL which is your profit and loss statement is dish machine and chemicals.

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41:28I think it's a that's a sign that you're doing it well as if people don't actually notice. Yeah it feels really good when when you're when you're killing it and you can actually when you're killing it and you can tell like you're killing it. And like my favorite moments like the absolute high that you can get when you're bartending is when you are sharing a well with someone else and the two of you are just and it doesn't matter. It's like any partner that you've worked with any teammate. There's a point where both of you hit where you are interchanging like reaching for bottles and no one's running into each other. If you do you keep moving and like there's no stop. Right. But it's just like this really cool like you said we talked about the athleticism part of the athleticism of the job is kind of like that dance. Right. It's just such a good feeling like I don't know any high better than that. It is. And that's why I like I think like I always go back to sports.

42:28I guess maybe because I just was raised on sports and I love sports but it's like that dance and just like you know staying out of each other's way. Yeah. And it takes some time like with a team in general to like get to know each other's tendencies and then once you know that you know it's like y'all are not in each other's way. Yeah. Y'all are together. You know. You're like two sides of the same sword. Exactly. Yeah. Exactly. Like one of my favorite moments was at skulls actually I was working with John Jennings we were both we're slammed and we're used to being slammed like that was just our daily. So we're both like just making eight ten drinks each. Yeah. And we're just like look at each other across the bar and just like wink at each other. I love that. I absolutely love that. I think it's the like there's these silly things that you do just to remember that like you're in the trenches with your buddy.

43:29Yeah. So like one of the silliest things I've ever seen was Micah Brame and Justin Elliott. Do you know Justin? Because he worked at Pinewood for a while so I didn't know if maybe you might have crossed paths with him. I feel like I have met him for sure. Well like one of the silliest cutest least masculine things I've ever seen a bartender do was the two of them took their tins and were like shaking and then faced each other and hit the butts of the tins against each other and then went back to shaking. It was something so silly and beautiful. Love it. And very like cool. It looked very cool. But at the same time when you think about the activity of just like let's hit our butts together. Let's have our tins hit. It actually reminds me of work now. Right? Like at Mother's there's a lot of there's a lot of bromance. I love it. That goes on behind the bar. I love that. And I don't know. It's just a cool way to have camaraderie back there.

44:29I freaking love that. Okay. So just to get a little deep when we talk about the idea of like bromance there's a lot of stuff that dudes are not allowed to do. Like it's looked down upon when guys are sensitive or emotional or or care. If guys care that's kind of like girls care. You shouldn't care. But I love something about bartenders where there's like the ego still like you described. It was in your early experience a lot of the dudes wouldn't let you in and bartend. But this lady was able to and it could be it could have nothing to do with the fact that it was a lady or a guy. But the fact that these dudes were a little bit more protective and more gatekeeping. There's something really cool when guy bartenders are just like open and you know me as a female bartender as a woman.

45:29It's kind of crappy sometimes to like try to explain something to a guy because they're almost immediately in my face with debate. Yeah. And it's exhausting because I know what I'm doing more or less. I'm learning every day. But there's there's this kind of inability for a lot of guys to be vulnerable that I think that being a male bartender you have a chance to kind of break down that wall. Yeah. I don't know. I've worked with people that have had different approaches to that. Like I've definitely worked with a young bartender that was like brazen and knew everything. And even though I would try to be helpful it was like he didn't really he wasn't receptive. Yeah. At first at least. OK. And it was like conflict basically because I'm trying to show him how to do it better. And he knows it already.

46:31And it's like well you don't. You don't. You don't. I'm trying to help you. Like we're in this together. Yeah. I don't know. I think you just got to learn what kind of gloves you got to wear to handle different people. I like that. And that's that's like one of the difficulties of leadership in general is like figuring out how to get what you want out of each person and how to motivate people. You're preaching right now. That's hard. That's hard. But that's literally the job for me. Because like I now that I'm in more of a leadership position and I have been for a while I've been running bars for about eight years and not in a bartender position for a while where I was just into it to take and to just like take information from those above me. I'm always learning. I won't say that I'm not in a position to learn. I'm always learning. No matter who it is, I've learned so much from different bartenders I've worked with over the years.

47:36But I'm in a position to give to my team because we talked about this with Brandon too in the episode right before this one of like if I give a 10 anyone who's working with me as the leader, they're going to give like two degrees less. So if I give an eight, they're going to give a six. If I give a 10, they're going to give an eight. And then if you're a bar back, you might give four degrees less. So if I give a 10, they're going to give a six. That's just a general rule of thumb. It doesn't mean it's always true. But but as a leader, I've always got to be ready to give more. And in reality, different people need different things. I can't try to talk to one bartender the same way I talk to another because they're not going to get the lesson. It's not going to click. There's there's no foundation for it. So I like your I like how you worded that the different gloves like you got to figure out which gloves you need to wear. Yeah. And going back to what you were saying, though, is like as a female, I can see that difficulty. Like for me, I think I have like a unique perspective because I basically grew up with all women.

48:41Yeah. I'm the youngest of three children that my mom had. And so it was my two older sisters, my mom. I have another sister and a brother from another mother. Yeah. And but mainly I spent most of the time with my two sisters and my mom. OK. And I'm used to that's what I know the most is communicating with women. So what's that like? Is there I mean, obviously a lot of shopping. I was going to say I was like we can go stereotypical with it. We can go to the mall a lot. Really? Yeah. I used to go to Macy's very often playing in the clothing racks. Oh, yeah. I remember doing that as a kid playing in clothing racks. At the church. Yeah. I don't know. I mean, it was just normal to me. It was like. So I never looked at women in like as inferior or.

49:46Like people to be disrespected because my most respected figures are women. I love that. That makes sense. Yeah. I mean, there's a lot of times when when I'm out in this in the world, when I was growing up, I was that girl that I mean, I would have annoyed the hell out of you. I was so annoying. I couldn't help it. I just because I was often told what I couldn't do. And I was very demure and quiet when I was around others. But when I had an opportunity to kind of be seen or heard and then all of a sudden would feel it being taken away, it was like a fear. And so I'd all of a sudden be like feisty as hell. Like any and I couldn't do like I was that kid that for some reason thought I could be a I was going to be the first female basketball player to play in the NBA. Oh, OK. That's that's tough.

50:48I was like five years old when I was having that that game because my dad was super into basketball. And my mom and dad told me a lot that I could do whatever I wanted, that I was capable of doing whatever. And so I really appreciate that from them, that they never made me feel like I was incapable. But at the same time, we lived in a bubble. We were in a very like like you talked about going to church. I don't have anything wrong with going to church. But a lot of times, if you are in the wrong cultures, sometimes it can be a little cult like. And you can miss out on the heart of the message. Church is not inherently bad, right? But it can get bad. I fully agree. So I grew up Seventh Day Adventist, go to church on Saturday. Sabbath holy. Yeah. And it definitely caused problems like within our household at times where I questioned it, where I'm like, is it more important that we go to church or that we are a happy family?

51:55You know, and then definitely like going to Seventh Day Adventist School. That like changed everything as far as my perception of it, because it was like I went to public school my entire life. Then I went to Seventh Day Adventist School because my mom wanted me to go to Seventh Day Adventist College. She was like she wasn't going to pay for anything else. So I basically I'll tell you a little story. So my junior year of high school, I got a scholarship to college from my PSATs. So I had a full tuition scholarship and I knew that I could only go to the Seventh Day Adventist School. And so it kind of just took away my motivation for school because I wasn't able to go where I wanted to go. And so I stopped going to school pretty much for my senior year. I would show up to school at fourth period. I was scheduled first period through eighth period.

52:57And I would show up at fourth period, go to the cafeteria and sit there until seventh period. So for three lunch periods and then go to gym sometimes or leave early and just like hang out. So basically it was like forcing me into this religion kind of pushed me away from other things that I wanted. And then when I went to the school, it was just like a lot of judgment and like mandatory worship. It's exhausting. That's not it. Yeah, we literally had fines if you didn't go to a certain amount of mandatory worships per week. And I'm like, this is not God. You're right. This is not God. This isn't it. And people can find different things in their experience. And I think we all have different come to Jesus meetings, whatever you want to call it. And that's just like the terminology I have that I work with.

53:58But yeah, I think when you are pushed into something and you have no connection to it, that's not it. That's just not it. It's not only does that not match up with what it does say in the Bible, but it also like you can tell in your bones. You're like, no, this isn't it. This isn't it. Yeah, I pretty much stopped going to that school and then kind of stopped going to church. What did your mom say? I mean, she couldn't really say anything. By that point, I was in Alabama and I had gotten into the service industry, so I wasn't like going home every summer for the vacation. I was working and living in Alabama. Surviving. Yeah. So I don't know. I guess as far as she knew, I was still like trying to go to school, but I wasn't really. I was just kind of over it until I finally transferred and I went to UAH, which is University of Alabama in Huntsville.

55:01And I actually really enjoyed that. OK. So you got some good experience otherwise. Yeah, it was just like, I don't know, I just didn't like the combination of church and education. I just thought it didn't really fit. I mean, like I for sure have. This is so funny that our conversation is going to this stuff. I know. I love it, though. I love it. Like we we talk about these things are like taboo in the bar world. Like we're not supposed to talk about religion or politics. And I mean, that's so much of us is like we've got a lot of like layers to peel back in our world. Just being a human period. Every human has layers to peel back. And if you're not willing to kind of talk about some of this stuff, then you're not going to pull back that layer. It's just going to sit there. And I don't know if you've ever like taken a bite of an apple and come back to it like a day later and it's like completely brown. Right. Like if you don't peel back the skin on the whole thing, like it's it's you're not taking care of it.

56:04It's just going to turn. So, I mean, I like that we we we shouldn't be afraid to talk about this stuff. But like, I think that the the mix up of like getting church, not God, not not spirituality, not not the heart of like whatever we're supposed to be studying. It's just like, let me just turn your arm until you praise God. Yeah, I think your elbow until you're worshipping like, you know, yeah, everybody has their own flaws. You know, some of them are more visible than others. But like people, people have their issues. And I feel like a lot of times in church, it's like the stuff you can't see and then the stuff you can see. Like, for example, one of my sisters had a child at a very young age and she was kind of they call it disfellowshipped, which means she's not really welcome in the church in the same way.

57:06And it's like you would think you would think that the church would be there to support in those times. I'm not trying to like tear down church. No, I get it. But there's churches that don't do that. There's churches who do the opposite. But if we're not real about the churches that are doing that shit on a daily basis, then we're saying it's OK. Right. And then, like I said, there's certain things that you can see. Like you can see that she's having a child, but you don't see what this other person is doing. Yeah, you just can't see because nobody's pregnant. Exactly. Until somebody gets pregnant. Right. Yeah, like that's so true. We easily demonize the sins, quote unquote, sins that you see. But people are just living their lives. If the church says that they want to take care of children, then they should have taken your sister and uplifted her. You would think. You would think that they would have like honored her. And like those are the kinds of things where I literally just want to tear everything down.

58:08I want to I want to tear it all down. And when you go to a bar, you are sometimes running away from these little moments. You get a little bit of reprieve. It is like a sanctuary for some people who didn't find sanctuary elsewhere. Right. And I get a lot of people who come to the bar that, you know, just want to sit for a little bit and have a drink. Sometimes they want to talk. Sometimes they don't. But it's fellowship. It's community. Yeah. And I think that's where the church is. I think that's where the church is. You know, church isn't supposed to be in a building. It's supposed to be in you. I feel that. Yeah. So I think the church is in the bar. Yeah. I think as a bartender, you got to figure out like how to how to deal with the congregation. Yeah. You know, see, does this person want to talk? Do they have something on their chest that they just need to get off? Do they need some space? Do they just need some water? Yeah. Are they hungry? Yeah. Yeah. Are they hungry? Are they thirsty? I mean, how much more scriptural can you get? Like if he is hungry, then feed him.

59:08If he is thirsty, then give him water to drink. Literally, that's the Bible right there, hon. That's the it's so funny because like people want to demonize bartenders too. Like bartenders are like, oh, they're tattooed freaks and they're always doing drugs. We are. I mean, we're a little bit that too. That's facts. Not all that. I mean, but we are. We are tattooed freaks. We are tattooed freaks. But yeah, I think that you find your community and you take care of each other. And I don't see anything non scriptural about that. I think that that's like as hardcore fitting to the Bible as anything else I've ever seen. Yeah. It's kind of fun. That hits. Like I don't even think about it that way. But like, I don't know. And even for your buddies. Hmm? Keep going. Keep going. Oh, I was just going to say like one. This is getting, I guess, a little deep. But let's take it there. This was at my mom's funeral. Right. The preacher or whatever. He just like kept on mentioning hospitality the entire time about my mom's hospitality.

01:00:14And well, I was like. That never had really resonated with me that, I don't know, she was perceived that way. I remember growing up like we would always have, I don't know, youth and elderly people coming over after church or whatever for dinner. My mom would always look out for people like that. Wow. But I don't think that necessarily resonated with her when it comes to like what I do. Wow. Which is the same thing. Yeah. You know, it's just in a different in a different building. Wow. That like blows me away. That like like leaves me speechless. Me too, kind of. But yeah, it was like, I don't know. It was crazy to me. Just like the amount of times that it was like hospitality, hospitality. And I'm like, that's that's what I do. Yeah, it makes me I mean, like, it does bring a tear to my eye because because she shines a light through you.

01:01:20And so I really think that, yeah, I am every time I've ever worked with you or encountered you, whether I've been a guest at your bar or, you know, seen you out in the bar world. I think you bring a special light. And and I definitely think that that's something that she embodied. And and, you know, it sucks to have disagreements with people that you love and stand on different sides of offense when it comes to beliefs. And I experienced it, too. I love my mom to death. I love her. But there's lots of things that we don't see eye to eye on. And it sucks because I'm like, damn, I just want I just want my mom. Yeah. And it's it's hard. I think what we do is just like it's a misunderstood profession. And like, I don't know. I don't know that it's easy to explain it or even possible unless people can really, I don't know, experience it.

01:02:21Yeah. Maybe more than maybe not even just one time like coming in, but like seeing you in action multiple times. Yeah. Like, I know my dad and my sister. So my dad came to the continental when I was there. And that was the first time I saw the pictures. Yeah. And that was like 19 years and came and saw me at work. What did that mean for you? It was special. It was really special. It was like, I don't know. I don't know if you remember the caption, but it was like my dad, he was always like, how's school? Yeah. And it's like, I'm not in school. I'm not in school. I'm working. But you know, like I said, especially if you're like not a part of the industry or if you're not familiar with it, then the way it's perceived is like it's not a good job. Yeah. Or it's not like a respected job. So I don't know.

01:03:21I would encourage people to look at it differently. Yeah. That's honestly what this whole series has been about is, you know, not just letting our guests and the people outside of our industry see our value. But we got to remember our value because we've been told it over and over that this is less than. So my whole mission, my whole heart for bartenders is because this is the sphere of influence I got. So I really hope that every day someone recognizes deep down, I do something cool. I'm doing something special. I'm worthy. Right. And what my work is, is worthy. It, you know, our culture is so into production, like whatever you make, that's what how you should define yourself, whether it's dollars in the bank or, you know, numbers of people that come in and know you. Right. But ultimately, when you start to see you're worthy, even if you're just making one drink for one person. And you know that that was just a moment that you connect.

01:04:21That moment was worthy. Right. And all of these kinds of accumulations of moments, you start to remember it. You start to be like, oh, right. I know who I am. I know. I know who I am. I know what's up. And you're giving a lot, too. Like. Yeah. As a bartender, as a server. Yeah. You know, like sacrificing your time, your evenings, your weekends, holidays. Yep. To, like, make other people have a good time. Yeah. And there's definitely value in that. Yeah. I think the reason that sometimes for some reason this occurs to me that, like, why the rest of the world might see it as less than is because maybe they think, well, you can't do another job. You couldn't do something else. And that's, number one, a lie. I could see myself in other jobs in other industries. I landed in this one, though. And most of us didn't pick this one. But when I got here, I started to see the value of it. And as many times as I've thought about leaving this industry, the things that I love about it keep me tied in.

01:05:26They keep me pulled in. And it's the hospitality. It's the, you know, hospitality. A lot of people reduce it to just, like, service and, like, you know, the Bev napkin under the drink and stuff like that. Sure, that's hospitality. But those are symptoms of the overall core of hospitality. That's not hospitality in and of itself. So these, like, pieces that we embody, it's like it runs through you. I see it in your eyes when a guest walks up to you when you and you got regulars. And yeah, that's that's the heart of it. That's hospitality. Yeah. Man. Oh, my gosh. That just shook my heart. Yeah, me too. Kind of like in my feelings. See, I love it. Getting in your feelings. Didn't expect this. No. You know, same. But that's the beauty of it. Like, we're whole people. We're whole people and you got to feed the whole animal. You can't just, you know, keep going and pushing until you run dry. You got to take care of the whole creature.

01:06:26Sure. Well, we've got to shift tonight. So I before we tie this all up, I have two questions for you that I've been asking everybody. Number one, how can bartenders do better? What's something bartenders can do better, whether it's a practical tip or a lifetime tip, whatever? And then number two, this is kind of a bigger question. It's a little bit tough for some folks, but what could the industry be doing better for you? What can bartenders do better? I would say pay more attention to people's needs, to the state of the room, and take care of what's most important at the time. A lot of times I'll notice bartenders that are just not really focused on what they're supposed to be doing, which is serving people and getting caught up in conversation and things like that.

01:07:29Or just like on their phone, just not being, just not paying attention in general. Not being present. Right. Not being really present to everything that's going on. Yeah. You know, and like just the little details, taking care of refill the waters to, you know, check on people, make sure, look for that person who's trying to pay out and like stay on top of it. Yeah. I would say that. with people, which sometimes like I've had difficulty with just because, I mean, we're people too. Yeah. But I try to like remember that not everybody is a restaurant professional. Not everybody knows exactly how to behave or how to order. Yeah. And things like that, or knows what, you know, ingredients are. Sometimes you just have to explain things to people with like, and be gentle. That would be like my main. Be gentle. My main things. Yeah. Be gentle with the people. Yeah. They're trying to have a good time. Your job is to kind of, or our job is to like help them along.

01:08:31Mm-hmm. So just like remember that. Yeah. That's part of the whole meeting people where they're at, it sounds like. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And then for the industry, what could the industry do better for me? For you. A kin day. For a kin day. Okay. You've got a real, you've got a real big grin on your face. I can see the wheels turning. I think that the industry has gotten better at this. But I think sometimes people don't get a fair shot at things that they've earned. Mm-hmm. And I feel like it's taken me some time. But like here in Nashville, I don't think that I have too much of a difficulty with it anymore. Mm-hmm. But like definitely when I first moved here, I would drop my resume and like try to interview for bartending jobs. And nobody would hire me as a bartender. Mm-hmm. It would always be like, I don't know, they refer me to the service manager to maybe be a server.

01:09:36I actually got hired at this one place and they hired me, they said they didn't hire bartenders straight out. And so they would hire me as a bar back. Yeah. And then they didn't communicate. I kept on trying to communicate with them. And then when I did communicate with them, they were like, oh, we just hired some servers and bar backs. And we have this new position that we're able to offer you at this time. And it is a busser position. Oh my God. And this is like 15 years in already at that point. You've been in this industry for 15 years and they're like, oh, we can give you a bussier. Yeah. I have actually had like achievements on my resume. I have managed a whole bar and that's what they were offering me. And it was like I didn't really understand it. Yeah. And I mean, you did mention like interviewing minorities and things of that nature. Yeah.

01:10:37And that was like the first time that I really felt like I wasn't given a fair shot. Yeah. As a black male. Yeah. Like I've never been that person really to think that way. But I just didn't really understand. There's nothing wrong with it because I mean, you know it when it's happening. You know it because like so I'm not speaking obviously from personal experience. I'm a white woman. But my little sister is Asian and just the most amazing, beautiful soul. I love her so much. And when COVID first struck, she went to a restaurant and this guy was such a jerk. He was like flipping her off and like she left and she was like she knew it was because she's Chinese. And I feel still upset that I even questioned it. But I was like, are you sure that was it? Because I was like, you know, maybe maybe you cut him in line. Maybe like please don't let it be this. Right. And that was my mentality. But she was like she just gave me this look like Kayla, I know.

01:11:41I was like a heard check, checked myself. I'm like, no, you know, you know the difference. You know, when someone's messing up, when they're racist and we're all racist, just honestly, everybody needs to know don't be more scared of being called racist than the things that that's racist. Don't be more scared of the title. I'm racist. I'm in a culture that's racist. That's the facts. So I've got to check myself regularly to be less racist because there's no such thing as not being racist when you're in a culture that was born from that. So I got to check myself. So there's nothing wrong with thinking that way. But I can also see like our culture has like, oh, he's playing the black card. Right. So I guess that's part of the reason why I never really wanted to think like that. And I never and I never did really. I never thought that like it was hindering me in terms of work until then. And then I was just like, I can't get a job as a bartender. Yeah. Like, why not? What's happening? Why not? They're hiring.

01:12:41They're hiring. I went to one of the first places I went. They were hiring. I knew they were hiring. And like, I wasn't getting hired. Yeah. Even though there was a girl that was there that she had kind of taken the job, but then was like didn't want the job. And so I knew they had they were looking. But that guy referred me to the service manager and was like, you could be a server, but I don't really see you as a bartender. Even though my resume is like bartender, bartender. So I don't know. I'll say, yeah, the industry as a whole, which I think is doing better. But yeah, give people a fair shot. We've got to be intentional. Not based on like, yeah, race looks. Yeah. Anything like that. Like, yeah. Yeah. Do you have what it takes to do the job? And that's the most important thing. Robert and I in Robert's episode, we talked about creating opportunities because a lot of times people of color don't even feel safe or comfortable coming to apply for a job in some of our spots.

01:13:43And so how do we change that? Like, how do we make ourselves more approachable so that really talented, awesome human beings that are incredible teammates and coworkers can feel safer to come apply? So like that's part of it, too, is like, you know, seeing people when they come to you. But also, how do you make yourself safer in the first place so that people even want to come to you? I think the best thing to do is to, when they do come, because I mean, it might not be as much, you know, because of the fear of not being qualified or not getting the job. But when you do have the opportunity to hire somebody that looks different, then maybe do it. Take it. And then so when somebody else comes in and sees, then it doesn't look like they're going to be the only one. Yeah. I don't know how else to say that. You're right. If you see people that look like you, then you might feel like maybe you can get a job there. Otherwise, you'd probably be like, I don't think I can get a job here. There's a lot of things like that in our industry, like just the whole concept of the black restaurant worker.

01:14:52It's like a lot of times people will be like, do you work in the kitchen? Like, do you cook there? Like, what do you do there? Are you a bar back? People are like, can I order from you? Like, yes. You've seen me making drinks this whole time. Like, yes, you can order from me. And I don't know. Yeah. I think that just the best way to do that is to include more people that look different and then everybody feels welcome. Yeah. Consistently checking ourselves, being intentional. Yeah, I think it's tough, but we just have to keep doing it. We have to keep calling ourselves out when we're not doing it enough. Man, Akinde, I just want to keep talking with you. I don't want to leave. I got to go to work. I got to go to work too. Let's talk again. Yes, I would love that. I would love that. Let's clean glasses one more time. Cheers to you, bud. Cheers to you. I love you. Thanks for having me.

01:15:52Love you. OK, guys. Well, thank you so much for listening. I hope you got a lot out of that. I certainly did. That was so good. And if you're working tonight, I hope you make a lot of money. Have a fun shift. Have a good time. Cheers. Cheers.