Bartending's Lost Skill

by Kip Pascal

These days, we live in a very fast-paced society. The expression multitasking now applies to people as well as computers.

In general, I am not in favor of multitasking, performing several tasks at the same time (with the exception of watching tv and brainstorming article ideas). I think that you reduce the effectiveness of both tasks by more than half.

I know others who agree with my assessment.

Fortunately, there was one task that my bartending instructor insisted on:

We had to be able to hold a conversation while mixing drinks. (This is harder than it sounds, if you are trying to keep seven drinks straight, and hand napkins to the cocktail waitress, and and and.)

The Perfect Practice

Tell jokes. That's it.

At each class, we had to bring a new joke with us. And if some other student told your joke first, you needed to have some spares in reserve. Always at the ready with fresh, funny anecdotes, jokes, riddles, and trivia.

Not only that, our teacher had us practice memorizing the jokes of other students as we mixed the drinks.

Remember, you have to be able to do this in the context of a busy, noisy bar.

Are you this smooth?

Could you develop this joke-telling ability?

This type of multitasking will brand you as a calm, collected professional.