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Friday, April 28, 2000
8A
by Heather Woodward
Bartending is not necessarily just a male's job anymore
he words female and bartender have not spent much time sitting next to each other.
The word bartender is more likely to conjure up the image of Moe from The Simpsons or Tom Cruise in Cocktail than a young woman. The profession traditionally has been a good ol' boys club. And in some Lawrence bars, that tradition still holds true.
However, the landscape has changed, and at many local establishments, women are enjoying the lucrative benefits of bartending in a college town.
The managment at Louise's West, 1307 W. Seventh St., likes its bartending staff to be half male and half female, agreed Amanda Carpenter and Cody Adair, who both work as bartenders there.
"The management wants a variety in the crowd that comes here, so they want the ratio of bartenders to even out," said Adair, Wichita senior.
Both students began working at West last summer after high school friends of theirs recommended the job. They said that a male and a female usually were scheduled to work together on typical night.
"Guys and girls each bring in different kinds of people," said Carpenter, Prairie Village junior. "it makes a lot more fun."
But intentional scheduling of a male with a female is about more than drawing customers in the door. About four years ago, a man pulled a gun on Kapfer when she refused to give him a free beer. She had been working alone that night. Although the man left peacefully, Kapfer insisted to the owner of Red Lyon that a male act as doorman on a nightly basis.
"The crowd here is mostly male," she said. "Scheduling a male and a female bartender is a way to attract both (sexes)."
"Girls can't close because the bartenders have to be pretty forceful at the end of the night to get people to leave," said Adam Friedland, New York City senior. "Thev can break up fights or change the kees."
Friedland, who has worked at as a bartender at Quinton's for three years, said he thought women would be more likely to come in and apply for a job as a waitress rather than as a bartender.
Adair she knew some bars chose not to hire women because it might be more difficult for them to change the kegs. However, she said it was not a problem to change the kegs at West because she usually worked with another male bartender, and when that was not the case, she said local regulars were willing to help out.
The same is true downtown at the Red Lyon Tavern, 944 Massachusetts St., said Sara Kapfer, Lawrence resident and bartender at the Lyon for six years.
"I don't feel comfortable unless there's a guy here," she said.
Kapfer said she thought it would be easier for woman to smooth a tense situation, like a fight, than for a man.
Making sure that both their employees and finances are safe is the reason why Quinton's Bar and Deli, 615 Massachusetts St., is more apt to hire a male than a female as a bartender. Knot for being crowded on the weekends, Quinton's never allows any of its three female bartenders to close the bar on busy nights.
"Guys want to get in there and find out what's going on." Kapfer said. "Girls just want the person out of the bar. I know I'm generalizing here a lot, but girls just say, 'You're done. Bye.'"
Rachel Slaton, Dallas, Texas, senior who has worked at Rick's Neighborhood Bar and Grill, 623 Vermont St., since the beginning of March, said she thought bartending did require a certain level of confidence.
"If you're friendly and respectful of the customers, then they will be respectful of you, and when they're not you just ignore them," Slaton said. "When I got the job, a lot of my friends said they couldn't see me doing this. I guess you picture a tougher type personality for a girl to be a bartender but you just have to demand respect from the customers."
Kapfer said she thought customers were generally nicer to a female bartender and tended to tip females more often.
"I could never be a full-time bartender," said Kapfer, who is a manager at Natural Way, 820 Massachusetts St. "You have to sit there and smile when people come in and say the most hateful things for no reason at all."
Staton said Rick's Place was home to two crowds: older Lawrence residents and young college students. She said each group had its own set of demands.
"Locals can kind of give you a hard time because you're a lot younger than they are," Slaton said. "People come in who you know in the young crowd and they expect you to serve them first."
Each of the female bartenders said they were not required to wear a particular type of clothing while at work. They all said attire was casual, and some said they wore T-shirts with the bar's name on it and a pair of shorts or jeans.