I'll never forget this job. Not because it was the only job I had during the year I spend t FIU, but also because it was the first time in my life that I had two managers: one was great and the other was awful. It was the first time I met a manager who motivated and respected me. But the Saturday shift manager was one of the worst people I had ever met. He was lazy, cocky, and totalitarian. Interesting dynamics were at play in this little sub shop.

Acting and stage performance is in my blood. Both my brother and mother were successful actors. I served as the president of my high school drama club and spent a few years following modeling and acting in promotionals, local shorts, film festival competitions, and on an improv troop in Jupiter. Although nothing I've ever done garnered much of an audience, acting has always been something I've enjoyed.

As a bartender, the work came pretty naturally to me. I've always been an outgoing, entertaining personality, and it was an easy cultural fit with 88 Keys. This comedy improv piano show was the most popular of it's kind within 100 miles. I never really interviewed for the job. I knew a lot of the people there, and one of the managers was under the false impression that I was a bartender elsewhere. I never reputed that, and got the job immediately!

This was one of the most formal and prestigious jobs I ever held. It was interesting to be thrown into an environment where customer service is a non-stop demand. Everything I ever learned about the service industry and how to navigate it, I learned here. Customer service was a code to live by, and I'm thankful having experienced that.