You could call me naive and I would have agreed with you a few years back. I used to be a bartender at some of the trendiest and busiest spots in San Jose. Up until very recently - maybe 2 years, I was completely unaware of the ridiculous amounts of drugs and alcohol being abused in these places. I would have to say that the restaurant business is one of the most dangerous industries to develop an addiction if you’re not careful. Short of Hollywood, I can’t think of another industry where someone could find drugs at every turn. The sad part is that the food/beverage industry is not one that requires drug tests for employment and hires 18 yearolds dying to fit in and willing to abandon home grown morals to do so. Before I began bartending, I admit I didn’t know a thing about drugs or alcoholism. I’d never been exposed to either. I never did drugs and I didn’t drink prior to turning 21. I walked a pretty straight line.
For the years that I bartended in San Jose, I saw drug abuse go from obnoxious to frightening. I had a bar manager who was always tweaked out on meth and stealing bottles every night, then blaming the bartenders for the loss. I remember a general manager who would be awake for days on end, eyes popping out of his head all day and still drinking a bottle of vodka after his shift, while chatting with the customers. I watched the owner of a club downtown who’s mood would change like the direction of the wind, depending on his cocaine usage for the day and a co-worker I almost called the ambulance for when the ketamine he snorted didn’t interact too well with the cocaine, alcohol and ecstasy already in his system. God knows the club owner wouldn’t have called an ambulance. He didn’t want the responsibility of an overdose in his establishment.
I started bartending for the excitement and enjoyment of being in a high energy and faced paced environment and I got just that, but I wasn’t expecting to see so many people within one structure, all of whom need to be in rehab. It saddened me to see my former co-workers crushing up Vicodin and taking ecstasy pills, chased by a shot of whiskey. It made me sad for them, wishing there was some way I could get through to them and help them realize they aren’t going to last long with this lifestyle. I’ve tried to talk to many of them, even offering them free treatment at one of the nation’s best rehab centers in Malibu, but like many people in my position, I heard a laundry list of excuses. “My parents can’t find out”, “I have a club to run. I can’t take the time off”, “I can’t afford not to work for a month”. You name it, I heard it. These people don’t think they’re addicts. They think they’re having a good time and hey, “If it doesn’t kill you…” The sad part is that it will kill them and they’ll never see it coming. While I did enjoy my time as a bartender, it became too depressing for me to see this kind of abuse and addiction with such denial - so I had to gracefully bow out.
I guess as long as your the manager of the hot restaurant, the owner of the downtown club, or the bartender everyone knows and loves, the closer the bottom gets, the harder it is to see.
