bartender, ra 1.m. and f. Owner or manager of a canteen. 2.Person who accompanied and served drinks to the troops in wars. The bartender was the person in charge of the canteen. The one who served drinks to ...
bartender, ra
1.m. and f. Owner or manager of a canteen.
2.Person who accompanied and served drinks to the troops in wars.
The bartender was the person in charge of the canteen. The one who served drinks to the troops in time of war.
It is also known that the bartender did not necessarily have to be the owner of the canteen. The canteen usually belonged to a third party, an anonymous person, often hidden, who simply collected the profit from the work done by the bartender day and night. The owners were not there for the macho fights in the bar, nor to hear the complaints of the clientele, nor even to answer for the excess of their business; the bartender took care of those trivialities, the owner of the canteen merely keeping the bartender's spirits high, thanks to a decent salary and the servile acceptance of treatment close to slavery.
The profession of bartender was very hard, you know, they had to hear all the complaints and requests of the commoners, the lords and their owners, who, drunk with excess, asked and asked until they destroyed their livers. They also had to accept the excesses of megalomania, the excessive anger, the outbursts of impotence, the weeping for love failures or for the reverses of fortune, and, in short, the worst of each house.
The canteens could be places of power, where the bartender freely developed his gifts and good arts. Seducers and talkers, they entertained the plebs with stories, memories and inventions. A good bartender is one who encourages vice in his place. But after the third drink, the canteens could become gloomy taverns, where excess could lead to fights with unimaginable consequences.
A bartender, to please his lord, could also go on to hold the position of basin-bearer, the person who passes the basin after the services to the very respectable whores, and collects and cleans the remains of such a dignified office.
The reasons why a bartender performed such a necessary and discreet office for his lord and master could be of different kinds, either because some lords had blind trust in their subordinate, or because the bartender served the basin to the lord's liking.
The fact is, gentlemen, that you can be a bartender and a basin-bearer at the same time.
