Our story starts with our main character, Chris, cleaning up the bar in the early hours of the morning. He toils away as a bartender in the city, underpaid and underappreciated. As he goes about his work, he sees his housemate, and best friend since childhood, enter. The bartender gripes about another lousy party night and that he’s barely walking out of there with cab fare home. Office parties have the cheapest patrons! After asking what he’s doing up at this hour, the friend sighs and plops down at the bar. He’s worried about his coming wedding. He really wants to get married and he likes his fiancee, but the closer they get to the date, the more second thoughts he’s having. He wants to get married, but is he settling for her because she’s the first real relationship he had after med school? She doesn’t know about his trust fund, but he’s pretty sure she suspects he has money, so is that why she’s into him? The bartender pops the cap on a beer and slides it to his pal. They commiserate and the friend goes home after leaving a generous tip for his housemate’s ride home.
“Rough night for everybody” he hears from the corner of the bar. A well-dressed woman has been at the far corner of the bar all night. He figured she was just a straggler from the office party, since she’s not a regular. She glides from her spot to the front of the bar and gives the bartender a disarming smile. She apologizes but she couldn't help but overhear his woes. She's opening a bar nearby and is actually here tonight looking to poach good bartenders for herself. Before he can ask more, she slides a contract to the bartender and the terms are favorable. Quite favorable. He asks what her projection for tips is based on and she shakes her head. She pays that as the night’s minimum. If the tips don’t reach that amount, she’ll cover the difference herself. They shake on the deal and our bartender signs up. She tells him to put in his two week’s notice to give her time to get ready for the grand opening.
On opening night, our bartender shows up early to run through the plan. The atmosphere is classy but inviting. Low but attractive neon lighting, enough music to fill the lulls in conversation but not enough to drown out banter, and bottles and brands exotic enough that he has to check labels to see what the contents are. The owner gives him a peck on the cheek and a uniform to welcome him. She points to the employee room and leaves him to change. He slips on the stretchy black pants and shimmering maroon button-up shirt uniform and heads back to the front. The boss is already chatting up the first customers that arrived early and the night begins.
At the event’s end, the boss runs through the sales and marks up her notebook, while the bartender finishes putting out the last glasses to dry. He comments that they seem behind on the numbers, not many customers. The boss chuckles and says not to worry. Finances are her concern and word will get out once his satisfied drinkers gab with friends. It’s the quality of customer, not the quantity she wants.
The next night, the bartender arrives again, checks in with the boss and she’s rearranging seating, and changes into his uniform. The pants feel more clingy than last time and the cut of the shirt feels off. At the front of the bar, his gasps and sputters get the boss to stop her duties and glide back there. She sees the bartender, his back curved showing off his more rounded backside and the light playing on his shiny shirt across the swell of his chest. The boss chuckles and waves her hand, she thought something bad had happened. The bartender gasps and sputters about the situation, but she lets it all flow past her. This is how she meets her tip guarantees. The bartender refuses to go out without answers, but she deftly slips an arm behind him and effortlessly forces him out onto the floor to work the shift. Tallying up the tips at the end of the night, her plan seemed to work and she barely had to cover his pay difference out of pocket this time.