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| konni wilson / KA LAMAKUA |
A crowd gathers around two guys competing for the title and glory of who can chug a keg the fastest. Who will win? People are screaming and cheering them on, getting louder and louder until..the guy on the right is yelling in victory and the loser sourly walks away.
Immediately he is lifted into the air as the crowd picks him up and congratulates him, beer spraying everywhere... but that's what you see in college movies. That isn't how things roll down at Manoa Gardens after a hard day of classes.
If anything, going to Manoa Gardens in Ba-Le is a great way to destress your mind. You can relax and loosen up in their mellow college-town atmosphere while enjoying nine different brands of ice cold beer, not to mention great service with a smile.
The bartenders I interviewed were not only really nice and funny, they enjoy what they do and it definitely shows. Just last month, Manoa Gardens teamed up with the Blue Planet Foundation and Hawaiian Green Living Association to host Sustainapalooza, a concert promoting sustainability. It was there where I got to meet and talk to bar manager James Whitten and bartender Jason Egami, both 26 and students here at UH Manoa.
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| konni wilson / KA LAMAKUA |
Egami is currently working on his second degree, in accounting and Whitten is between majors, currently majoring in Japanese. Egami says that “being a student and a bartender has been difficult sometimes to balance the two. But working at Manoa Gardens has been great because I can come in after school, and they aren't open super late.”
The pair were friends and colleagues long before they began working at Manoa Gardens. Previously, they had teamed up to help start a night club.
“James was one of the people I hired [at the nightclub]." says Egami. "Later, James hired me at Manoa Gardens to help cover some empty shifts.”
Their experience from working at the two places are pretty different; at Manoa Gardens the focus is more directed toward customer service while at the nightclub, the focus was to keep the drinks coming.
So where are the stories about the bar fights or the rowdy drunk people, you ask? Fortunately, that isn’t a problem at Manoa Gardens.
“For the most part the customers at Manoa Gardens are very well behaved, I think it has something to do with the sun being up,” says Egami.
Whitten says the craziest thing he has ever seen was when a woman grabbed the tip jar and threw it across the room.
But besides that, Manoa Gardens has a very mellow atmosphere; a perfect hang-out spot for college students. Contrary to Hollywood’s over active imagination, bartenders aren’t super spy agents just covering as bartenders while they fight crime on the side. (Darn!) They are people and students just like you and me. They go to school, they have homework, and oh yeah, they make awesome drinks.
So how exactly is the life of a bartender?
Jason Egami says it best: “The life of a bartender all in all, isn’t so glamorous. But its been a very fun and rewarding job."
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