My new job as a coat check man @ a gay bar

New York City life is a hustle and hustling requires extra energy. With prolonged exposure to the hustle I've encountered an exhaustion I can't seem to kick. I feel that the intelligent resolution to the situation is to counter the hustle characteristics I've flooded my life with upon moving to NYC with somewhat of a more simple lifestyle. The main experience I had when moving to the city was an instability in my schedule. I was doing work from craigslist, flyering, catering, as well as striving to shoot as much as possible all of which proved to be successful but increased my internal pace and set a subconscious anxiety in place.

Modeling is currently not paying me anything and all I've been getting from my photo shoots is new photos instead of new checks. With that I've been forced to work more and since I feel I need to center myself due to the instability in my schedule I've decided to find a steady job. Most jobs in the city require loads of experience to get hired and since I'm not highly skilled in many forms of employment I decided to pursue a different avenue.

I knew I could find some type of work at a gay bar or at least entice some gay manager to hire a young male model so I emailed all the gay clubs in the city and got a few replies back. A small club/lounge/bar in the west village called XES sent me an email asking me to come in for an interview for the "coat check" position. I figured it would be common sense work so I said I was experienced and was welcomed at my interview. The general manager of the club met with me and said he'd give me a chance to see how I worked with the "team". My first night was Thursday night-Karaoke night.

I got to the bar for 5 pm and the manager showed me where my equipment was and where I was to hang the coats. I set up a small table close to the front door and queued up a few ticket tags for the hangers. The manager that hired me got me a roll of tape for bags (to tape tickets to a bag) and the most necessary tool for my success-a tip jar. When I was ready to go I stood at my position and awaited the crowd. The shitty thing is that there is no closet to hang coats I have to walk up and down the stairs for each item-fml

The bar gets a good rush for happy hour-buy one get one free from 6 to 9 and I arrived at 5 so I had a small crowd there already but few coats. There is a lull in activity until about 11 or 12 and then the true party people come out and I get most of my business. The more alcohol one consumes there the more likely I'm going to get a tip.

I find it very humorous when an older guy clearly drunk and blatantly gay comes up to me not knowing I'm the coat check guy even though I've got my table and a sign that says "FREE COAT CHECK" and tries chatting with me. They'll stumble in front of me and stare for a few seconds-few minutes if they're wasted and then engage in a failure of communication. Some guys will let me know they've been looking at me all night wondering why I'm standing in the corner or will say something like "you look like you're not having any fun" and I'll give them a fake smile and nonchalantly point to the "COAT CHECK" sign above my head and inform them that I am an employee of the bar not a patron or sometimes just point to the sign and follow it with silence so their slow thought process is evident to them without a verbal explanation from myself.

I worked halloween night and one guy asked me what my costume was being that I was holding a coat hanger. Again I gave the fake smile (but wish I said, dude are fuckin dull?) and pointed to the sign. At least he was keen enough to make it humorous and say "well I'm not the smartest cookie". Right.

So I get an hourly rate as well as tips and the tips make the job worth it. Catering made me a little more money but not by much and with that you had to look proper, deal with arrogant cocky assholes (serving them not ALWAYS working with them), and the hours were so random plus the payment was always delayed. Cash money every night and a paycheck every other week, it works. So I've found some stability in employment and when mixed with a daily gym workout things should get back under control just in time for the crazy Fashion Week scheduling-LOVELY.