Tales from a Dive

Responsibility is an Ugly Beast

Brady Ehler, OP Opinions Editor

V V ork positions have a

funny way of moulding people into a
different image. I think this is especially
true of work that requires a lot of
responsibility. Suddenly your free time
is at a premium, and the rest of your
life becomes regimented. In short, you
become your job. There are also side
effects and occupational hazards that
come along with taking such a job. I
think this is especially true to managers
at The Dive.

There isn’t a high turn-over rate
where I work. It’s certainly nothing
comparable to say, McDonalds.
However, the general rule is that if
you find yourself working at The Dive
for more than two years, you have
probably acquired the position of
manager. Unfortunately, this probably
means you’re probably on your way
out. Because of the nature of the job,
managers rarely last more than a couple
months.

I started working there about ten
months ago. A friend of mine asked
if I needed a job, and I said sure and
started as a porter. Around the same
time, this dude Liam, started working in
the kitchen because he could “slack off
and smoke a lot of dope” —a plan that
worked well for a couple of months.

The managerial duties at the time
were divided between the day manager
Cheryl, and the night manager Chelsea.
No one liked Cheryl, especially
Chelsea. They fought all the time and
as a result, Cheryl eventually quit.
Suddenly Chelsea realized that it was
much more than she could handle.

She didn’t know how to do all of the
book-keeping, ordering, etc. Soon,

she started to stress out big-time.
Before long, Chelsea had developed
an unmanageable drug problem.
Furthermore, she started yelling at
customers, showing up late for work,
and moving quickly towards a nervous
breakdown. It was only a couple of
months before the pressure became too
much and Chelsea quit.

Cheryl came back to clean up
the mess, and for a while everything
was fine. However, there were some
discrepancies regarding book-keeping,
and Aaron, the senior bartender at the
time took over. Aaron didn’t exactly
know what he was stepping into, but he
was confident he could handle it. Now
Aaron is an uncommonly bright, and
capable fellow, and we were all sure
that he would succeed where Chelsea
had failed. Unfortunately, that faith was
misplaced.

Before long, the reliable, sensible
fellow we all knew well was starting
to drink excessively. But we still
weren’t worried, because he was after-
all, well known as a sensible fellow.
Furthermore, he claimed to never get

stressed out, and at first, we believed
him. Before long though, he had hired
an ex-con that caused a lot of shit in
both his professional and personal
life. He had amongst other things,
ran up a tab in excess of a thousand
dollars. Before long, Aaron became
a raging alcoholic. During my

shift on Sunday’s, he was often my
best customer—unfortunately, his
intention was always to come in and
do paperwork—a task he rarely got
to. Eventually Aaron resigned, and
again, Cheryl returned to clean up
the mess.

During Aaron’s reign, he had
promoted Liam, and I to bartender
status, so by the time Aaron was
on his way out, Liam had gained
enough experience to take over
the managerial duties. As of yet,
Liam has not developed a nefarious
drug habit, however he started smoking
again. Also, he doesn’t have the luxury
of sitting around smoking pot all day,
because there is too much for him to
do. Luckily though, another one of
the bartenders helps out with much of
his work, or at least she has been after
coming back from her month-long
vacation. He is doing well so far, but
he’s the forth manager in ten months.

Perhaps the position of Dive Manager
isn’t invincible in it’s power to crush
all of it’s victims under the massive
weight of responsibility, but oddly
enough, Liam seems to be the one that
it has changed the most. I guess that’s

  
  

the thing with responsibility, you either
adapt to it, and let it change you, or
become a stressed-out, alcoholic, loon-
bag, with a nefarious drug habit in a
desperate effort to avoid responsibility.

Either you’re able to keep your cool,
and deal with things calmly, or you start
stressing out and making bad decisions.