Honestly, when you’ve worked in Vegas for a while, you get kind of numb to the crazy nights because they’re so regular. Someone walks up to the bar and spends $27,000 on champagne, just so that he and his buddies can down it and leave? You don’t blink an eye. There’s a fat guy chasing a group of men in white tuxedos through the casino? OK that’s peculiar, but what’s There are times where you expect it to be quiet, everything is chill, but then the right people walk in and it can completely change the dynamic of the night. Something might happen — someone gets too f***ed up — or your sales have been miserably low, then all of a sudden someone is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars for no apparent reason.The first time I came to Vegas I drove here, and I remember coming over the hill and seeing all the lights in the valley. I thought, one: “Holy shit I’m almost done with this 30-hour drive.” And two: “Holy shit — this is Las Vegas.” When I settled in, it was totally different to what I expected. I was used to nightlife being sort of lawless and loose, but it’s way different to that here.
Things are very structured and meticulous — there are so many certifications and rules. There are so many checks and balances to make sure the customers aren’t getting ripped off, that they’re really getting the liquor they’ve paid for and so on. A lot of people think you can easily buy drugs in clubs in Vegas, but it absolutely isn’t like that. Between the gaming regulations and corporate regulations there’s too much at risk — it wouldn’t just be the club that would get into trouble, it’d be the casino and they’d lose their gaming licence.
Being part of people’s once-in-a-lifetime experiences can be very cool. Some people save up for years to come here for a special occasion or a big birthday, and they’re looking for an experience that’s unforgettable, even life-changing. We’re part of that. It’s like adult Disneyland.On the flipside, Vegas is a place where people show their true colours. If you have bad drinking or gambling problems, even just problems with communication or relationships, then everything gets amplified here. Any vice you can think of is here, so it takes a level head to stay successful — I know people who have earned a million dollars in Vegas, yet now have nothing to show for it.
I bartend in a nightclub, which makes me the worst at juggling day and night, especially since the pandemic. Before Covid, everything stayed open all the time so you could go to the grocery store even if you were driving home at 6am. But that’s all changed now so it’s getting tougher to manage.
In our club we have a world-class cocktail menu. Do people ever order one? No, absolutely not. I’ve only made three or four of the drinks