For 22-year-old Jodie Gersok, who works at The Townhouse Hotel in Arbroath, bartending is about much more than simply crafting cocktails.
“I didn’t really have much confidence growing up,” Jodie says.
“So this job, where you actually have to speak to people, has really helped.”
Jodie works as shift manager, spending time behind the bar and waitressing.
“I was very quiet before I started the job,” she adds.
“It was like a type of exposure therapy, where you’re thrown into it.
“It’s given me more confidence. You’re around so many people, so you just have to be confident.”
“These two American women came in recently,” she recalls.
“They were speaking to me for so long, they gave me their Facebook [details].
“That just would never have happened to me before. I would never have gotten into a conversation like that with strangers.
“And I wouldn’t have been able to keep speaking, I would have gotten embarrassed.”
‘I feel like people do take me more seriously now’
Now, in her role as shift manager she has more responsibilities than most at 22.
“It does feel a bit weird, being 22 and – not bossing people around, but having people look to me to help them with stuff.
“I feel like people do take me more seriously now.
“Because I’ve been there so long that no one viewed me as a manager before that.
“So there was quite a shift, where people thought: ‘I actually do have to do what she’s telling me now’,” she laughs.
“Customers are surprised by how young I am too,” adds Jodie.
“When people ask if they can speak to my manager, and I’m like ‘it’s me’, they’re always surprised.
“Sometimes they don’t believe me,” she laughs.
“It it frustrating at times because they look at you like you don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Since she started the role, she has improved not only her confidence, but also her knowledge regarding cocktails themselves.
“So when I first got on the bar, I was really nervous,” she says.
“When you’re trying to think up cocktails, you just need to experiment.”
Now, Jodie gets to help come up with new cocktail menus at The Townhouse Hotel.
Brightening customers’ days makes Jodie happy
But while Jodie is grateful to have improved her confidence, what she loves about the job has more to do with the customers she serves.
“There was a lady in recently,” she says, “an elderly lady. And she was out for her birthday by herself.
“So we gave her a little cake and put a candle in it for her birthday.
“It’s little things like that that make me happy.
“I feel like you make a lot of people less lonely in a way when they come in to see you.
“It does make you quite emotional things like that.
“Even when there was that storm, and it was recommended that people didn’t leave their homes, we were in work and there were still people coming in.
“They said: ‘this is the best part of our week, so we couldn’t not come in’.
“A lot of people come in just to sit with us and speak. It’s really nice.”
Conversation