HeyJaredLife Behind Bars
Stories from 35 years (and counting) as a bartender in New York City— a prime location to view a constantly changing city, and the hilarity and heartbreak of... well, us.
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 12
- Latest publication
- Sep 25, 2026
- Audience
- Checking…
- Earliest in this view
- Jul 10, 2026
Latest issues
You want to be the first stop on a pub crawl (opens the original)
Read excerpt
This is purely from a bartender’s point of view. Now these gentlemen were our first customers on Saturday, celebrating a birthday and embarking on a pub crawl. They were in high spirits at high noon, and kept Mary and me hopping for a couple of hours with drink orders, jukebox volume requests and general hilarity. I liked them and it was a fun start to the day, but as we all know—timing is everything. I do wonder where (and at what time) the crawl hit a wall.<a class="image-link image2 is-viewab
Good Grief (opens the original)
Read excerpt
They did not slip in unnoticed. I approached as they stood looking uncertainly around the bar. After a quick check to make sure the rest of the Peanuts gang wasn’t bringing up the rear, I grabbed two menus and led them to a table in the dining room. Quick question: is anyone else getting a little more judgy with age? (And honestly, I don’t know where I get off rolling my eyes at anyone’s sartorial choices—I’m not walking the red carpet or landing on anyone’s best-dressed list over here, that’s f
‘We will smile again and we will laugh again and there will be good times’ (opens the original)
Read excerpt
I can’t remember today’s Wordle, but it’s impossible to forget 9/11/2001—especially for anyone who was here in New York City 25 years ago today. I woke up that morning, turned on the news and saw that a plane had hit a tower in the World Trade Center. And then the second was hit too. I couldn’t really process what I was seeing—what was happening—it seemed like a movie and I didn’t know what to do, so I got dressed and went to my job. In addition to a night shift at McManus, I was also working fu
Mr. Crankypants (opens the original)
Read excerpt
People are not generally grouchy at McManus, except for Bill, a regular who is always the first to arrive when I work on Fridays. Sometimes he’s impatiently waiting as I unlock the door, and I think it’s mostly because he wants to be sure to get his seat by the phone booths where he can monitor the front door, and duck out the side door for a smoke without exerting much effort.<a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fXbJ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_p
‘Pretty slim pickings in the joy department’ (opens the original)
Read excerpt
<img alt="" class="sizing-normal" height="337.0738720872583" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!QDmv!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff19f7d66-9896-4daf-9d49-38d103b9ca
Publishing over time
Last 90 days. Choose a month to open its work.
Recurring subjects
Named in the text we hold. One piece can cover several.
Audience
No verified audience measurement yet.
About this data
Counts cover the work we have indexed. Tone needs enough text and a confident classification. Excerpts and episode notes are not full articles or transcripts.
Identity or attribution wrong? Suggest a correction.