By Jaime Lopez

Verge Editor 

Samantha Neal, a communication studies graduate student, never thought she would end up working behind a bar counter, serving drinks to strangers night after night. 

Neal, who was born and raised in Charleston, has worked at the Panther Paw for four years.

But Neal did not start out making drinks for customers. 

Her lack of experience meant she was only qualified to work as a hostess. 

Neal said the bar was one of the few places that hired her, and she was desperate to earn money in college. 

In the time Neal worked as a hostess, she learned the names of most of the common drinks served at the bar. 

She worked her way up in the ranks, and found herself making the drinks instead of selling them. 

Changing jobs at the bars meant Neal had to deal with a whole new set of problems. 

She is an assistant graduate student who teaches a communication studies course, and when she’s working behind the counter, some of the students she teaches recognize her and patronize her with demands.

“The kids I teach in class come in and holler that they want me to finish up their drinks, but there comes a time when you have to tell them to be patient,” Neal said. 

Now she memorized most of the popular drinks on the menu. 

Neal admitted when customers come to the bar and ask for drinks foreign to her, she will stop what she’s doing to find out what ingredients go into the drinks. 

“I’ll stop and tell customer, ‘I’m sorry, but I really don’t know what goes into that. Can you explain to me how to make this?’” Neal said.

For the most part, Neal learned how to deal with the crowd’s demands. The crowds have not spared her, however. 

Last spring — she described this night as one of her most stressful nights in her time working as a bartender — she was working the weekend before finals. The crowds flooded in both nights that weekend.

“It was stressful, and I think three fraternities and a couple of sororities were hosting their typical parent’s weekend. Everybody and their mothers were here, and I was so confused,” Neal said. “There were so many demands from the parents, and I really had to hold it together.”

Neal cut back on her hours this year because she grew too busy with her creative thesis. 

Neal’s thesis is actually about redefining the bar’s image. 

Neal interviewed customers and discovered in her findings that customers still referred to it as Stix. 

“In some way, it is struggling to find its own identity from all of the other college bars in the towns,” Neal said. 

She focused on turning the place into a sports bar and created a stronger web presence for it. 

Sunday foot traffic began to pick up, and customers started to associate it with sports. 

“You started to hear people say things like, ‘oh, let’s go to this place to watch sports.”

Her friend Carly Conrad, a senior communication studies major who works alongside Neal, helps navigate online traffic for the business. 

Like Neal, Conrad stretched herself to find a job but said the Panther Paw was one of the few places that called her back. 

She said working at a bar has given her thick skin. 

When a customer yells obscenities at her from the side of the room, Conrad said she never has a problem threatening to kick them out. 

“It’s something that happens every night, customers yelling at you every night. You really have to ignore the comments and try to get through the your shift,” Conrad said. “When people act way out of line, I just grab the nearest guard.”

However, even among swarms of people, she said some customers understand she is stretching herself thin and wait patiently for her to finish making their drinks. 

Bartending also comes with its fair share of troubles, like when she has to stay and work a late shift, then wake up early the next day to go to class. 

“Sometimes it can be a little bit of a struggle to try and get up and go through your normal routine, but I’ve adjusted to it,” Conrad said. 

Conrad also had to start as hostess when she did not have the skills of a bartender, but she moved up in the rankings and became a bartender. 

She said the change in position made her have to adapt to working at much faster pace. 

“I have to put out orders in a flash, and sometimes that can be overwhelming when you have full crowds,” Conrad said. 

Conrad said on nights when she has longer shifts, she finds it easier to get into a groove and then time just flies by as she mixes and pours drinks.

 Her early days as a cocktail waitress helped her memorize drinks and what people typically ordered, Conrad said. 

She said outside of the bar her job is always a conversation starter with students. She said people always react surprised when they discover she  bartends. 

Conrad has been job hunting even more as graduation inches closer.  She has not ruled out the possibility of continuing with bartending to help pay the bills.

Neal said she plans on moving to a city when she graduates to find a job.

Like Conrad, she said that she wants to keep working as a bartender as long as the opportunity is there. 

“It’s a unique job to work as a bartender. You can make a connection with the people you’re serving, and there is always something fun to look forward to at every weekend,” Neal said. 

Jaime Lopez can be reached at 581-2812 or jlopez2@eiu.edu.