Active Listening

Flashback to those really terrible infomercials about the bionic ear; that contraption that helps you hear better… you know the one where you think…. wait a’ minute, this sounds familiar, we already have a contraption that does this, its called a hearing aid!

There is a phenomenon that I have begun to learn about that is even better than the bionic ear, it’s called the bartender’s ear! Watch what you say anywhere in the restaurant because Ron or Karen are most likely going to heckle you about it when you walk by next time. I can always remember Ron making fun of things that I didn’t realize he heard me say. I didn’t think much of this until my third year working at the bistro; yea I am not very quick.

I happened upon this epiphany, one day when I was parading around the restaurant refilling the candles. I had gotten in a disagreement with Ted, server and graduate student at Providence college, about a candleholder that seemed to have exploded. Ted, not being able to let anything go, was trailing me around the restaurant pursuing this somewhat meaningless argument. Across the restaurant Ted exclaimed, “"I don’t know everything.... that's the ONE thing I don’t Know." On one hand I am sure there is a whole other blog to be written about that statement however let’s focus on the speculation at hand. Across the room and behind the bar Karen had caught my eye as she stifled her laughter, this seems to be a regular occurrence, but more importantly this seems to be an audio miracle.

Super Sonic hearing has resulted from standing behind the bar for far too long! As Karen was explaining this sensation to me, customers seated in the middle of the front room started having a conversation with her about teaching. I was elated; I too had developed supersonic hearing! I thought this up until the moment I realized the entire restaurant was now staring at us yelling across the restaurant.

There are many great advantages to having super sonic bartender ears, for instance; you can hear secret recopies, steal identities, know your freinemies, and over all entertain yourself while bored. However, as there is with every great super power there are certainly drawbacks and great responsibilities; hearing people’s health problems described much too graphically, additional responsibility to stop the forces of evil and don’t forget frequent ear aches.

So bartenders, protect those puppies and please use responsibly. Potential follow up? An interview with the bartender; simply just supersonic hearing or true superhero? Bartending the next great super power, saving you from bad dates, boring theatre or simply saving you from a bad day.