The Daily Wildcat: What is your favorite drink to make?

Bruce Childlress: My favorite drink to make, I would say, is either an old-fashioned or a Manhattan. They are also probably one of my favorites to drink, too. Or we just, like, whiskey in a glass around here, so that always qualifies.

Are there any drinks that you don’t enjoy making?

No, there’s not a lot anymore. When I first started bartending, there were a few that would trip me up or were hard to get consistent, but I like what I do. Now, somebody comes in at 1:55 a.m. and orders 10 lemon drops, we just like to be compensated for what we do, that’s all. That’s what we always say, but we have fun around here, man, so you’ll never get any negativity in drink-making around here from us.

Have you seen anything weird or strange go down at the bar?

Oh, yeah, definitely lots of weird stuff. The most awkward moment was when I was bartending during the day, and there was nobody here except two people who were signing their divorce papers on the bar, and they sat there and ate lunch during it, too. I also had to kick a senior citizen out for being too drunk at 2 p.m. one time. That was pretty fun, too. At night, there’s lots of wild stuff. … We have lots of kids that come [to] have fun. Sitting at the bar, I like seeing first dates. Those are my favorite. I like seeing awkwardness at the bar. I don’t know if that’s cool or not, but it’s great people-watching.”

Anything particular from a first date you remember?

You know, I love watching the guys try really hard, ’cause you get a gauge on how the ladies are liking it ’cause they either start talking or they don’t, and you see some that go well and [some] you don’t.”

So you’ve been bartending for a good amount of time. What have you learned about people or life?

That there are a lot of different people in life, and we have a good time and there’s no reason not to enjoy every second of it. This place and this job is one of the hardest but the most rewarding I’ve ever had in my entire life, and I’ve done a decent amount of things. It teaches me something about life every day, and I love it. It teaches me about people every day, and it’s a great place to work for, so there’s always good people around in this situation.

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