Keri Semprun

Anyone remember COVID times?

It was February 2021, and the world was working remotely (many of us, anyway). My job was technically in DC, but I was working alone in my one-bedroom apartment in Alexandria, VA. Nothing seemed open. Even my softball leagues were canceled.

I was already disappointed with the choices I had made. How had I ended up in an office job when all I wanted to do as a kid and in my 20s was move and be physical?

I was good in school, but my favorite class was P.E.!

I felt like I had already made the wrong life choices.

And then came the pandemic.

I just couldn’t take sitting at my computer all day, alone in my apartment, with nowhere to go and nothing to do.

So I quit.

I moved to Georgia and stayed in my sister’s basement…at 37 years old. And I decided to go to bartending school instead.

It cost $500 and was two weeks long. Of course, I don’t tell people how long it actually was. I let them imagine I got a bachelor’s degree in bartending. 😂

And honestly? I felt like I came back to life.

The school was a smallish room with two long bars on either side. Students lined up at the bars and learned everything from how to stock the bar before a shift to which glassware went with which drink.

I had to memorize 250 drinks and take both a written test AND a speed drink-making test.

The music was on. People were laughing. Everyone was moving around.

And I felt alive.

Finally.

After my two weeks, I found out that Topgolf was hiring bartenders, so I applied. I went to the interview so nervous because I felt like an imposter.

Me?

A bartender?

I felt like I had no idea what I was doing.

But then they asked me questions, and somehow…I knew the answers.

How would I make a margarita? How would I serve the guests?

I answered them.

And I GOT THE JOB!

I couldn’t believe I was actually going to be a bartender.

I stayed in Georgia with my sister for 8 months, and I started to feel like myself again. I loved that time.

I didn’t really have a plan.

I just knew that sitting alone in an apartment staring at a computer all day wasn’t working for me anymore.

There was one small problem, though.

My bank account was taking a massive hit.

One day, while I was in the bathroom, my phone rang.

It was my old boss from DC.

She offered me another position with the company I had left.

And I accepted.

I was actually excited to go back.

And so was my bank account.

One month after I returned to DC, I met my husband. Six months later, we were married.

And now?

I still work in an office.

But I have a much greater appreciation for it.

Bartending was fun. It brought me back to life when I desperately needed it.

But I also learned that bartending wasn’t the career for me. The slow shifts where I could be sent home, the late nights, and the time spent cleaning without being paid weren’t things I wanted long-term.

I think bartending is a completely viable career for some people.

It just wasn’t for me.

And that’s okay.

I don’t regret going to bartending school. I don’t regret quitting my job. And I definitely don’t regret spending those 8 months in Georgia.

Sometimes you just need to do something different long enough to remember who you are.

Going forward, I told myself I was going to live one year at a time. When I accepted the job in DC, I decided I’d go for one year and take it from there.

And 5 years later, I’m still back at the computer (although I did take 6 months off to study Spanish in Spain…maybe I’ll write about that soon). But I’m more grateful for the job I’m doing now.

And I still think bartending school helped save me.