Levelling up as a #PubMan

There are two career paths open to #PubMen and #PubWomen. Pub ticking is the most prominent on social media, as it lends itself well to blogging and microblogging. The struggles of Retired Martin and BRAPA Si to tick the entire Good Beer Guide are the stuff of epics, and Martin well deserves his coverage in the national press. My own achievements in that area are somewhat more modest (Isle of Man compleator 2017) which unsurprisingly didn't even make the pages of the Manx Independent. 

But though the path I follow as a #PubMan may lack the glamour and excitement of pub ticking it is no less worthy. The hours still have to be put in, the pubs visited and beer drunk. Well, pub singular actually. For I am a regular. 

The Crown is not the easiest pub in which to become a regular, the regulars' committee only meeting bi-annually to decide who should be awarded this exalted status. If they're not satisfied with your application it's come back in six months! And regular's status has to be constantly worked at to be maintained, as being stuck off can be considerably faster. Woe betide any regular that is away for a week without first filling in a leave of absence form! 

But what an achievement if you make it, the kudos of being a regular is the envy of all. Who can fail be impressed by someone being greeted by name in a pub? Or even having their drink start being poured before they've ordered it? And of course you get to hang out with the other regulars, so no more do you have to make arrangements to visit the pub, you can just turn up on your own and still have people to chat to. 

There is however a higher status that after many years of hard regularing I have finally attained: I was asked to help behind the bar. Yes, I have finally reached the pinnacle of my #PubMan career and become one of the elite that are asked to help out when they're short handed at the pub.

They were understaffed for the beer festival they had last weekend and I had the honour of being asked if I could put in some shifts serving from the stillages put up in what's normally the smoking shelter. 

Me and John the pub landlord behind the bar on the occasion of my elevation

I've previously looked on with awe at people trusted enough to be turned to in a pub's hour of need, but never having worked in a pub didn't think that one day I might be one of them. The simpler set up for the beer festival suited my limited skill set though, so I immediately stepped up when the call came. There were obviously responsibilities with my new status, for keeping the pints flowing is a sacred task. But my experience volunteering at CAMRA festivals paid dividends and I was up to the task. It was a bit odd when I served beer to people that normally serve me in the pub, and asking for what you had last time is not ideal at a beer festival, but mostly everything went well. A long held wish was achieved: I had successfully levelled up as a #PubMan.