When Friday’s classes come to a close and night begins to set in, the average Binghamton University student has only one word in mind: party. As the clock strikes one — 1 a.m., that is — State Street is the place to be. Home to many college escapades, some great — but most of the time embarrassing — memories are made that we are prone to talking about for the rest of the weekend. However, what’s it like to be on the other side of the bar? Release went to State Street to find out.

Jen Shlomo

Undecided, Sophomore

Westchester

Bartender, Club Liquid

One night, a man was sitting at the bar and I asked what he wanted. The man then asked for an “Odang Tangarang.” Confused, I wondered, “What the heck is an Odang Tangarang?!” I then asked him to repeat himself. “I want an Odang Tangarang,” he said. Still unsure of what he wanted, I asked a third time. He started to get really annoyed and said, “You should know what it is! I order it every time I come here.” So, I finally asked my manager what an Odang Tangarang was and directions on how to make it. My manager glanced at the man and realized that he wanted an O.J. Tanqueray. Needless to say, I didn’t feel too smart at that moment.

Another night, a man came up to the bar and ordered a drink. After seeing him for the first time, I did a double take. He was wearing a weird glass necklace with a real scorpion inside, and he had a tattoo of a giant scorpion on his right arm. It was so ugly looking, and next to the picture of the scorpion had the word “scorpion” in big, bold letters. And to top it off, he told me that his name was actually Scorpion. I was so freaked out when he said that to me because I thought he was part of a gang. After he left, I asked my manager about it. He said that there is no gang called the “Scorpions” and if there was, he’s the only one in it.

Rachel Leitner

Undecided, Sophomore

New Jersey

Bartender, Club Liquid

On one of my first nights while working, this girl almost got into a fight with a Binghamton frat guy. Basically, they started arguing and she decided that the best idea she had was to yank off one of her stilettos and throw it at him. Right before she was going to actually chuck it, a bunch of cops showed up around the entrance of the bar. She just put her shoe back on and everyone walked away like nothing had happened. Guess that’s the cops for you.

Alex Corbin

Political Science, Sophomore

New Jersey

Bouncer, Scoreboard

Even though I’m Downtown most Friday and Saturday nights, a lot of my friends have a hard time understanding that I’m working instead of partying. One time my friends came up to me and said, “Hey, come downstairs and get a drink with us!” I explained that I clearly couldn’t and my friends just looked confused. Then they got angry that I refused to join and walked into the bar. About 15 minutes after they walked inside, they came back to me saying they wanted to leave Scoreboard just because I didn’t go with them. They were so angry about it!

On another night when I was working the door checking IDs, a guy handed me one that said his year of birth was 1990. I told him that he couldn’t come into the bar, and he just stared at me. He wasn’t upset about it or anything — he just turned to his friend and they didn’t say a word. It was really strange … seriously, who would actually come to the bar with a 1990 ID?

Reuben Pearlman

History, Junior

Long Island

Bouncer, Scoreboard

One night I got a complaint from a girl that there was a guy in the girls’ bathroom. She was clearly really upset about this and wanted me to do something about it. Her exact words were, “I don’t need him looking at my whooha.” Finally, I asked her to point the guy out to me so I could talk to him and when she did, I was surprised to see that he was wearing a dress. Yes, an actual dress. So I simply said to the girl, “Honestly, if a guy is wearing a dress, he’s probably safer in the girls bathroom.”

One night over the summer, I was working the door when a girl came in all excited because it was her 21st birthday. She was all dressed up and asked me not to charge her a cover so I didn’t and let her in for free. Later in the night when I was working security inside the bar, one of the bartenders asked me to help get this girl out of the bar. Turns out, it was the same girl. Apparently she was really drunk and being loud and obnoxious. I went over with another bouncer and the girl actually swings at him, so I grabbed her to bring her outside and she bit me. Finally, I got her out the door and since the bar has two entrances, I walked over to the other one to make sure she wouldn’t try to come back in. Sure enough, she was there complaining to the bouncer working that door so I told him not to let her in. So she turned around and punched me in the face. At that point, I just grabbed her and brought her to the cops that were standing in the middle of the street.

Ryan Blauer

Math, Junior

Long Island

Barback, The Rat

So as a barback basically it’s my job to help out all the bartenders with anything they need. On my first night working, I was cleaning up the bar and had all these empty glasses in my hands. As I was walking to put them down one of the bartenders, who obviously didn’t notice that my hands were already full, threw me an empty liquor bottle. The result was that the bottle and the glasses broke all over my hands.

Last week, the guys’ bathroom was clogged so I had to go fix it. As I was trying to use the plunger on the toilet and unclog it, the pee went all over my shoes and pants. It was really gross. I also had to clean up the toilet when it’s been filled with vomit and poo and that was even more disgusting.

Rich Whalley

Human Development, Junior

Long Island

Barback/Bartender, JT’s

Since I got my job at JT’s my freshman year, I’ve seen a lot. I’ve worked two parade days and two bar crawls, which are the longest days of the year and definitely the most wild. After some people drink for seven or eight hours straight, they start making some stupid decisions. Once I walked into the back room of JT’s to get a bucket of ice and I found that three very drunk girls snuck in. They all could barely stand, had their pants down and were attempting to urinate on the floor. They were almost too drunk to be embarrassed but I just walked out and the bouncers took care of them. Everyone’s too busy writing on the wall and taking pictures in the ladies’ room and I guess they had to find another spot.

On some busy nights, girls get up on the bar. This one night, there were about four of them and I was walking by, and one of them fell off the bar on me. No one got hurt but it took me by surprise. I didn’t have much sympathy for her, though. People who dance on top of wet bars with heels should be more careful; plus she ripped my shirt a little.

Alison Garfinkel

English, Creative Writing, Senior

Long Island

Coat Check, The Rat

I’ve been working at The Rat for the past three years and the things that people do have been total nonsense. When people get drunk, they just do ridiculous and crazy things.

I usually work from 11:30 p.m. to when the bar closes at 3 a.m., taking people’s coats and giving them back at the end of the night. A lot of the time, though, people will ask me for their coat back when I know they didn’t bring one. Usually they’ll start describing it to me and then begin to get angry with me when I tell them they never checked a coat with me. People will start yelling, “I left my $300 dollar jacket, what do you mean you don’t have it?”

Other times people try to use the coat check as a bathroom, which can be kind of awkward. I always catch them before they can actually do anything, though.

One time while I was hanging up coats, some random kid came over and I could hear him put his hand in my tip jar. I turned around quickly, but he just acted like he was stretching. I went to go hang up another coat, and I could hear him again, so I walked over and looked him dead in the eye, but all he did was ask me, “what’s up.” Everything I make for the night is from my tips so I was pretty angry. I grabbed his wrist and pulled him towards me and said that if he tried to steal my money again I would knock his teeth out. A bouncer saw what was going on and ended up kicking him out of the bar for the rest of the night.

Another night, my housemate Sarah, who also works at the coat check was working and I was sitting near her, talking. Some drunk girl came over and said she wanted to check her coat but didn’t want to pay a dollar. Sarah explained that she wouldn’t check the coat without getting paid, so the girl started yelling and said she would just leave her coat somewhere else. She put her coat down on a half-wall near the bar and walked away. Later that night we both saw this other guy who looked really drunk lean over her jacket and he threw up in it. Needless to say she was pretty upset.