Question: what's worse than being told 'I want a Crodino as long as it's non-alcoholic!'? Answer: being asked 'Why didn't you put martinis in the martini cocktail?'
In a nutshell: you hear all kinds of things in bartending. Surely a bartender is more of a psychologist than any professional who keeps a chaise longue in his office!
Questions range from 'Can you bring me a lukewarm latte then sugar it and stir it?' to 'Can you make me a €1 spritz that I don't want to spend more?'
If you're lucky some days you may happen to assimilate pearls of wisdom such as 'We'd like 8 coffees and please some aperitif chips, the free kind for the dog knows...'
They could daily draw up village bulletins on the various divorces of newlyweds, ailments caused by senility, even write the weather report without putting their noses outside their bar and even comment on games they haven't seen: they are the baristas.
Depending on the type of bar there is the type of customer. Let's analyze a few of them.
In every town there is a Sports Bar, about which I cannot add anything more than what has already been said by Mr. Benni, but I can make my own guess after having been around at least 3 or 4 of them: the average age leaves something to be desired, so if you read this name on any neon sign and you are under 60 years old, I hope a red flag might go off. Tip: go in only if you can speak the local dialect well.
Let's continue with the elegantly banal and peaceful but pleasant village bar: ladies who go to the market on Saturday mornings know it well, because generally between strolling the stalls and lunchtime, they spend a considerable amount of time there, accompanied by the ever-present plaid shopping bag. The ages of these specimens range from 30 to 70. Tip: If you are a woman and transiting through this type of bar for the first time, try to dress soberly, as the chatter is more entrenched here than in a hair salon.
Don't underestimate the pubs: wood, dim lights and screens perpetually tuned to the Virgin channel make for a very naive atmosphere, but after all, the biggest frequenters have long hair and unkempt badass beards, grab the table with the most carvings, pound fists on the benches and don't leave until they've drained even the last drop of beer from the keg. Tip: enter only if you have a liver of steel.
The most classic of clubs: hordes of guys from the most disparate company gather there to spend entire days and sprawl out on the chairs as if it were their couch at home. No one is surprised if they don't consume anything, and when they do, they serve themselves, so much so that the presence of any waiter, who is often nothing more than one of their own improvising, becomes unnecessary. Familiar atmosphere, but the advice is: if you don't have several acquaintances within this elite do NOT go in, strangers are frowned upon.
The place for the evening: guys in pullovers, shirts and loafers, girls in 12 heels and 40 centimeter dresses for a total height of 1 meter 80, sip Cosmopolitans and glasses of wine that they don't even know recognize, but then again it's so fashionable! From the uncomfortable leather sofas to the freaky frames hanging crooked, from the chill out music to the impaled bouncer at the entrance who looks like a piece of furniture. Needless to explain the kind of people who enter these places, which is why my advice is: if you enter hold your camera in your hand because the human types who enter these places to look hip often tan themselves in a way that has the opposite effect.
I close with a maxim: in order not to fall into such a cliché, choose a place with a distinct personality, such as a literary café, a bistro or simply a place of passage where the clientele is so varied that it leaves you feeling comfortable at all times, but try to discard bars where the classic video poker machine is lurking in the right (or left?) corner!
