The opportunity to make more money motivated one Chicago resident to give up waitressing and take up bartending.
Lynda Noffsinger, 42, has been a bartender for 15 years. For the past five months, she’s been serving drinks at Celtic Corner, 7300 Diversey Ave. in Elmwood Park. She doesn’t have to work too hard to satisfy her customers’ tastes — usually beer drinkers who order a shot every once in a while.
In between the drinking, customers can do a bit of video gambling, play pool or just watch TV. Noffsinger works the bar, talking with her regulars and filling drink orders.
Q: What do you like about your job?
A: The people, and it basically gets me out of the house. Being a bartender, you make more money than working other places, like a grocery store.
Q: What don’t you like about your job?
A: When people come in to the bar and they’re already too drunk and they want to get another drink. But those are people that don’t come in regularly.
Q: Do you have a specialty drink that you’re famous for making?
A: No, basically the people that come here want a shot or a beer here. They won’t be going downtown for the “foo foo” drinks they make there.
Q: What is your favorite bar drink?
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A: My favorite drink is Captain Morgan and Coke.
Q: What do you do when you are not bartending?
A: I like hanging out with my three children doing arts and crafts.
Q: Do you have a lot of your customers asking for your advice on personal issues?
A: I’m more of a listener. When you start giving advice, it can backfire on you.
—David Pollard, Pioneer Press
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