Bert- The best bartender in Oakland

Bert –the best bartender in Oakland

It might be the height of prestige or it might be very pathetic to admit that a bartender in an airport bar knows you by name. But alas, it’s true.

Bert, AKA the best bartender in Oakland, knew us. Kerry and I spent so many evenings in Oakland waiting for a Southwest flight that Bert knew us. He was fabulous.

Everything in his bar was the “best in Oakland.” The best pizza in Oakland; the best chardonnay (pronounced with hard “ch” as in church) in Oakland; the best pinot grigio in Oakland.

But Kerry and I knew Bert was truly the best bartender in Oakland.
You see, Bert would take your drink order and then he would ask, “What time is your flight? What gate you go out of?” Then he knew when to kick you out. He would bring you the check and say, “You pay now! You go to your gate. Now!” What service. Bert took his job seriously and felt responsible for his patrons.

Why can’t more people be like Bert? Bert, I hope you are enjoying your retirement in the Philippines. Kerry and I really miss you!

Fathers: Don't travel with small children

I came up to Oakland to help a friend who was being audited by the IRS. The audit was postponed so I changed my flight and am heading home. As I have “A” list status with Southwest I get to go through the “first class”  line. Now, there is nobody in the regular line so it doesn’t really matter whether I use that line or the ordinary line, but I can; so I do.

There is one man in line – but he has two small children. I’d say they are about 2 and 4. The security agent asks for their boarding passes. He doesn’t know he needs a boarding pass for each of them and only has his own. Rather than look into his ticket jacket he argues with the security agent telling her that he was told to get the passes at the gate. He stands there – dumb look on his face. She smiles. The kids are standing there. I’m waiting. The non first class line is empty. Really? I need to go to the bathroom.

Finally he pulls out the ticket jacket and there are the boarding passes. In they go. I breeze through and choose a different line than they are in.

Alas, I find them in the boarding area. They each have a Starbucks drink. One little girl kicks over the grande iced chocolate. It’s in a giant blob all over the floor. Dad picks the cup up but just stares at the mess. Finally he mops part of it up and accidentally drops the canvas bag with children’s toys on top of what’s left of the chocolate puddle.

He takes the two-year old somewhere – bathroom maybe? The older one kicks over the vente coffee and it’s all over the floor. Well, at least we still have the grande lemonade. Oops he just sat on it. The girl had put it on the chair believing it would be safer there!