I didn't quite know what to expect when I first started at Havana Castle Cigars in December.
I knew, at the very least, I liked cigars and as far as I can tell, liking something you're about to do is a pretty good starting point for any venture you're about to under take.
The job has its obvious learning curves: product knowledge, customer service, ordering processes, scheduling, and so on. It is, after all, a retail job and from afar, it appears to be nothing more.
But upon further firsthand inspection, the job of a cigar salesman is a lot more than that.
I'm more a bartender than I am a salesman.
Think old school bartender, not some college girl in a skirt. Though for the right price, I'll swear a skirt if that's what the people want.
Murray, our shoppe's owner, looks at our store as if it were cigar version of the show Cheers. We're the place where everybody knows your name. And you know our name.
We're Cigartenders.
(How's that for totally made-up millennial lingo? Annoying or ingenious?)
In an age where everything can be ordered online, our customers choose to drive to us and personally, I don't see that changing anytime soon.
Why?
Because we offer community here. Or so it seems from my perspective behind the counter.
I know for certain customers give those of us working here a sense of community, I can only assume that that's a mutual feeling.
And that's why this isn't a retail job in the traditional sense. A lot of storytelling and bonding happens over a cigar. It's like being around a campfire, except the fire is in your mouth...so to speak. It's amazing how comfortable total strangers become with one another when they have a hobby in common. I think our Grand Opening proved this more than any other day we've been open. Total strangers sat together and spoke for hours. It was terrific and exactly what we hoped would happen here.
As I type this from the checkout counter, my stream of consciousness gets interrupted by the door opening. A regular customer comes in, buys a couple sticks and leaves. Shortly after he left and I got a few more sentences typed, a brand new customer shows up and I give him a tour. We talk about how we spent our long weekend and he makes his way to the patio to enjoy a house blend cigar and read a book.
Yeah, cigartending is more than selling product. It's about selling a community. And since I came on board in December, I'm convinced we've a pretty good community here.