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Life Behind Bars
By Ray DeGraw
(Everything you did and didn't want to know about the restaurant industry)



Life Behind Bars (The Appetizers)
About the Author There simply is no easy way to explain author Ray DeGraw Jr. People have been trying to do it for years, few have...
Ray DeGraw


Life Behind Bars Chapter 16
Chapter 16 You’re Welcome! I have been accused of many things in my life. I have been told I am arrogant, brash, have a small shred of...
Ray DeGraw


Life Behind Bars Chapter 15
Chapter 15 $2.13 and the Art of the Tip In my 20 years of tending bar, it never ceased to amaze me how many people out there don’t know...
Ray DeGraw


Life Behind Bars Chapter 14
Chapter 14 There Are Only Ten Drinks (Time to get technical!) There were three questions that always seemed to pop up from customers on...
Ray DeGraw


Life Behind Bars Chapter 13
Chapter 13 Millennial Madness The walls were slowly closing in on me. Madness and depression were taking their grips on my once...
Ray DeGraw


Life Behind Bars Chapter 12
Chapter 12 The Great Escape, Part II In spite of my triumph over the Brothers Grimm, I couldn’t help but feel underappreciated. I felt...
Ray DeGraw


Life Behind Bars Chapter 11
Chapter 11 All Good Things Must Come To an End Life can certainly be a funny thing sometimes. Just when you’re up, something will come...
Ray DeGraw


Life Behind Bars Chapter 10
Chapter 10 Just What the Doctor Ordered I have found over the years that there is nothing more important than being prepared for your...
Ray DeGraw


Life Behind Bars Chapter 9
Chapter 9 The Help I have, in this short life, done it all. I have worked for a newspaper, I have worked in construction, I have worked...
Ray DeGraw


Life Behind Bars Chapter 8
Chapter 8 Ownership In all my years of living on this planet we call Earth, I have never encountered a group of individuals who cry the...
Ray DeGraw


Life Behind Bars Chapter 7
Chapter Seven The Cast Hipster Henry Well, if dealing with millennials isn’t bad enough, meet Hipster Henry. A simple minded sheep...
Ray DeGraw


Life Behind Bars Chapter 6
Chapter Six If You Build It, They Will Come Let’s face it, the true ambition in life is to find your significant other. To find your...
Ray DeGraw


Life Behind Bars Chapter 5
Chapter Five Zanzibar! It seems silly to me now as I think back to it...you know, “throwing” away my "so-called" career and a college...
Ray DeGraw


Life Behind Bars Chapter 4
Chapter Four The Great Escape The first couple of shifts weren’t the easiest, which is always the case when you start working a new...
Ray DeGraw


Life Behind Bars Chapter 3
Chapter 3 Another Bump in the Road When growing up, my father and I loved watching Cheers together on Thursday nights. Seems a bit odd...
Ray DeGraw


Life Behind Bars Chapter 2
Chapter Two Life of the Party I guess I always pictured tending bar as throwing a party every night and getting paid for it. Quite...
Ray DeGraw


Life Behind Bars Chapter 1
Life Behind Bars (Everything you did and didn't want to know about the restaurant industry) By Raymond DeGraw Jr. To my wife, Kathy, for...
Ray DeGraw
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