Jeff Burkhart: Sometimes the best way to solve a problem is to ignore it

Frankie Frost/IJ archive

He was one of the finest bartenders that I ever worked with: He was educated, gracious, knowledgeable and efficient. In fact, it was he who had trained me to bartend at a different bar some years before, and, in a word, he was a consummate professional — until the moment he wasn’t.

I remember that moment. He was sweating; it was visible in part because of the silly blue polyester shirts we had to wear, coupled with a little bow tie. Whoever decided...