Lauren Zampier-Enwright

WXYZ Bar at Aloft Tucson University

What’s your favorite drink to make?

The organic green. It’s our most popular specialty cocktail and it’s an organic cucumber Crop vodka with muddled mint and cucumber, so it’s kind of like a mojito, but our little spin on it.

What’s your least favorite drink to make?

I would probably say old-fashioneds, only because I know people are super picky about how they like them, so I’m watching them drink [while I think,] “Do you like it? Do you not like it?”

Do you have a most memorable customer?

I don’t know if I have a most memorable customer. My most excited customer, to tell me who he was and about himself, was Zach Snyder’s dad. I knew the regulars that he was with, and he came in one time with them, and he was like, “Do you like action movies? Do you like chicks fighting movies?” I was like, “Sure,” and he said, “You should totally see my son’s movie. It comes out this weekend.” He was boasting about it. That was pretty funny.

How long have you been bartending?

Roughly seven years.

Weirdest event you’ve seen go down?
Well, actually, one weekend we had a professional lesbian weekend, with like a pool party and burlesque show and comedy and some convention going on, so that was the most interesting range of activities that went on in here. At the same time, we had a Jehovah’s Witness group in here, so it was a very nice mix of people. I’ve seen a lot of weird things, but to me, weird, I’m not really fazed by it.

If I want to piss you off as a bartender, what do I do as a bartender?

Take fruit out of my garnish tray, snap at me or touch things behind the bar that aren’t yours. I’ve only kicked one person out of my bar once, and that was because he grabbed a stack of plastic cups and just threw them in the air.

How can I make your job as easy as possible?

Don’t tell me to make anything I want, and then tell me, “But I don’t like vodka, but I don’t like this, and I want something pink.” Anything you want, but all these restrictions. I’m pretty accommodating, but those are the things.

Is there a drinking trend you would like to see go away?

Flavored vodkas. They are getting a little bit too crazy, and then they just sit on the shelf.