If you go to the Rendezvous on a Thursday night, be sure to cut the bartenders some slack if they mess up your drink order. After all, they really don’t know what they’re doing.

Thursday is Amateur Bartender Night at the Rendezvous. Three amateur bartenders sign up for three different shifts, and they must come dressed in costume. At 10 p.m. they draw numbers to see who gets the first, second and third shift. For the next three hours, amateurs run the bar (with help from the regular bar staff). At 1 a.m., after all the shifts are over and the amateurs have showed off their skills, a winner is picked.

And the reason behind the costumes? Well, owner Jimmy Green says, they needed something to judge them on.

“We couldn’t really judge them on their bartending skills, because none of them really have bartending skills,” he says. “That’s why it’s amateur night.”

Amateur Grant Stephenson says he has “technically” bartended before, but not extensively. Dressed as a dartboard — a costume he made in 20 minutes, just hours before he showed up — he fetches beers and rum and Cokes. He asks Mr. Green where the Southern Comfort is and how much certain drinks cost.

He wishes he hadn’t pulled the first shift, because the bar doesn’t start to get busy until later, but he’s having fun.

“Who wants to play a dart game?” he asks, trying to drum up some business. “Loser buys a shot.”

For their work, the amateur bartenders get to keep whatever tips they make, and the winner gets a $25 bar tab for the following Thursday.

Mr. Green says he got the idea on a slow night, when a few of his wife’s friends were serving themselves. He thought about how so many of his customers have said they wanted to give bartending a try.

“... It seems like every night somebody comes in and says ‘I’d like to be a bartender, I think it’d be fun,’” he says. “I thought everybody always wants to be a bartender, so we’ll give them a chance to be a bartender for an hour.”

Everybody thinks it would be fun to be a bartender, Mr. Green says, until they actually try it.

And don’t expect Rendezvous patrons to go easy on you, especially if you’re a regular there.

“They’ll give them a little grief,” Mr. Green says, “ordering stuff that nobody will drink, but they’ll order it just to see them make it.”

But it’s all in good fun, and for those who are regulars at the Rendezvous, it’s just another night out with friends.

“I’m not pressured because I’m around people that are friends and that are relaxed,” says amateur bartender Kristen Finley. “I don’t care about the costume contest. This is just for fun.”