We have a special place in our hearts for bartenders, and not just because they get us drunk. See, there is absolutely no better training ground for that business we call "ad" than the service industry.

People who don’t know what they want? Check.
Insane hours? Check.
Bizarre mating rituals? Check.

If you’ve ever worked painstakingly on a menu, only to have a customer order filet mignon, well done, with ketchup, you’re a planner.

If you’ve ever waited tables and had a customer order a filet mignon, well done, with ketchup, you’re an account executive.

If you’ve ever worked the line and had a server hand you an order for filet mignon, well done, with ketchup, you’re a creative.

If you’ve ever had to separate a server and a cook about to come to blows over whether or not to serve the customer filet mignon, well done, with ketchup, you’re a traffic manager.

Check out Mortar’s Minister of Mixology, Mike Hicks of OtisSF in the San Francisco Examiner.

Are there any cocktails out there that annoy you? Cosmos. There are so many better things you can do.

How many Cosmos do you make in a given week? I make a lot.”

"There are so many better things you can do."

We’ll have what he’s having.

If there’s one interest we all have in common, it’s ourselves.

The Red Cross capitalized on this fact extremely effectively in this hearing awareness site.

Take the hearing test. Hello? I said go take the hearing test!

The come back and tell us how awesome it would be if your favorite cause could get people’s attention like that instead of resorting to pimply street canvassers.   

Thanks to  AdRants.

Mortar’s own brand development whiz, Vikki Garrod, was interviewed by KGO-AM radio last Thursday about Victoria’s Secret.

Download VikkiSecret.mp3

Yes, it was broadcast on Thursday but wasn’t posted ’till now because a certain Mortaron (not the author of this post of course, never him) had a few technical difficulties.

So this post is brought to you by sexy – but not slutty – knickers, Vikki, KGO-AM and our web-design guru, Chris Inclenrock.

The Los Angeles Public Library has posted a stunning collection of old-time travel posters to the Web.

An example from a homesick New Englander below. Because who doesn’t enjoy a good mud season?

Hat tip to Gawker.