I am writing this to dispel any rumors or untruths that may be floating around the community. As most of you are aware Big Mike, Mike Phillips, has been a bartender at Rich’s for 12 years. He is a key member of our staff, not to mention one of the best human beings I have ever had the opportunity to work with. He recently made a decision, his own, to leave Rich’s. After a lengthy discussion, he decided it was time for him to leave Rich’s to allow himself to pursue other interests and goals that he has set for himself. Big Mike will be 47 next week and, for those of you who have never worked in a bar, it is grueling work. Most men half his age can only hope to try to outdo him behind the bar. It simply has not been done.

Some of you may see Big Mike as a self promoting, tip hungry, bitchy, “bar trash” bartender, but those of you who have taken the time to know him know that this is far from the truth. You see him in the highly intense setting of a dance club doing his job, in a place where many go to escape their own reality. I have seen him yelled at, spit on, assaulted by people that felt they had the right to do so because he is a service employee. And yes, some of you have been on the receiving end of a bad night for him. Nonetheless, neither he nor I have offered excuses for some bad behavior on his part, only apologies. Getting upset over a cocktail in this day and time is so unnecessary. We as a community have a lot more battles to choose than one in the chaotic setting of a bar. I have watched Big Mike, as his employer and his friend, grow and mature.

He has only sought to make a difference in the community in which he lives. Things that have affected him — be it loss, be it seeing needs in the community of those perhaps less fortunate than him — he has taken the time and effort to go out and do something about.

He continues to be an advocate for his community to this day. This even as he just won the battle of his life, one with cancer. He beat it and I never heard one complaint out of him. The community rallied behind him with a force, both financially and emotionally, that is beyond words to explain. The gay community in San Diego had never experienced such an event as the benefit held last April for Big Mike as he fought his battle with cancer. I heard the amazement in his voice and saw the shock of a very humbled man when close to $30,000 was donated for his well being, in hopes of a recovery.

Big Mike and I have discussed on many occasions that many people have misinterpreted his motives and misunderstood his reasons for going out on a limb in this community. I told him once that people tend to attempt to ridicule and often belittle the efforts of someone else only because they know that they could being doing something themselves, yet they make a conscious choice to criticize the efforts of others rather than going out and doing something about what might matter to them. I have seen the disappointment and hurt in his eyes when he has been criticized. I told him that when you put yourself out there, you expose yourself to criticism and it goes with the territory. While he understood what I was saying, it did not make the hurt go away.

With this being said, I want to commend Big Mike on stepping up to the plate and having the guts to say, “You know it’s time for me to go.” Life is too short for people to be unhappy and we all owe it to ourselves to go out and be the best we can possibly be, setting an example for those around us. Many of you might ask while reading this, “What’s the big deal? A bartender quit his job.” Well, it’s more than that. It means more than that. Big Mike is too important a person to me personally, and to this community, to have untruths or innuendoes out on the street about him. His reputation in this community is the key to his future and I do not wish to see it tarnished.

There is not a club owner in San Diego that wouldn’t give their right eye to have such a dedicated and highly motivated employee as Big Mike. He will be sorely missed at Rich’s, but I want everyone in this community to know the truth. Most of all, I want to wish Big Mike absolutely the best.