A lot of people love the idea of being a Bartender, but it’s a more challenging job than you might assume. If you’ve never worked in a bar and are considering bartending as a job option, here are some things you should know.
If you are starting out as a bartender you might want to consider starting at a smaller establishment, or a bar that is not very busy, so you can hone your skills and learn how to make multiple drinks quickly. Eventually you’ll want to move on to a faster-paced bar, where the tips you make will be more worth your time and effort.
Bartenders are paid very low wages, often below standard minimum wage for other professions, so your main source of income will come from your tips. A skilled bartender knows how to maximize tips by “working” the customers while keeping the pace up. He or she has a keen sense of the psychological needs of the customers: who wants extra pampering, and who wants to get their drink quickly and be done with it. Of course, a bartender will want to be a little flirtatious with customers, it’s important not to over-do it or come across as pushy.
Bartending can be hazardous to your health! For one thing, the work-all-night sleep-all-day schedule doesn’t work for everyone. The pace can be highly demanding, and you are often coping with drunk and unruly customers. Bartending is no cushy corporate job. You’re be on your feet all night, and if it’s a busy night you won’t get a break until after last call. When customers are waiting, you won’t have the chance to go for a half-hour dinner break! Many people find the stress of the job is just not worth the tip money, while others have the personality to shine in the job. Think about whether you are temperamentally suited for this type of work before you decide to spend money on bartending school or take a job in a bar.
And don’t forget—a bar’s money is mostly made on the weekend. If going out with your friends on a Saturday night is part of your routine, bartending might not be the right job for you. A lot of bartenders are frustrated at losing touch with all their friends with nine-to-five jobs, not to mention working all night and getting to sleep near dawn.
Bartenders need strong memory skills: you will be expected to remember several drink orders at once. A manager might test prospective hires by having them make about five drinks in rapid succession—gin and tonic, Jack and Coke, vodka soda, rye and ginger, vodka tonic, for example. If they can’t remember the the rapid-fire drink order accurately, they probably won’t get the job.
Bartending truly requires the ability to multi-task. Not only must you remember the customers’ drink orders, you have to keep track of whether your bar is properly stocked, clean, and so on. Crucial sales can be lost if you run out of, say soda water or cranberry juice 15 minutes before last call and have to get more from storage.
You must have well-developed social skills, and be prepared to handle a variety of people, not all of whom may be to your liking. A good bartender knows how to find just the right balance between being friendly and professional. You need to know how to engage in small talk with your customers, and to make them feel important without slowing down your bartending duties. Remember, every minute you spend talking to a customer in a busy bar is a minute less you’re spending getting the next person’s order. Not only will that annoy the other customers who are waiting, it will potentially reduce the total number of drinks you make thus lowering your night’s tips.
And don’t forget, you have important professional and even legal obligations when serving alcohol. You will expected to take a course to get some form of certification. So being a bartender is definitely more than glorified playtime. But if you have the right skills, personality, and a thick skin, you might just fit the bill! If so, there are tons of great Bartender Jobs.
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