| Bartending 101 |
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Ah, the life of the mighty Bartender. Fame. Glory. Pockets full of dollar bills (and the occasional 5 spot). A little black book with an endless list of available ladies clamoring for your attention. Sounds ideal doesn't it? Well, truth be told the answer lies somewhere in between. Unlike in the movie "Cocktail", you probably won't be working in a packed nightclub where two bartenders are able to put on a live show while serving 500+ guests. Chances are your first gig behind the pine will be in a smaller joint. Maybe a restaurant or hotel bar. Maybe even a bowling alley, or even doing a few stints for a catering company. That's just fine, as these types of places are ideal for learning the craft without getting thrown to the wolves and spit out like a chewed up pig's ear. Let's begin with what the day in the life of a Bartender is REALLY like. First, just about every bartending job will be one of two shifts. Open or Close. If you're the guy opening the bar, which is typically the shift the "new guy" will work, then you'll have plenty of work to do even before you start pouring pints. You will need to setup the bar. This includes filling the ice bin, prepping juices and mixers, cutting fruit, restocking bottles & beer and putting together any equipment (ice cream machines, blenders, espresso machines) that happen to be behind the bar. If you're the closer, which is generally a better shift, with more business and much more in tips, you'll be responsible for cleaning up and tearing down the bar. Hopefully you'll luck out and have either a busser (more common) or bar back to help you out. If this is the case, then your job will be MUCH easier. Duties will include wiping down ALL surfaces, wiping down bottles, cleaning the same machines the day guy had to setup, stowing the juices and mixers, burning the ice bin, and perhaps restocking the bottles of beer and booze. During the shift you'll be saddled with a wide range of tasks. If you thought your job was just slinging drinks, think again. Remember when you turned down those dozen job offers that required you be a server for a few weeks/months before getting behind the bar? Well surprise, surprise! Bartending IS serving! Many times not only will you be responsible for serving the guests that happen to belly up to the bar, but depending on the day/time/shift/establishment you'll probably have your assigned tables as well. What's ironic is these tables may not even ORDER A DRINK! That means you're a server my man - and there's absolutely nothing wrong with it. You'll soon learn that there's a direct correlation with how hard you're hussling and how many dollar bills are stuffed in your jeans pocket at the end of the shift. And those extra tables you wait on during your shift can and will make up a large part of your earnings. My tip - cut the cocktail waitress and servers as early as you can and hog those tables all to you sweet little self. Besides making drinks for your own guests and tables, you'll more than likely be in charge of making the drinks for the rest of the restaurant/bar, unless of course you're lucky/unlucky (depending on how motivated you are) to have a service bartender working in the place. If this is the case, you'll have to learn how to balance making your own drinks, with making everyone else's drinks and taking care of your bar guests and tables to boot. This all sounds easy enough, right? Sure, it is. But now we're going to throw in another dozen small tasks you'll encounter on any given night including: Making change for the servers, washing glassware (manually!) when you run low/out, making non-alcoholic "mocktails" and other drinks, bussing your own bar top/tables, changing blown kegs, running to the liquor room for new stock, cutting fruit mid-shift when the day guy under-preps, taking to-go orders, dealing with lottery tickets/machines, changing out/cleaning ash trays, cutting off the guy you served one too many to, calling a cab for said individual, walking said individual to the cab, and even cooking in some cases! Whew! Tired yet? Yep, I am too! Well, you're not done yet. You very well may end up being the closing manager if your bar's a small one. That means you better run and lock the door. Crack open your till, run the nightly report on the POS and make sure it all adds up. If it does, then great. Bag up the drop, throw it in the safe. Turn off the lights/stoves/gas and turn on the alarm, and run like hell so you don't trigger the damn thing. Good job, you just finished up your shift. Drive to a bar that stays open later than yours and gossip with the bartender. What about Tips? How does that work? Well - it all depends on where you work. You'll make tips from your bar guests. You'll make even more tips from the tables you wait on (even though you bitched and moaned about getting sat the table in the first place!). You'll also earn a tip out, either based on total sales or based on alcohol sales from the servers. Don't stuff it all in your pocket just yet - there's a few people you need to tip out now including the Busser, Bar Back, Food Runner/Expo and sometimes even the cooks. Don't worry though, you'll still have plenty of dollar bills to go blow on a couple pints of beer, a pack of smokes and a few rounds of video poker just before you hit the sack and get ready to do it all over. |
