I want to be a saloon-keep, like my great grandfathers. But is mixology a charming life? By charming, I mean, I want to meet lots of weird people to mix drinks for. Get immersed in my culture; just smell the smoke, listen to people enjoying their whiskeys and beers, and not give a [censored] about what happens after closing. So what's it like being a bartender where you work?

I'm not a bar-hopper, I just drink alone, so maybe I should do my homework. And by homework I mean bar-hopping.

Stressfull, dealing with pain in the ass drunks, being pissed off about poor tip, a LOT of cleaning etc.

It's not a glamorous job, at all.

....Wait you got tip :tongue: .......seriously, i didnt get a [censored]

except that, pretty much what El Di4blo said :celebration:

^ This

I've never bartended or even worked at a bar and can make an educated guess that it isn't all Glits and Glamor. Unless you work at some High Profile night club that has people taking care of the drunks, morons, idiots, r-tards, etc... then it won't be very exciting. Worst of all is you have to deal with regulations, rules, and possible stupid lawsuits. Think it was in Florida that a person who was involved in a DUI incident and hurt someone sued the bar he was at because it was the "Job of the bar to keep track of his drinks". Ontop of that it was the job of the bar to tell him when he had enough to drink.

It's both fun and hard, and you'll quickly swing from loving it to hating it and back during each shift.
Its good experience though, and it pays decently, so it's worth trying it. And if you end up hating it, quit.

Well yes. It does have it's upsides.
You get a lot of social training, you get to work on your flirting abilities (:P) and sometimes you get the ladies.

But another negative thing is that you easily become an alcoholic... sorta.
At least where I worked we stayed past closing time every night to drink, a lot. And that became a habbit. If you worked the day shift you stuck around afterwards and had a few drinks (enough to make you tipsy) just to relax as working as a bartender is stressfull.
I didn't get used to it to the point of no return. As soon as I quit I didn't have a drinking problem, but when I did I drank a lot. Just something to watch out foor.

You do meet lots of people but depending on the atmosphere, not all of them want to talk. About 70% of my interaction was on the level of "What can I get you? Here's your change". But you do start noticing regulars, build a little rapport with them, etc. Don't [censored] your customers too much. Be genuine and people automatically take a shine towards you. I never worried about the tips (because you get paid well in Australia), you work for appreciation and acknowledgement of your mastery of your craft. Putting a monetary value is an easy way to lose in this game.

All in all, its fun, exciting, exhausting but you'll come home everyday feeling like you've made someone's life better for a couple of hours. Sometimes, the rewards are fantastic - the highlight of my career as a bartend was being approached by a hotel manager asking if I was ever looking for more work because I was so frelling awesome.

EDIT: Ah, yeah, the drinking. The sampling of company merchandise is a huge upside - all things in moderation, I guess. But at least you develop a taste for you like. No more uming and erring at bars now. The downside is that you do tend to become a bit of a snob. For instance, if I order a gin and tonic and they give me a wedge of lemon instead of lime, I get pretty upset. Its a violation of all that is holy!

I work best under stress. My job as a bank janitor was a drag, but when I worked at Caterpillar - very stressful - I felt productive (even though we weren't). Dealing with drunks sounds [censored]. I like drunk people though, I guess because they don't give a [censored].



I don't think I could hate the job. Maybe some of the people. How often is a bartender talking to the patrons?

slow typer. Thanks for the responses!

Depends where you work :shrug:.

I seldom if ever visit bars because the people there are not the type of people I'd like to keep company with. Therefore I do not study the art? of mixology.