Anyone Bartend

Ive worked in pub and I hated it, except one night I had a few drinks bought for me and was drunk behind the bar, it was the best night Id worked there.
I think a bar would be better as its more modern.
Id imagine youll find there are only a few popular drinks that yuo will have to learn.if you have trouble, just ask your boss.
Try and aim for a new/popular bar as they may pay more, you may have to work flexible hours.

If your a chatty person then it seems very suited to you and its not exactly difficult.

Please can you post some of your art.

well thank you material girl for you interest in my art here is an online gallery from msn. If you have problems seeing my work let me know it's the first time i've put it on this site. Hopefully the link works
Jeff W art and ps if you like what you see i ship all over let me know if there is something I can do for you.

any other bar tending stories welcome and appreciated, does anyone know how much the classes are and if it's worth it? Like 773bartend.com or any others thanks in advance

Hi there abe and welcome to A2K :-)

I bartended at 2 different places for a total of about 4 years and I loved my job at one of the places and I hated the other. I think it all depends on where you work. I like working in a place that has good customers (not bum type people). I'm a people person as well, so the job suited me.
I started off working as a grill cook in a place called the Pressbox Pub and that's the place I liked working at. All the while I was the cook, I always wanted to bartend and then one day one of the bartenders left and I asked for the position, so that's how I got started. As MG said, most of the drinks you'll serve are very easy to make and if you don't know what's in it, you simply ask the customer what's in it and if they don't know, ask your boss.
There are also several bartenders drink books you could buy at your local book store that help a lot. You can study the book at home and also take it to work with you.
I know a few people who went to bartending school and they said it was a waste of money and I tend to agree, although it would help if you're looking for a job in a fancy place.
The money can be great and I personally would love to go back to it, now that I think about it.

Good luck to you and have fun.

Yes, I've done it.
It's OK, but hardly exciting work, a lot pretty repetitive, like wiping tables when they don't really need wiping during quiet spells. Management likes to see you're busy & earning your keep! :wink: .... but hey, it paid the bills!
Actually, I got the sack .... for helping other bar staff calculate their proper pay. (Turns out that management was not being all that honest about pay rates, hours of work, etc. I also suggested union membership might be a good idea! I don't know how management found out about my helpfulness to other staff, but they certainly did!) Of course, that's not the reason I was given for losing the job. This upset the kind old codger that taught me how to do the job, no end. He thought I was a natural!

Anyway, you could do worse for a casual employment. And the job skills are transferable to other places, so you can opt in and out as finances dictate.

I liked it when I did it. I think a lot depends on the bar you work at - your coworkers and bosses there.

I did it for several years and got to be pretty good at it. There are a lot of drinks, but most of the time you will be pouring beer and mixing regular highballs (like vodka tonic). Most bartenders don't memorize them all, and if they do, they forget them after going years never having made a mai tai.

I say go for it. I enjoyed it for the while that I did it. I started looking for other things because I got tired of going to work when everyone else was coming home and because at one point it seemed there was nothing left to learn.

As for bartending classes, you can probably skip them if you start out waiting tables in a bar. You'll learn what you need to from ordering the drinks and when a position opens up behind the bar, you're ready. Also, I can recommend hotel bars -- especially if they have a nice big club or sports bar. They usually pay minimum wage + tips as opposed to the service minimum, which used to be something like $2.25 and they also usually have medical benefits.

I don't drink at all but I tend bar a bit at the cafe/pub where I work. Tips are a lovely, lovely thing. If you're going to be working at a menial type of job anyway, like being a clerk or something, well, you'll have to do crappy little tasks along the lines of table-wiping anyway, and you won't be making tips.

i would say just look for a more casual type of placce where they won't mind if you need to ask the customer what goes in the drink they want, and the atmosphere is relaxed. After you learn the ropes you'll find it can be a lot of fun.