Calling All Bartenders
 

If you aren't hungover...

Why in the hell did we ever think that bartending was a fun cool job to have? Did we think that we would get laid more? At what point in your bartending career did you realize that the job sucked and that you wanted out but realized all you knew about life was what happened from 10pm-4am?

I just started working at this bar in Denver called the Skylark Lounge. It's supposed to be world famous so If you've heard about it let me know. It's a rockabilly/country bar. In the jukebax we have everyone from Hank Williams Sr. to The Reverend Horton Heat to Louis Prima. It's the best box in town. I've been hanging out there for about four years now. And just ruined it by getting a job there. Has this happened to you? Gotten a job somewhere you hung out at then never wanted to hang out there again.

not really but i guess it would fall into the "don't eat where you shit", "don't shit where you eat" philosophy. lemme guess, all the cool people who have been serving you for years, don't seem so cool to work with? not to mention it probably isn't that fun to be on the receiving end of a "Hey, Bartender".

sorry to hear 'bout your troubles, maybe you can find a not as cool place to get your drink on.:)

There has to be more bartenders then this.

Even if you don't do it anymore. I want stories. Please. Don't make me get on me knees and beg.

The only good thing is when the bar is run by a faceless consortium and the chairman says that all staff can have one complimetary drink on Friday night.

Then the general manager who likes his staff more than the chairman makes it two drinks. Then the assistant manager, a little generous and drunk makes it four drinks. Then the supervisor, who just pissed on the chairman's car in the parking lot makes it ten drinks every night for all staff and discovers the keys to the cigar humidor.

It usually snowballs from there.

Then you quit to go backpacking overseas and end up in a totally different kind of bar halfway around the world where the paranoid owner has cameras everywhere and makes you count spilled drinks.

And you come back home six months later and go back to that first bar and realize that everything feels different and "weird" and they've put a new lock on the humidor.

Then you realize that your fun is fleeting and in the long run bartending can often suck.

When's your shift and do you pour heavy?

:D


Sorry man, couldn't resist.

Anyway, I think you should continue to hone your writing, since it seems to me that it's your first love.

Maybe take some more writing classes or something.

having bartended for many many moons i found that the difference between a bartender and a proctologist is the proctologist serves one asshole at a time

I was never a bartender, but I worked in the kitchens of more than a few bars. After we closed for the night, we'd (myself, the bartender, and the bartender's friend who sort of worked across the street) drag whatever girls were still left at our place to any one of the dozen bars that knew us and would serve us after hours (and free of charge).
Getting shitfaced 5-6 nights a week without spending a dime was a lot of fun, but eventually it caught up to me. I just couldn't party like that anymore, but it's kind of hard not to when the only thing to do when your shift is over is to sit on the other side of your bar.

I've gone from a bartender to a nurse, then to drug and alcohol
nursing. Now I'm back to keeping job number 3 going.
I'm working at a golf and country club as a bartender for 7 years now. I see the same faces every day. It's a privite place. So If
you piss a member off you still see them everyday. It's also
difficult if not impossible to cut someone off. :(

I love'd it at first they treated you very well at christmas but they forget there is another 364 days on the calender. Golfing is free twice a week. Other then that it sucks. A new board of directors comes in every year change things around, members quit,die,and
leave for other reasons. Everybody bitches and I wish now I
never left nursing!:crazy:

It was much more fun watching the drunks try to get better and fail then to listen to the same group of old farts everyday!
Don't get me wrong there are some wonderful members,
For each wonderful member there is an equal and opposite
asshole! I'll never do a private country clubs again!:eek: :eek:

Lebell.

I'll let you know. I don't have regular shifts yet. And yes I pour heavy and friends get a few for free.

I've heard of the skylark, I wish Denver was closer (and I was older :p)

A few years ago, I switched from managing bars to managing for Starbucks. It was a great decision. I still had regular customers, with regular drinks, and witty banter across the bar, but with no alcahol involved, it was a lot easier to take. I also liked starting the day at 4am rather than ending it then.

I will never go back to bartending. Or any kind of foodservice for that matter. Good luck to you, OK. I hope it gives you some great material to use in your writing!

i worked a bar part-time in almost every place i lived up until about 15 years ago...best job in the world, just wish it payed more...drinks, women, we just got rid of the assholes...i'd work a bar again in a heartbeat...

i worked bar for 4 years.
i chose it because i figured that i could get through university and still work a lot of hours at night.

wrong.

i worked in a great bar, that was attached to a top hotel... thus i met heaps of celebs, babes and wankers...
(lawrence fishburne stole my cds)
sure, it was really cool for a long time.
but it took over my life... my nights got longer, days shorter, and thus i dropped out of uni.
soon the babes moved on, the job became more about cleaning ashtrays and serving drunk wankers, and less about glamour, drugs and sex.

i would never go back to tending bar.
i've done my time... enjoy yours...

Special hookups for TFP'ers :) ? Im going to denver in a month or so and possibly moving there.

I was the pool pro at one of the hottest billiards halls in the area. Pretty much the same atmosphere as bartending, just didn't have to serve the people. YES, it does get old. All of the people I worked with were on hardcore drugs, alcohol was the escape from the coke high or whatever else they were on. It was one of the funnest jobs I did have, bugt once it started taking it's toll on me, it got old quick!

What about the addiction to mostly tax-free cash? Living on tips is something most people dont understand unless they have been there. Cash is even better if you have a spouse/partner whom keeps tabs on that kind of thing. No bank statments to explain when that secret something must be purchased.

I tended for about 3 years. When I started the owners were way cool, it was okay to drink, the coworkers were freakin great, and we always had a couple of beers after work, and maybe went out to one of the bars who are open from 5am, after we had closed. There were a lot of regulars, they were really nice, some were very hot, and it was just plain great.
Then the owners sold the place to a guy who had to know everything that happened, every day, all the time. He was a family father, but he spent almost all of his time at the bar, which is also a restaurant... he would just sit at the bar and look at us work - very very annoying. We weren't allowed to drink, he got counters on all the bottles, he put up cameras everywhere, and wanted us to pay for ourselves when we wanted to have a staff party. Well, one time he gave us a case of easter beer, but it was around christmas time... Also, giving a free drink was grounds for firing.
So what made it fun to work was eliminated, no freedom to please the customers (I couldn't give a girl who had just bought a bottle of expensive vodka ONE extra soda) and because the owner was always looking at us, always sitting at the bar, checking his tapes to see if we were giving correct change, it ended up being the worst place to live. Almost everybody quit and he had to hire new people all the time, at one period he was the only chef - and he couldn't cook to save his life.
Anyway, the bar is a nice place, but I only go there if I can see that the owner's car isn't parked outside, and only if some of the remaining coworkers are working, otherwise it's not worth it.
that guy really good and ruined that place. Shame.

Gosh! Psychological case much? Sounds like maybe the guy had, ahem, issues that revolved around his being unable to completely dominate his wife or his children. So he wastes money mishandling a business so he can be "God".

Or maybe I'm just bitterly casting aspersions - those kinds of bosses always accelerate you down the metaphorical road to that eventual destination of "bartending sucks, I quit".

bartending has its place. You can't beat it for working while you're in college - it keeps your days free for school, and it puts cash in your pocket everyday.
However, it takes a good deal of responsibility and self control to not get sucked into the night life. I spent the better part of a decade and a half immersed in a lifestyle fueled literally by sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll. I kept such weird hours that I went five years without a tan - in Arizona. There are many interesting people who live their 'days' from 10 pm till daybreak, but sometimes 'interesting' isn't a good thing.
As far as the job itself is concerned - yes, it was a good way to meet people and get laid a lot, but if I had it all to do over again, I'd take a pass.
At one bar I worked, we had t-shirts made for our regular customers that said "Instant Asshole - Just Add Alcohol."

That pretty much sums it up.
That, and this:

<i>Oh, the night life ain't no good life
But it's my life</i> - Willie Nelson

gotta agree with yournamehere.

It has it's place. You can't beat it while you are in college. Just don't let it take up most of your spare time...

At first it's great, coming from where you come... You are at the club/bar you would be at anyway, you get paid instead of spending, you get a few to alot of free drinks (we got alot :) )and at the end of the weekend, you've got alot of money to spend even, instead of having to scrape for a few extra pennies.

That was my original idea.

After a while it gets boring because you realise you can't get from behind the bar at all, especially if you start getting regular shifts. Friends that come around hang on the bar for a few weeks, until they find something interesting to do (because face it, you gotta work after all, can't talk to them all the time).

And after a while, the money doesn't seem to look that good anymore. I'd say that's the moment to say stop and either look for another temp job, or get a real one :)

I did it for a while, got tired of that and shifted to day-shifts during the weekend (short 4-6h shifts) which weren't maybe the ones that got me the most money, but the atmosphere at the place was totally different, and I had a little less money, but at least when we all got together, I could actually go places with my friends.

Better than going to a local rave after 4am with a few people. Nothing going on there but alcohol-abuse and drugs really. Didn't feel like making that my lifestyle. Although there are always good events there, like a dude that just started stripping for the hell of it, in the end he was covering his crotch with his left hand, singing and waving with his right... Then half the crew started pelting him with red voda (not the bottles, no :p )
Or the strippers one night, or the fact that because of working there, when we went out thursday night, we could sneak in there at 4 am, just lie on stage and put a movie on the big screen with a couple of people and then drive home quickly, make a show of getting up and going to school, only to drive back to the club and catch up on some sleep.

I think if you still consider it's not totally ruined, see what different kinds of shifts are available, maybe the atmosphere during a different shift suits you better?
Maybe try to get shifts that alternate, which leave you free to go out with friends ever other time?

The only real point for me though, seems to be it sort of ruined real club-life for me and friends that did it too... Or maybe it's that we just got older and a bit more mature. We don't go clubbing till 7-8am anymore, it sort of got old after 4-5 years of doing it 3-4 nights every week.

I believe I had a point with this post somewhere... At any rate, you wanted a story, I gave ya one.

I was an Assistant Manager for a restaurant that had a kickass bar. I was assigned the role of Bar Manager in addition to my normal duties of running the restaurant. I knew what the expected bar costs were so I knew how to get my staff the free alcohol they desired. Plus I was only 23, fresh out of college and needed to keep my tolerance high. It worked out great. I also did a shitload of bartending for two reasons: 1) I love bartending, 2) it was tons of fun. Free drinks to whoever I like and kick out the people that gave me trouble. It didn't get much better.

Good luck with the job. Shucking beers and drinks is a good time at a good place.

It's getting better. I like the social aspect of the whole thing. Getting invited to parties and other clubs. I like the fact that now no matter where I go I don't have to pay. As long as I don't make them pay when they come see me.

So, if any of you need a drink... I'm your man.

ooh, yeah, that part I forgot, true :)

If you're at all a social person, after a few weeks, you know most bartenders, waiters & bouncers in your area that are in similar places.
The fact you can get in just about anywhere without paying, always have people you can talk too and alot of free drinks, makes that you just keep going and going :)

If you didn't before though, you're bound to pick up a habit of almost pure snack-eating... burgers to burritos, a homecooked meal is a rare thing :)

I cook for myself. So, everything is a home cooked meal. :D

Stumbleing up to the bar.....I call over my trusty bartender!
"Hey Bartender... I hear there are no zipped files allowed here!
"nope I am sorry friend... but you can leave a message or a post"
"Well I was hoping to give this to 'The Original King' is HE around by chance?"
"ummm... sorry it is still kind of early and she has a note saying HE is still in Bed!"
"Well can I leave this here for her then?"
I stuggle with my backpack that I swear weighs 50 thousand pounds by now...
and pull out a HUGE leatherbound volume of "Bar Rules"
"I know some of these are common knowledge... but many are quite funny!"
"Holy... that is alot of rules I'll put that with the Humour forum"
"Thanks bartender... much appreciated, have a good night!"
I stumble towards the door and bounce off the payphone which reminds me to phone a cab
"Hey Buddy" the bartender becons my way... "Who shall I say this is from"

Oh just tell him it is from ~:BClonghair:~:hmm:

Hey King... some longhair came in and left these for you!
http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthr...threadid=52346

He's a guy.

WTF?

Ha ha ha ha.... Oh relax I only got your gender mixed up!
I was just looking at the chick avatar...and now you have Boobies!
I was just trying to be creative and make a funny story for all to read...
So I hope you enjoyed it for what it is worth!
I will get to know more people while I am here I am sure.
Honest mistake for a newbie!

Cheers.... ~:BClonghair:~

I'm just wondering how anybody could think that somebody called something with King would be a girl ;)

Well, I am wearing a skirt.

A-pron
it's called an apron

(I'll try anything to salvage the little bit of machismo I have floating around somewhere :) )

He took the bait - Give him plenty of line!!! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Ah yes . . .there was the whole FREE DRINKING part I forgot to mention!