Learn to Bartend

The great thing about bartending is that it brings in extra cash, which all of us need from time to time. Many people are lured into bartending jobs by the promise of being in the limelight of every party and the central focus of everyone who wants to have a great time. Yet, you also have to take into consideration the negative aspects of this job that you may not enjoy quite so much. Bartenders do have to do unpopular things sometimes, such as working the late nights while others are partying and cutting off drinkers who have had too much.

There can be a lot of stress with a bartending job. You have to strike a balance between making demanding, expectant customers happy on the spot and satisfying a boss who believes raking in the money is of the utmost importance. You have to be able to service your customers quickly while still communicating in a manner that makes them want to tip you. Throw in dealing with those who have had too much but still want more, and you have a stressful job that needs to be thought about seriously before taking.

As a bartender, you have to rely on your memory a lot. There will be multiple customers before you at once and you have to remember what they each ordered. You will have to remember how to make a wide variety of drinks on the spot and you will be required to memorize pricing for the bar you work at. Then there is the issue of underage drinkers, which you have to constantly be looking for if you want to keep your job. Finally, never forget that bartenders largely work for tips and those tips are not always as large you may want to believe. In fact, some bartenders make very little money at all.

While mixing drinks doesn’t seem like a demanding job, it does require a lot of skills. You will need excellent communication skills to deal with customers and math skills to add up the tab for each customer and quickly hand back the proper amount of change. You will also have to work with others behind the bar, especially when there is a large crowd around the bar area. Finally, your personality has to be considered. A great bartender is someone who can remain calm under any amount of pressure and who can keep a smile on their face no matter how they may be feeling inside.

If you are still interested in earning some extra cash with bartending, make sure to find a good school to prepare you ahead of time. Look for a short term school that will teach you how to mix a wide variety of drinks in a very short period of time. You should be able to take seven hour classes for a week or two and get all the skills you need to begin working.

Having a certificate from a well-known bartending school allows you to have the advantage when it comes to looking for a job. You must know how to mix drinks, the different bartending tools used and which glasses are used for what drinks.

For those who can’t go to school, working as a barback is the next best thing. This position assists the bartender and will allow you to watch and learn all the needed skills to transition into a bartender yourself. Some bartenders start out as waiters as well.

Remember to get licensed. Some states require their bartenders to be licensed in order to serve alcohol. You must find out if it is necessary in your state to get a license. You can’t start serving alcohol until you get this. If you are required to take the test, study from what you know. You can probably take the test online.

Brian has been a bartender and in beverage management for almost 16 years. He has helped hundreds of people to get bartending jobs and learn how to become a bartender.