What was your first bartending job like?!
What was your first bartending job like?
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Answers:
I think I drank more than I sold and went to sleep.
Fortunately for me the locals looked after me, rang my wife to say I was OK and put me to bed in one of the rooms.
I wasn't asked to help again, but it was one of the best nights of our lives as I made a fool of myself, and even
30++ years later if I bump into those guys we have a good laugh.
well it suked because i got off on the wrong foot with my bosses wife and she accused me of stealing from her and the cops came and i went to court so im not doin it agin
No experience in this line.
all my restaurant/kitchen/bar 'first' experiences were all illegal. the companies were reputable, but i started each at an illegal age. (connections - i knew lots of restauranteurs and chefs) so in the overall business, i started at age 10.
i first started tending bar with a private catering company. i was under age(at age 18. in CA you have to be 21 to pour). we all did everything in the company , though. cooking, prepping, set up, serve (food and drink), break down, dishes, etc. it was a lot of fun. very laid back company, and usually laid back parties. everone usually ate drank and was merry (staff and guests alike).
when i was finally 'legal', i started in a steak house. i hosted, waited, and tended bar. they tried to get me in the kitchen too, since i was also an experienced cook and pastry cook. from there, i went on to the really fun bar jobs. all you bartenders know which one those are!
My first bartending job was winter 1984 at a ski resort on Mt Ruapehu New Zealand and it rocked...
I stayed in the business for six years and poured beers behind the bar in four different
continents
ps; you can only do it for so long before it gets to you, but make the most of it cause the memories are great!!
I had my own stand on the second balcony of the old Chicago Stadium during Hockey games, (Sportservice they called it).
I sold Pretzels and beer, (sometimes popcorn and beer). The first year it was Budweiser. After that , they switched to Coors.
Because it was up on the second balcony, I had one of the longest tube leading from the downstairs taproom to to my bar, so when they connected, (or changed) the kegs, I had to draw pitchers and pitchers of foam sometimes, before it came out beer.
I was required to keep that foam around in pitchers and wait for it to go flat before I poured some beers from the pitchers. Even so, I learned to pour mostly beer and not all foam. Customers refused to pay for foam, and I'd always have to make it up to them somehow. Usually with an extra quaff.
I got to see Wayne Gretzky and the Edmonton Oilers beat the Black Hawks in '86, eg. kick them out of the Stanley cup finals. Everybody was shouthing, "Edmonton sucks!!!!, and throwing things on the ice.
After a couple seasons, I acquired some faithful patrons who knew me by name. Some of them were Deadheads just like I was at the time. Often they would bring their own cups back and I'd refill them for them. (If I refilled any used cup, that meant I could pocket that money, because the whole idea was at the end of the night, they counted your gross profit and then your remaining unused cups, and that should match, or maybe you'd be short or ahead. Fill a used cup and you'd be 2 dollars ahead. No one would knew any better.. Just don't get caught. (I wouldn't try it these days with the hidden cameras and all.)
I didn't get caught, but that's mainly because I only did it a few times. On average I took home about ten extra dollars, sometimes twenty, (Whee!). Some people did much, (much), better, but then see, a lot of them got caught, too.
I preferred hockey games, because they didn't last as long as Basketball games, and the ice helped keep the stadium cooler. Basketball games were hotter and longer. Michael Jordan was around then. I missed all that, but I didn't care. I didn't ask for Hockey games, and in fact hockey games were the least popular, because they got paid more for the longer games.
I did it mainly for the money to help me through school. It wasn't a great job, just a little better than minimum wage. That's why people stole, (and no wonder.)
You ought to have asked about my second bar job, because that was the one with the REAL bar life, with the fights, etc.
Barback - refilling ice, keeping glasses clean and cold, cleaning off tables, beers stocked, garbages, recycling. Pretty boring