PathSource - BARTENDER: You Have To Be Safe & Efficient To Make Money

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BARTENDER: You Have To Be Safe & Efficient To Make Money

About this video

Nick, a bartender, spends his typical day getting the bar set up before people get in by cutting fruit, washing glasses, and cleaning, as well as making drinks when the bar patrons arrive. He tells us that when it is busy, he can make between 800 to 1,000 drinks a day, which actually requires you to be in good shape because you have to be able to run and move very quickly while being safe.

Job Title: Bartender

Job Summary: Bartenders

Job Description

Bartenders mix and serve drinks to customers directly or through wait staff. Bartenders fill drink orders either directly from patrons at the bar or through waiters and waitresses who place drink orders for dining room customers. Bartenders must know a wide range of drink recipes and be able to mix drinks accurately, quickly, and without waste.

On-the-Job Training

Short-term on-the-job training

Additional Info

Some bartenders acquire their skills through formal training, either by attending a school for bartending or a vocational and technical school with bartending classes. These programs often include instruction on state and local laws and regulations, cocktail recipes, proper attire and conduct, and stocking a bar. The lengths of programs vary, but most courses last a few weeks. Some schools help their graduates find jobs.

Quick Facts

Average salary

National Statistic Change Location

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$10,000 - $25,000

Projected Job Growth

5 to 10 percent

Typical schedule

Full-time, Part-time

Typical workplace

Travel, Home, Military, Indoor

Personal Qualities

People skills, Problem solving skills, Strength/stamina, Teamwork

Educational Path

Education Requirement

High school degree

Recommended Education Degree

High school degree
Associate degree

Recommended Majors

Culinary Arts
Hospitality

Related Careers

Cashiers
Flight Attendants
Food and Beverage Serving and Related Workers
Food Preparation Workers
Waiters and Waitresses

View Detailed Career Data

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For a small fee, we offer transcriptions in different languages, making PathSource a great tool for English Language Learners. This feature is currently available for customers in the education field only.

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P3.instances[0].transcript.parse_transcript_data({"transcript":"My current job is a bartender. I work at Pier 39. So I'm actually doing this interview right outside of my work. I just got off. A typical day varies on the time of year that it is. In the summertime, it's going to start off early in the morning because I work early in the morning most of the time. So I get in usually at about 8:00 in the morning. I do a lot of cleaning. I wash a lot of glasses. I cut fruit. There's a lot to actually get a bar set up before people actually get there. So half of the day-- Not really half of the day like hour-wise, but amount of work that I do --comes in the hour to hour and a half before people actually come into the bar. Once people start coming in, I make a lot of drinks. In the summertime, I make between 800 and 1,000 drinks a day, which is a lot. So you've got to be in really good shape. You've got to be able to run and move very quickly without actually like tripping and hurting yourself because one little thing, like twisting an ankle, can cost you a day. And if you do it bad enough, it can cost you a month of work. So you've got to be able to be safe and efficient at the same time. Because if you're not efficient, you're not going to be making money. If you're not safe, you're not going to be making money. So there's a lot of safety involved with it. And just little things, like cutting your fingers, can really affect a lot of your daily operations. I work in a restaurant bar, so you've got waitresses ringing in drinks. And you've got to make those too. And just make drinks, drinks, drinks all day. And then, if you're working the night time, it's a lot of cleaning. You do probably two to three hours of cleaning a night. So when people leave at whatever time, you plan on being there for an extra two to three hours depending on how dirty the bar is. You want to have a perfectly clean bar every day at the beginning of the day and every night at the end of the night. I've been bartending on and off for the last 10 years. And when I graduated high school, I was pursuing a career in professional motocross racing, and I needed to be able to go to tracks during the day and go to the gym during the day and everything like that. So I need a night job. My uncle got me the job at a restaurant, and I started out as a waiter there. And I was terrible at it actually. And I started bartending as soon as I turned 21 just because I was still in that line of work. When I first started bartending, I didn't know how much cleaning was involved, I guess, how mean and rude people can actually be to somebody. People can think because you're giving them something, because you work for customer service that they can just treat you however they want. And it's something that you have to be able to shake off. If you take it personally and take it seriously for too long, then you're just going to have a bad day. And the amount of money you make as a bartender depends on you. It doesn't depend on the people that come in. It doesn't depend on the hours that you work. It depends on your mood and whether you can, like I said, you make your own money in this job. It's a very self-motivated job. If you're not self-motivated, you're not going to make any money at it. Here's your drink, here's the bill. Dollar a drink, you're lucky if you get that. If you're not nice to people, especially if people are being mean to you, you've got to just deal with it. And I didn't know how bad that was. ","file":{"id":360327,"video_id":"3230316998001","name":"2084-Nick-p-Bartender","duration":193725,"thumbnail_url":null}});