
Originally Posted by
Jasep
Why is being a bartender a bad thing?
The money can be sporadic. I know, I started off by bragging about how great the money is, but sometimes it's not. Sometimes you get stiffed on tips. Sometimes the bar is slow. Sometimes your (cash register) drawer comes up short and you have to make up the difference out of your pocket. We used to joke that when you're a bartender so many things (like good customers and good bands) make the difference between lobster and Ramen noodles.
The hours suck. If you plan on being a bartender, plan on working every weekend and holiday for the rest of your life. (That's when the bar business happens, baby!) Your social life turns into after-hours poker games and Blind Pig parties, if you have a social life at all. You'll find it hard to date someone who works a day job. If you have a family, get used to coming home for about three hours of sleep before it's time to get up and put the kids on the school bus.
You have to deal with some tough people. Anyone who's ever had to work directly with the public knows that it can be tough. Now just imagine magnifying that because the public you deal with is drunk! An old bartender's joke is, "What's the difference between a bartender and a toilet seat?" Answer: The toilet seat only has to deal with one asshole at a time.
Many people find bartending to be "disreputable". Even though most bartenders work their butts off, the general public doesn't consider tending bar to be a real job. There were many times when a new customer would ask me what I did for a living, and I would think, "Um, I'm doing it right now..." but I would say, "Neurosurgery. I just tend bar because I love people!" Also, a lot of bartenders are either alcoholics or frequently drunk, so all bartenders automatically get lumped into that category.
You get paid about half of what minimum wage is. Granted, you make up for that with your tip money, but you need to be really good with sticking to a budget. Imagine having a paycheck for a 40 hour week that totals around $130 and then having $600+ cash on hand for the same week. Budget, budget, budget!
No pension/ no benefits. Most places, with the exception of chain restaurants, don't offer a pension plan or benefits. (Except in Las Vegas, where food service workers and bartenders are unionized.) If a plan is offered, it usually has an almost prohibitively high cost and minimal coverage. As a matter of fact, your "paycheck" won't cover it, and you'll literally be paying your premiums out of pocket.
It's hard to transition to anything outside of food service. Once you've been in food service for a couple years, you're kind of stuck there. Bartending skills pretty much only transfer to another bartending job. Any job that you could get outside of food service that doesn't require previous work experience probably won't pay enough for you to be interested.
Bar owners and managers can be unscrupulous. Oh, the stories I could tell!