Bartenders

[ocnblu]

I've noticed this for years, but thought I'd pass it along for anyone who might be interested. If you are straight, young and cute, you can make a killing as a bartender working in a gay bar. I got to talking to a 25-year old guy (I mentioned I am a car nut, and he is too) who went to college, graduated with a degree in finance, yet enjoys far higher pay and better hours slinging drinks than he could in the finance racket. In fact, the whole bartending staff at this particular establishment (the Blue Moon in Rehoboth, DE) is straight. I'd say they're being very smart to use their good looks working a fun job, making lots of money toward a secure future.

Thanks for the ginger ale and grenadine, bud. I'll be back to see ya sometime this summer.

[§carlet §wordfish]

What if you're not straight? Do they discriminate based on orientation?

[FAPTurbo]

My brother is going to be taking bartending courses, and I've considered it myself. I've heard the same thing, and I wouldn't mind working at a gay bar, especially because you may actually get to talk to people, as opposed to having screechy 19 year old girls in your face for a good eight hours.

[Nick]

I was actually just thinking about going to bar-tending school, if anything, for the fun of it. Interesting note about the gay-bar part. I wouldn't mind working in a gay bar, and I imagine tips would be pretty good.

[intrigued]

batending can really suck somtimes. Most places wont let you work on good nights at first unless they break you in as a promotional bartender who canbring a big crowd. This is easy to do for a few nights but eventually your friends get tired of coming out night after night to support you. If you make the transition from promotional/guest bartender to staff bartender and get gaurenteed shifts you usually need to pick up a crappy shift or two with the good ones, nothings worse than a sunday, monday or tuesday unless there are big sporting events going on.

Also the econemy is really affection how often people go out and spend money and how much they tip. I used to make 300 or so on a "primetime night" thursday-saturday at the places I've worked at. the last month I was bartending (feb 09) I was lucky to be making over 150, regardless of how crowded the bar was.

Then there is the ugly side of bartending, people throwing up at bars and having to clean it up, cleaning the place at 4 AM after closing before you can go home. The better the night business and tip wise the worse the mess is at the bar.

Dealing with drunk assholes who start fights and underage kids who give you attitude.

Don't get me wrong it can be a ton of fun, especially if all your friends are out and your drinking too, but it can get real old realy fast with all the bull $h! and working 4-5 nights a week at times.

It's not always the sexy, fun, easy money job it is cracked up to be.

[trinacriabob]

I've noticed this for years, but thought I'd pass it along for anyone who might be interested. If you are straight, young and cute, you can make a killing as a bartender working in a gay bar. I got to talking to a 25-year old guy (I mentioned I am a car nut, and he is too) who went to college, graduated with a degree in finance, yet enjoys far higher pay and better hours slinging drinks than he could in the finance racket. In fact, the whole bartending staff at this particular establishment (the Blue Moon in Rehoboth, DE) is straight. I'd say they're being very smart to use their good looks working a fun job, making lots of money toward a secure future.

I didn't know what to expect with this one. Gee, some things never change.

I'll comment about the college thing. A couple of things: business is the major for the masses...unless it's specific, like accounting or IS or a niche like hotel management. Guilty as charged. It was what I majored in. One friend said that a lot of business majors don't know what they want to do, but don't want a liberal arts degree, so they land in the business school. Also, those who flunk out of the sciences or engineering go to business, not the other way around. So what happens later? The beautiful people, with their low GPAs, get a job in sales or financial services...because attractive people like to hire other attractive people. That's right. I know that some of the "way cool" full-of-$h! people in my class eclipsed me monetarily (and I graduated cum laude) because they became stockbrokers or sold real estate in SoCal at the right time. I wouldn't want my livelihood to be rooted in being glib and superficial.

My advice to anyone -- if you're going to bust your ass to get that high GPA to get to where you want to be, do it early on (in undergrad) because it will be behind you and you can then do what you want (doctor, lawyer, whatever). I went to grad school in a completely different field. The people I most admire are 2 that I know of that finished the business degree, did the coat-and-tie crap for a couple of years, did not like it, backed up to take the pre-reqs and are now doctors. Both of these people were really smart, but not really business types. They were smart enough to take a more "secure" path.

I seriously doubt that anyone who bartends (or who works in a casino or entertainment venue) has the discipline to sock away a lot of money for a great future. I may be wrong, but that's generally not the profile.

[David]

Very interesting take on this night time career. Personally I like my nights to sleep and enjoy the early morning hours.

[daves87rs]

Very interesting take on this night time career. Personally I like my nights to sleep and enjoy the early morning hours.

Me too....

[caddycruiser]

Ahh, yes, very true. It's like any "specialty" market in that, if it works for you, it really does.

I'm finally back to exploring my new career options, so maybe... Yeah, probably not.