Job Responsibilities
The main responsibility is serving customers. This involves
making cocktails and other drinks as well as serving food,
clearing ashtrays and cash handling.
At TGI Fridays it is also the responsibilty of the bartender to
entertain guests. This can be done in many ways, but all
bartenders are encouraged to learn basic working flair (bottle
juggling) and also some simple bar tricks and bets. But other
forms of entertainment that I've seen has been magic, juggling,
jokes, dancing and singing. My own skill is escapology, which
meant at some point in the evening I would get on the bar top
and escape from straitjackets and handcuffs etc. I can also
juggle and flair, which meant I could add a little variety to my
shows. As well as entertaining guests, it also gave them a
reason to tip you more money. The better you get the more money
you can make. Of course you will have to find the balance
between doing tricks and telling jokes and making drinks and all
the other duties that a bartender has to do. It is no good
spending 5 minutes making a single drink because you are
throwing bottles around if the bar is 5 deep and people aren't
being served, after all the main reason people go to a bar is to
get a drink.
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Job Requirements
There are no formal requirements to become a bartender.
Although, if you've never had any experience at working a
cocktail bar you will probably end up working as a barback first.
Once you've done your training as a barback then you will start
your training to become a bartender. In TGI Fridays there are
many levels to attain, the first is basic certification through
to Master Bartender.
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Uppers
The best bit for me was the performing involved. I love doing tricks and it gave
me the perfect platform to practice what I love to do. The money is also pretty
good, you can earn an extra ??100 to ??250 per week on top of your basic wage if
you're good and you get the right type of guests in.
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Downers
The worst bit is the long and unsocial hours. if you're a family
man then bartending is definately not the job for you.
It is also hard during slow times of year. Here you can end up
losing money. You may also find that the manager will send you
home only part way through a shift, which means you will have
paid to get to and from work and only earn a couple of hours
money.
This means you will have to learn to budget during times of
plently and not assume the money will be there all the time.
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Lifestyle
Extremely long hours and late nights in smoky bars. You will NOT see daylight
during the winter and this can be very depressing. You will, however, get to meet
up with lots of different people (including some very famous people).
You will also find that you will socialise with those that work with you. We
regularly went out for meals and clubing as either a whole store or as just the
bar team.
Sometimes you will also have to get in early for a stock take after you've had a
late finish.
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Compensation
The basic wage for a bartender is national minimum wage, which
is somewhere around ??5.00 per hour. As you move up the ranks
towards master bartender you will begin to earn more money. In
TGI Fridays this is about ??7.00 per hour at the moment.
As well as your wages you will also get tips. These will turn
you wages in to a livable salary. You can expect to earn ??50 a
week minimum in tips rising to anything around ??200 per week.
Often I was able to live on my cash tips and leave my wages in
the bank. This helped during slow times of year, when tips were
low and the number of hours I was working were cut.
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Advice to Jobseekers
I would suggest anyone wanting a career behind the bar to just
go for it. It is great fun and even if you decide to leave and
become something else, the knowledge you gain working as a
bartender will be extremely useful indeed!
Once you have a position behind the bar, try not to get caught
up in the flair side of things. Learn your cocktails first and
then everything else. Even if you are a barback, get yourself a
cocktail manual and start learning them. That way you won't be
stuck as an uncertified bartender for long and will be able to
earn better money, plus you will be able to start playing with
the fun stuff sooner rather than later.
Learn as much as you can. Go on specific courses. I've done ones
in vodka, brandy, whisky, cigars and a basic wine course.
This makes you a better bartender and able to advise your guests
better. Thus making them more likely to tip.
Finally, learn other stuff not related to bartending. Things
like hotel and taxi phone numbers, where the nearest cinema and
bowling is, or even where you can get watches and other gifts.
Anything you can learn about the local area will come in use.
Oh, you might want to have a look at learning the basics of a
number of foreign languages. I found things like "do you have a
light?" or "where is the toilet" very useful. Even if you can't
reply, you can at least point.
Most importantly, HAVE FUN!!!
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