Bartending 101: 10 Struggles All Bartenders Have Encountered | The Odyssey Online
Start writing a post
Nightlife

10 Absolute Struggles Every Bartender Has Encountered On The Job

The keg blew again, be right back.

220
10 Absolute Struggles Every Bartender Has Encountered On The Job
Jillian Monczynski

In This Article:

For my bartenders out there, every shift is unique in and of itself. I love bartending and I think it's the best job, especially considering all the amazing regular customers I get the pleasure to talk to. There are, however, several struggles I run into on a regular shift. I've had a long weekend of work and decided this article is warranted.

Here are only 10 struggles every bartender has encountered during a shift.

1. The poor tippers

You know them, the customers who demand the most but give you the least in return for your impeccable service. Even with a smile on their face the entire time, it's still never enough to receive anything over a 15% tip, if we are lucky.

2. Blowing the keg 

It'll be the busiest of hours at the bar, pouring a beer and boom - keg blows and explodes all over me. Let me go change that, be back in 5 minutes.

3. Cleaning the bar sink

At the end of a long work shift, assorted fruits and straws are stuck in the drain. Guess who gets the pleasure of cleaning it? The bartenders!

4. Random fights in the middle of a rush 

One guy is too drunk, says something rude to another drunk guy and the rest is history. The bartenders have to scrape them out of the bar and return to work.

5. Expecting us to have eight limbs 

I will carry out all the food I'm humanly able to and there's always a customer asking where the rest of the order is. I just got here with the as much of the order I could carry, be right back with the rest!

6. The drinker's check confusion

I enjoy going out to the bars just as any other college student. Sometimes people drink too much and get angry when they believe they drank less than their rather large bill suggests. As the sober bartender, I assure you the bill is a correct statement of the beverages you've consumers.

7. Questioning pours on a tall mixed beverage

Typically, a tall mixed beverage adds more of the soda/juiced used. A tall drink isn't a double shot of the liquor in the beverage unless specified.

8. Accidentally leaving self-created tab names 

Sometimes it's easier to label a tab "bald man" until you forget to change it when he asks for the bill. Always super awkward.

9. Running out of glasses

It makes me so incredibly sad.

10. Breaking a glass in the ice drain

Nothing is worse than this! For the safety of us all, draining the sinks of all ice and thoroughly clean it takes time. This also holds us up while working. I have a tendency to drop glasses so I try extra hard to be conscious and careful.

Report this Content
This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
friends

Whether you're commuting or dorming, your first year of college is a huge adjustment. The transition from living with parents to being on my own was an experience I couldn't have even imagined- both a good and a bad thing. Here's a personal archive of a few of the things I learned after going away for the first time.

Keep Reading...Show less
Featured

Economic Benefits of Higher Wages

Nobody deserves to be living in poverty.

300016
Illistrated image of people crowded with banners to support a cause
StableDiffusion

Raising the minimum wage to a livable wage would not only benefit workers and their families, it would also have positive impacts on the economy and society. Studies have shown that by increasing the minimum wage, poverty and inequality can be reduced by enabling workers to meet their basic needs and reducing income disparities.

I come from a low-income family. A family, like many others in the United States, which has lived paycheck to paycheck. My family and other families in my community have been trying to make ends meet by living on the minimum wage. We are proof that it doesn't work.

Keep Reading...Show less
blank paper
Allena Tapia

As an English Major in college, I have a lot of writing and especially creative writing pieces that I work on throughout the semester and sometimes, I'll find it hard to get the motivation to type a few pages and the thought process that goes behind it. These are eleven thoughts that I have as a writer while writing my stories.

Keep Reading...Show less
April Ludgate

Every college student knows and understands the struggle of forcing themselves to continue to care about school. Between the piles of homework, the hours of studying and the painfully long lectures, the desire to dropout is something that is constantly weighing on each and every one of us, but the glimmer of hope at the end of the tunnel helps to keep us motivated. While we are somehow managing to stay enrolled and (semi) alert, that does not mean that our inner-demons aren't telling us otherwise, and who is better to explain inner-demons than the beloved April Ludgate herself? Because of her dark-spirit and lack of filter, April has successfully been able to describe the emotional roller-coaster that is college on at least 13 different occasions and here they are.

Keep Reading...Show less
college
Pinterest

For many undergraduates across the nation, the home stretch has begun. Only one more semester remains in our undergraduate career. Oh, the places we will go! For the majority of college seniors, this is simultaneously the best and worst year out of the past four and here’s why.

1. The classes you are taking are actually difficult.

A schedule full of easy pottery throwing and film courses is merely a myth on the average campus. With all of those prerequisites for the upper-level courses and the never-ending battle you fight each year during registration for limited class seats, senior year brings with it the ability to register for the final courses you need to fulfill your major. Yet, these are not the easy entry level courses. These are the comprehensive, end of major, capstone courses designed to apply the knowledge from all your previous courses, usually in the form of an extensive research paper or engaged learning project. The upside is you actually probably really enjoy these classes but alas there is no room for slackers here.

Keep Reading...Show less

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Facebook Comments