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But bartenders have a lot more on their plates than just pouring drinks. They have to be able to deal with the stress of serving an unrelenting wall of customers and they have to put up with all of the stupid things we won't remember saying in the morning. It's their job to make sure the party runs smoothly, and tonight they're calling the shots.
'everybody loves the bartender'
It might be one of the most recession-proof As long as there are reasons to drink—and of several?—there will be a need for people and serve us alcohol. Enter bartender—the intriguing character working behind the scene in their own right, bartenders are the rock star (and Saturday and Sunday and Monday ...) n
"My graduates tell me they love the job because it's the only job they don't dread going to work at," says Beth Merrill, director for the Kansas City, Missouri, branch of Professional Bartending Schools of America."You walk in that door and everybody's happy to see you because everybody loves the bartender. You have a good time."
Bartenders exude a sense of mystery and charisma. They're untouchable, and, let's be honest, they just seem a hell of a lot cooler than the rest of the mere mortals standing in line for our
obs in America who can't think who pour, mix mysterious andes. Celebrities of the Friday night bar scene
vodka tonics every Friday night.
Merrill's students must learn to accurately mix 175 different drinks from memory to graduate from bartending
school. They also learn to free pour alcohol without using measuring jiggers and they memorize basic product information about different types of alcohol so that they can substitute brands and improvise when necessary.They learn how to spot fake IDs and how to judge the intoxication level of customers."You have to grow another arm, an eye in the back of your head, another ear;" Merrill says. "You have to be able to put a lot of pieces together and do a lot of things at once. It's not just standing there making drinks."
At bars that cater to a mostly college-aged crowd, bartenders generally get the job by working their way up from a different position. Bartenders at upscale restaurants say that taking a class like Merrill's, though, is necessary."There's no reason to go to bartending school if you're going to work at a bar where you just make rum and Cokes all night," says junior Logan Sack, a graduate of Professional Bartending Schools of America."Working at a place where you're a legit bartender, that means something. It definitely says you know what's going on."
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January 15,2009
Photo by Ryan McGeeney
Matt Units, 2008 graduate and Louse's West portentier, lost given a drunk customer home in the past. "He's a gigantic" Units says. "It's like one of your friends—our caree of them and they take care of you."