Quote :

"it shows you can manage time well if you can work all hours of the night and your grades didn't suffer. also, if you've had the job for a while that's always a plus"

exactly. most of the jobs on me resume (aside from internships) are kind of dumb. and yes, when i have "real" jobs to put on it i probably won't keep my college jobs on it (just like my high school jobs are not on it now that i am done w/ college). but i had 3 jobs in college that WERENT internships and i think it is worth mentioning. i have my retail job on it because i have been doing that while in law school. if you can work and go to school (and have decent enough grades) it shows your work ethic or at least that you can balance your life/have a life. plus, if i didn't put my service industry jobs and my dumb administrative assistant job and my office cleaner job, i wouldn't really have anything to put down besides a few internships and like, working at the special olympics. and i'm not in a sorority so i can't put that! so THERE

and like i said, in a couple of interviews i've had, people have said they specifically pulled my resume out from the group because it had service jobs on it. whether it is because i have dealt with people, or because i know what it is like to work shitty jobs, or because i just know a lot about beer, i don't know. but whatever. not to mention you meet a lot of people working in a bar! most are not worth meeting, but i have a nice stack of business cards from working there. and it isn't because i have boobs, as mine are barely noticeable.

[Edited on June 5, 2009 at 1:20 PM. Reason : PAGE DOS of becoming a bartender might be harder than you think.]

6/5/2009 1:20:10 PM

Quote :

"but if its such an "elite" group and you have to spend years, as some have said, to get to that "status" -- what is it all for?"

I offer several answers to this.

1. Bartending is a skill that can take you anywhere in the world.
2. The bartender is at the top of the restaurant food chain. Most of us who have gotten sucked into the restaurant industry at one time or another, worked a shitty position for shitty wages on shitty shifts. It's like climbing a mountain from the bottom to the top, and usually it can only be done through hard work.
3. For long-term bartenders, you have better opportunity to find a position that will fit you. Only in the right restaurant/bar with the right bosses, managers, owners, clientele, etc. will you really enjoy bartending.
4. $$$ When it's good, it's really fucking good, and very often a lot of it is under the table or not claimed. Upper management aside, an experienced bartender is the person making the highest hourly wage when you break it down.

6/6/2009 12:49:31 AM

Upper management aside? A lot of the bartenders I know have turned down management because it's an increase in responsibility and a decrease in pay. Heck, servers have turned it down also because it's about the same money they make now but with more hours.

6/6/2009 9:33:22 AM

Very true....and if you've seen Waiting we all know what happens when you become a manager.

6/6/2009 11:11:04 AM