Summary

The article outlines the drawbacks of working as a bartender, including the sacrifice of personal time, challenging customers, workplace drama, and lack of benefits.

Abstract

The author of the article discusses the less glamorous aspects of bartending, emphasizing that despite its perks, the job often requires working during evenings and weekends, leading to missed social events. The article also points out that while most customers are pleasant, the demanding yet stingy ones can be particularly trying. Additionally, the restaurant and bar industry is depicted as rife with interpersonal drama, which can be avoided by maintaining a neutral stance. Lastly, the absence of employee benefits, such as health insurance and financial planning support, is highlighted as a significant long-term issue, especially in the U.S. context.

Opinions

The author feels that constantly missing family and friend gatherings due to work hours is a significant downside to bartending.
There is a noticeable frustration with customers who are both demanding and cheap, as they expect a high level of service without proper compensation.
The author expresses a sense of exasperation with the prevalent drama in the restaurant industry, comparing it to a soap opera.
The lack of benefits in the industry is seen as a major concern, particularly for those in the U.S. who must navigate the complexities of health insurance and financial planning on their own.
The author advises that to make bartending truly profitable, one must exercise financial discipline and resist the temptation to increase spending as income rises.
Despite the cons, the author suggests that with careful planning and self-control, bartending can be a rewarding job with significant savings potential.

The Cons of Working As a Bartender

Not everything is flowers and rainbows.

Like any job in the world, bartending has its cons.

The Perks of Working as a Bartender

These will vary from place to place. But overall, bartending can be a great side job.

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Let’s start with the obvious one.

You work weekends and, most likely, evenings.

I’ve had to say no to many events I’ve been invited to by either my family or my boyfriend’s family.

I work weekends and evening hours, basically when everyone who has a nine-to-five is available to get together.

Having to constantly say no to family events or invitations from friends sucks. It makes you feel like you’re missing out and being left out unfairly.

However, I will say I’ve grown to appreciate those invites and moments a lot more when I do get the opportunity to attend because it is rare these days.

The really cheap customers are always the most demanding.

I will say that, for the most part, customers are nice, respectful, and reasonable.

But funny enough, it so happens that when you have a cheap customer, they also happen to be super demanding.

They want their drinks and their food adjusted five different ways, and after you do all this work to satisfy them, they don’t tip you.

I highly dislike dealing with these kinds of people. They make me hate the service industry.

Fortunately, I don’t encounter them that often.

The restaurant/bar industry is full of drama.

This has always been a factor no matter where I’ve been (I’ve worked in three restaurants).

There’s always a group of coworkers you hear drama about. Or everyone is involved in some way — this happens when a restaurant/establishment is small.

I’ve never, in my life, encountered as much drama at a workplace as in the restaurant industry.

I’ve heard things from girls breaking up with their boyfriends and getting even to people getting into car accidents drunk to employees getting involved intimately with managers…. The list goes on.

Working in the restaurant/bar industry is like living in a soap opera.

Fortunately, if you keep yourself out of the group of people who are constantly involving themselves in troublesome situations, your life will be pretty peaceful.

You will just hear A LOT about what everyone else does.

Lastly, no benefits.

Perhaps the most impactful, long-term problem the restaurant industry has is that you will not be offered benefits.

Unless you become a salaried employee, like a manager. And even then, you may not get anything.

As lucrative as working as a bartender or waiter is, there’s still the issue of finding your own health insurance and doing your own financial planning.

If you live in the U.S., you know how annoying this process is with health insurance. Fortunately, I was able to sort that out with help from friends and family.

The financial planning aspect is left 100% up to you. If you live in the U.S., it’s already that way anyways, so not really sure it makes that much of an impact these days.

I wanted to leave you with one last note to wrap up these blogs about bartending.

In order for this to be truly lucrative, meaning you keep a good amount of money in your pocket, you have to be disciplined.

The reason why I was able to amass significant savings (read other blog here) is because I followed a plan. I gave myself a maximum I could spend.

Basically, I didn’t inflate my lifestyle because I started making more money — I tried to keep my expenses as low as possible but still being reasonable with treats here and there.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, are the cons of working as a bartender/in the restaurant industry.

If you’ve read the blog I wrote about the pros or perks, weigh them and see if this is something you’d like to give a try.

If you’ve worked in the restaurant/bar industry before, would you add anything else to this list? Let me know in the comments.