For many students working on campus at places such as the Rieber
Hall front desk or the cash
registers in Ackerman Union, bartending is the elusive college
job that means good hours, good money and a great work
atmosphere.
As many current and would-be bartenders know, landing a job at a
favorite bar is almost as difficult as managing a 4.0 grade point
average. Due to high demand and strictly enforced liquor laws, bar
owners are careful about whom they hire.
There are over a hundred bars, pubs and lounges in Los Angeles,
many of which attract droves of people night after night, feature
great live bands, and display sporting events on giant
plasma-screen televisions.
Many bartenders say bartending and college are a perfect fit and
that the job is an opportunity for students to make money and have
fun.
“It’s not a job where you’re always watching
the clock, and every day is payday,” said Tony Creamer,
veteran bartender and director of the International School of
Bartending, a statewide bartending school with a few locations in
Los Angeles.
Indy Hurt is a third-year geography transfer student who works
at Sing Sing, a high volume nightclub in the large-scale shopping
and entertainment center in Orange County known as the Irvine
Spectrum.
Bartending four nights a week allows Hurt to provide for
herself. She gets paid minimum wage but covers her living expenses
and some tuition costs with the tips she makes.
Bartending often allows students to work hours that don’t
conflict with classes. But the long night hours can be
exhausting.
“Since I live 50 miles from campus, some days I have to
wake up at 5 a.m. in the morning, go to school, and then go to my
job. I usually end up … getting home at 3 a.m. in the
morning.” Hurt said.
Along with battling long hours, other technical and
communication skills are necessary to be a bartender.
Aside from knowing how to mix drinks efficiently and quickly,
bartenders need to be able to finesse unruly customers and
“deal with people that want you to be their therapist,”
said Orit Brogardi, director of National Bartenders, a bartending
school in West Los Angeles.
Bartenders are expected to encourage customers to buy expensive
drinks while paying attention to their every need.
“The sign of a good bartender is when they place a napkin
on the counter when you walk up. … It shows that they’re
friendly and that they want your business,” Creamer said.
While bartending school often seems like the fastest and easiest
path to securing the perfect college job, many bartenders and bar
owners say starting as a hostess or bar-back can be more
rewarding.
Students who apply for menial jobs at a bar or club can slowly
work their way up the rungs of the bartending hierarchy.
“If you show you’re responsible and you pay your
dues, … I can almost guarantee you’ll become a
bartender,” Hurt said.
The two most important qualities bar owners look for when hiring
are experience and responsibility, said Kelly Emeechan, manager of
Dublin’s Irish Whiskey Pub, an established bar on Sunset
Boulevard.
Many bar owners say they would prefer to hire a student with no
bartending experience who has been working in the food and club
industry for five years over a student who recently graduated from
bartending school.
“When you’re a bartender, you deal with people that
are drunk all the time, and only experience can allow you to deal
with those people,” Emeechan said.
California’s liquor laws are strict and heavily enforced,
which means bar owners must be careful when hiring. Bar owners
realize that many young people do not have the ability to deal with
stressful situations and offensive customers.
If a bartender sells alcohol to a minor or allows customers to
go over their limit, the establishment is responsible, meaning a
bartender can easily cause a bar to lose its liquor license and run
the business into financial ruin.
Hurt has worked in the food service industry since she was 15,
and during the past few years she’s held bartending positions
at a number of establishments.
After working at one of the most established nightclubs in
Orange County, Hurt said bartending hasn’t always been kind
to her. In light of the fickle nature of the restaurant and
nightclub industry, many bartenders find it hard to find a stable
and lasting position.
“I used to work the nightclub circuit, and at one point I
was so broke I signed up to be a test subject for clinical trials
at (UC Irvine),” Hurt said.
Attending one of the numerous bartending schools in the LA. area
probably won’t open the door to working at a well-established
bar such as Maloney’s, but it might be the first step.
Both the International School of Bartending and National
Bartenders boast a high success rate for placing their students.
But often, the offered positions are not necessarily ones students
would want.
“You could possibly get a job at a catering company or
country club, but don’t expect to get a job on Sunset,”
Hurt said.
Nevertheless, bartending schools can teach students important
tools and tips required for being a good bartender, including the
correct way to make a martini stirred, not shaken.
When a bartender is on the clock and there isn’t a
measuring cup handy, knowing how to mix a drink just by looking
becomes important, and this skill can be learned at bartending
school, Brogardi said.
“We cover numerous topics, including the drink dictionary
and answer questions such as why gin smells so sweet … because it
comes from the juniper berry,” Creamer said.
Bartending school is a quick fix and could help an aspiring
bartender get a job, but working from the bottom up can result in a
more secure and lasting position.
“In the many years I’ve been working in the food
industry, I’ve never once hired someone who’s gone to
bartending school,” said Steve McKinley, manager of
Chili’s in Westwood.