It has been more than a year since I graduated from Bucks County School of Bartending. Top of my class of 12 or-so non-traditional students. Meeting 7 o'clock every weekday night for our education on all that is 'Bartending'. It was a blast; but was it nescessary?
Could I have gone a better route if I wanted to be a Bartender?
The Bartending School I went to did offer post graduation - job assisstance by providing a bulletein board full of restaurants and bars that had called and told the school about their job opening. I didn't use it because I was going away to college and a job around home would not be possible. Though, when looking into Bartending schools it is absolutely nescessary to make sure they will help you out with some kind of job assistance or even placement post-graduation.
I have yet to work as a bartender.
The few restaurants I did talk to about employment opportunities behind the bar said that they hired from within. They liked to start people as waiters and once they are known to be able to handle responsebility - are then put behind the bar. This point adds to the arguement that anytime you get a new job that you have to memorize new recipes and some oldies and learn - perhaps the most difficult part - your surroundings and become comfortable with your bar.
Another interesting point is that in bartending - the drinks vary from place to place. Different locales have different local drinks as well as serve variations of popular drinks. Ingredients can change significantly based on local taste.
However; the one area where employers were impressed by bartending school was in the area of background knowledge on alcohol and the various types of liquors, wines and beers. When a customer asks which liquor is sweetest; you will say rum - when they ask why - because it is made from fermeanted sugar cane, which sugar is derived from. Knowledge like that is assumed for the position of bartender and it's easier to serve your customers better having learned it.
So I wonder, could I bartend without doing the waiter thing - because of my schooling?
I believe so; employers like to know that you have a general list of popular drinks minimized. They like it when you can elaborate on commonly asked questions at the bar. Also, It is nice to be able to walk in an interview and know exactly how to whip up a Cosmopolitan using the right glasses and everything. Guess the tip is that if you do wish to go that route - apply EVERYWHERE. You can always switch jobs, once you have behind the bar experience it's easier.
Was Bartender School a Good Decision?
If you're gonna write, Have your own site
I wrote 60 articles in one month for Associated content. I made $300 writing about whatever I wanted.
Thing is... I wasn't writing for myself.
I was writing for them; and although they do offer a profit sharing program (an extra dollar for every 1,000 page views) it dosen't come close to what can happen if one of your articles on your own blog hits it big.
HERE'S THE PROOF:
My last article was about how FreeCreditReport.com screwed me over. I thought it was a fair piece; alittle life lesson and experience that can help hopefully a few people not get jipped like I did. This article blew up; as I'm writing this, that article has more than 1,000 diggs. It was on the main page for quite a bit and is currently on the TOP 10 list.
Sure, I got ALOT of flames for being foolish enough to fall for it - but what does that matter. If we cant laugh at our own mistakes then we're screwed. You have to be able to laugh at oneself once in a while.
It suffices to say that by writing that article for myself, at my own no-name, free-hosted blog - I made more then I would have with associated content.
Bottomline:
If you want to hone your craft and start drawing an audience, perhaps pay-per-article sites like Associated Content and Helium can help you out. However, the real money is in having your own blog. I could have made so much more money if those 60 or so articles I wrote for them - were instead on my own blog. However; sometimes having a blog dosen't provide consisten income - in fact, often blogs lack consistency in their monetization. In those cases It can be beneficial to continue to sell to sites like Associated Content on non-exclusive deals so you can still publish them on your blog while drawing a growing audience from AC to your blog from links on your profile.
DO NOT GO TO FreeCreditReport.Com
Yes, yes, we've all seen the commercials. The lovely jingle.. free credit report dot com!
Well the site is not lovely. I signed up for that one day. I thought I was signing up for the once-a-year free credit report that all people are legally granted. I figured this because the same credit agencies who keep track of scores and reports are the same people who get paid when you sign up to FreeCreditReport.com
Sure, when you sign up they do ask for your credit card information; but I assumed this was just one of the steps that they used to check identities. I was wrong. What they don't tell you is that after a brief trial period with the program they call "Triple Advantage" they then charge around $30.00 a month.
Sure, I called. I told them how it's bull, that they fool people by saying "free" credit report. Even more; they don't let you quit until after your trial is over - it dosen't make any sense. Whatever, I got screwed by these guys. Don't let it happen to you.
If you ARE looking for your annual free credit report that is required by law (because of how often credit report mistakes happen) then the website you want to go to, and oddly enough is run by the same credit agencies, is AnnualCreditReport.com
Good luck; happy credit reporting.
