Trust me, that guy is completely wrong. He is either making up the numbers completely out of thin air or he happened to have been like the literal handful of bartenders who made that kind of money.
This is literally what I was saying with it being the high end. .
Allow me to elaborate further because this is actually a moderately complex subject and requires explaining.
OK so that kind of money is only possible at maybe a few places in the major cities or 'party places'. Think Las Vegas or Scottsdale, Arizona (if you're not American that last one is a surprise but believe me it's a lot of partying there) and a tiny few other places. Why? Because the only 'establishments' (they do not prefer the word "bar") that you can make this good money just as a bartender are those super exclusive night clubs or other places where the door guys are, quite frankly, douchebags (there's no way of saying it nicer honestly), it's the "models and bottles" crowd (sometimes affectionately known as "skanks"), and you have to know someone to get in, be a super rich person (at least 8 figures networth bare minimum), be a celebrity or something like a household name NBA player, etc. Look you get the point.
Yes, correct.
It's that super materialistic, ultra douchebag, waste money like it's nothing kind of 'clientele'.
Absolutely correct.
Ok but now realize something else. That it's only certain special occasions like New Year's, Halloween, Black Wednesday (it's an informal Thanksgiving celebration for those of you not American), etc. that you can make that kind of money. In fact, on New Year's especially you might be able to make more than what he listed even!
Special occasions were popular. I hated them because people would get really drunk and then harass the staff. If it was a man, I could bribe them with a fake apology and play up their ego by saying something like, 'I was wrong, you are real, not like a lot of these losers' and then offer them a neat whisky. Most of them couldn't really handle anything more than a beer but their ego wouldn't let them decline it so they would walk away sheepishly glass in hand to not embarrass themselves by not being able to handle a 'real man's drink.' But at least you could bribe the men with false praise and a free drink to leave you alone. When a woman decided to be a jerk and harass everyone, everyone just had to deal with it until the woman got bored or too drunk to continue. Maybe if we were lucky, the host would come by and save us. The hosts were generally either distant but fair, or really nice to all the staff. But there were a couple of CEO's of somewhat famous companies who went out of their way to be nice and even made sure we got to try the food served the guests.
But you are forgetting people with old money parties and well off people who would have randomly have 'private' events. The weird "you didn't see anything" bonus was for that money crowd. Very rarely happened and sometimes it was a multi night event if they did happen. Each night would be for a different set of 'friends'. The casual friends would have average alcohol and wine in the cheaper glasses. The closer friends would have really high quality spirits and wine in $400-800 glasses. Usually we needed to report if we broke something, but when it was the expensive glassware we hid the shards in the normal trash like the normal staff did. These people were they type who went wild in private, and then spent their public life pretending to be good conservatives.
The notable private parties were some variation of a bunch of drunk young women playing tennis, pillow fighting etc while an old pervert watched. And fetishized, so all the girls would be Asian, or maybe all were wearing fishnets and high heels that night. Usually at some point I would get the signal to leave while the pervert and girls stayed behind. Most uncomfortable vibe was an ER doctor and one or two of his work friends alone at their party with some naked girls. There were mostly normal private parties, but nothing interesting happened at them.
Boat parties were the worst, and I will leave it at that.
In terms of restaurant/bar stories the only interesting thing is at the bar rarely, I was tipped with a little coke/pills. I gave that stuff to one of the servers.
I have more stories about the nonsense guests or patrons would do, but this is getting long enough.
You do not make that kind of money just every night or even most nights. In fact, once you actually look at the kind of bartenders that make this kind of money but for their whole year's income or the last couple of years they've been doing this? Ya it starts looking very much not so good...like you won't be even close to what an average doctor, investment banker, SF tech bro, or biglaw lawyer makes. Not even close. In fact, the type of bartender that this guy allegedly is...his annual income will not be that much higher than $100k. After taxes too if I'm being generous. Maybe a little more.
No, lower. I hated the life and it was only a bridge to fund my investments. I was good friends with the owner, which is how I got the jobs at the restaurant/bar or parties, so I didn't really do all of the normal grind unless there was a need. Parties paid vastly better. For a while, I ended up employing his idiot son after the son got out of rehab to return the favor. I was fairly good at the social aspect of being a bartender though, the repeat jobs for perverts with naked girls and other private parties were jobs I made through working at normal parties.
I think you didn't go far enough. The real problem with bartending is that because of the nontraditional hours and relatively high pay, a lot of people get trapped into the profession. Most professions build up their salary, income streams, and professional network as the years go by. Bartending is okay when someone is in their 20-30s. When someone is in their 40s, everyone else with a professional job is likely making more and has better hours to raise a family but the bartender can't leave their profession because they have no other experience. A friend of mine fell into this trap. In his fifties, and got tired of the life but can't do anything else. At least he was smart enough to save his money and open his own bar instead of wasting it all and only being an employee.
Also, this type of bartender absolutely cannot do this as a career. Why? You want to know the real truth? Because 9 out of 10 of them are just hot blonde chicks, LOL! No seriously.
Ya when you're 21 years old and just barely legally allowed to serve alcohol the creepy old rich guys are going to be tossing money at you like pornstars at a stripclub. more even.
When you are 41 years old and those same creepy old rich guys see another 21 year old ya who do you think they're going to prefer? Who do you think the bar owners are going to prefer to hire to make him the most money? Who do you think the social and cultural market demand of american partyism is going to prefer?
So ya I don't know why that guy is trying to make it seem like his story (if it's true even) is anything at all like the norm in America. It's not. Not even close. Making that kind of money is like the equivalent of becoming a Hollywood super-star for aspiring actors and actresses everywhere (Hint: take a look at the numbers of SAG-AFTRA members...you think all those background people in movies are just random people?)
Oh and just FYI...I had a boss who made can consistently make $30k a NIGHT...on New Year's Eve...as a doorman. But ya nobody here actually thinks that's realistic for a doorman in America right? Nobody here doesn't realize that maybe this boss of mine was like maybe one of 3 - 4 people in our entire city (a MAJOR city in America that all of you know of) who got to this point after working in the indusry for more than 10 years and even then has to give up his own New Year's Eve?
In my case mostly men actually. There were a few girls who could deal with the harassment. Yep, girls were younger than everyone else.
I said in previous posts, it was the high end. That doorman story tracks though. I have experiences from a few cities and there are always a few niches where someone is taking home $10-30,000 on a special night.
