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rent for Baltimore bartender

myturnplease — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 06:46:40 -0800

My boyfriend and I are moving to Baltimore in a couple of months. I will be going to grad school and he will look for bartending jobs. How much can we expect him to put toward rent as a working bartender in a more casual/dive bar in the city of Baltimore itself? I will be working off loans, at least in the beginning, so I will pay for my share with that money..we just don't know what kind of rents we should be looking at.

Where can I get a good absinthe cocktail in New York?

jason's_planet — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 11:10:05 -0800

Help a beer drinker expand his horizons a little bit. What's a good place to get an absinthe cocktail in Manhattan (or anywhere else in New York)? I want to try some absinthe, now that it's legal here in the States. I don't want to spend $60-80 on a bottle. Not initially, at least. I'd prefer to spend $15-25 on an absinthe cocktail. (Not much more than that.)

But for that amount of money, I want it prepared properly, by a good bartender. I tried to order one in a hipster-ish place in Queens; my order got the bartender a little flustered, probably because she wasn't familiar with that drink. (I decided to have a pint instead.) My knowledge of cocktail bars is pretty scant; I stick to beer for the most part.

So . . . if you've had the classic absinthe cocktail, with the spoon, the lump of sugar, etc. at any place in NYC where the bartenders know what they're doing, I'd love to hear some recommendations from you.

Many thanks in advance!

Do Waitstaff Hate Change?

L. Fitzgerald Sjoberg — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 08:41:15 -0800

I read a guideline in Modern Drunkard's mostly, but not entirely, tongue-in-cheek "Rules of Boozing," and it confused me.

39. Never tip with coins that have touched you. If your change is $1.50, you can tell the barmaid to keep the change, but once she has handed it to you, you cannot give it back. To a bartender or cocktail waitress, small change has no value.

This seems to imply that a waitress would rather have a dollar tip than a dollar-fifty tip, at least if you leave it on the table.

Those of you who have worked for tips, can this be true? Would you rather have a dollar bill than a dollar bill and two quarters? How about a dollar bill, a quarter, a dime, two nickels, and five pennies? Is six quarters for a beer a horrible tip, or is it laundry/parking money? How about two bucks in loose change? If you're speaking from experience rather than conjecture, it'd be nice to know.

How do I get a bartender job?

tangelo — Mon, 14 Nov 2005 11:14:19 -0800

How do I get a bartender job? I live in L.A. where bartending gigs are notoriously competitive and the turnover is low, but I really want to try my hand at it anyway. I worked in a bar for a couple years as a DJ and I think I have the right manner for it. I've been studying up on cocktails, and a bartender friend of mine is going to give me a crash course in mixology.

I've been scouring the web obsessively for information on how to break into the bartending world, and there seem to be two major schools of thought: 1) start as a barback, or 2) lie and conjure up a fake history of bar work. My bartender friends highly recommend the latter, but I'm nervous to go that route because I'm a terrible liar.

My question: if you are/were a bartender, how did you get your start?