I am going to be getting my license for the state of Texas this next week.
Anyone have any tips words of the wise, common list of drinks to learn etc.
Bartenders little black book good idea?
PM Lor!
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Go read Lor’s journal. ALL of it. Start to now. No skipping pages.
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Use your mnemonics. They will help.
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You will be making an untold number of Grey Goose and Cran, Margaritas, and pulling beer on a draft. Make sure you can do it right.
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A long island iced tea is 5 liquors - dont let anyone tell you the Tequila is optional.
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If someone comes in and orders a 3 Wise Men or a 4 Horsemen, don’t charge them. They need it more than you need the money. Pay for it out of your tips, and then hand them a box of kleenex, a bowl of peanuts, and change for the payphone. Keep an eye on them.
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I can’t taste the alcohol is the oldest line in the book - they’ll want another shot added, for free. You will be insulted/denigrated for your mixing skills.
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Girls only care about you because you posses the Alcohol. They dont care about you for anything else. Dont kid yourself.
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Remember names and faces. Learn what they like. The people you want to befriend are not the hot girls. Their the professionals, the regulars, the blue collar workers. The ones who understand and respect, and return, kindness, generosity, and respect.
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Flashiness gets you a big tip once. Reliable, honest, quick, great service with a kind and generous smile gets you big tips - consistently.
I have some secret recipes that you might be able to beg from me…
Thanks Lilly, and I will be begging, but off to my day job right now.
I used to juggle, and looked up a site on “flair”. I laughed when they called the shadow pass and around the world hard LoL
I would suggest watching Cocktail, Coyote ugly, and other tending movies, but that would be cliche,
practice, keep some empty bottles fill partially with water to practice your juggling, avoids spilling good alcohol when you drop them, Even save the bottles fill with strong or weak tea for showing off, no one will know, unless you mess up and serve a drink from the marked bottle.
Invent or borrow a signature drink, something like Bob’s bad day, someone will come in and ask for something good I don’t care what, always have something you can offer them that is “cutting edge” or an unnamed drink you are working on.
Instant Shine, do they sell it by the Quart? 
Happy drunks are much easier to get along with than pissed, grumpy or angry drunks. everyone likes the happy bartender.
If it’s legal in Texas. Some places you’re required to break the neck of empty bottles and trash them.
good point. (around Southern Illinois they could care less)
in Texas we only have to break the Tax stamp but are allowed to have marked flair bottles.
if you ask me specific questions, i will answer them honestly.
otherwise i could literally write a book on bartending,
because I feel THE MOST QUALIFIED bartenders
are ones that have experienced bartending by THEMSELVES…
no one else employed in the building.
not even a freaking doorman or barback.
:
:
thats family for ya.
i will however address Tigerlilie’s advice one by one.
I found them inspiring.
bigtime important.
i PROVE that making people happy with TAH TAA and anol does NOT make more tips.
it just makes them happy to leave you broke.
i have listed the pheromones that give DHV , and what my percentages were while using them.
unbelieveably important.
how important can it be?
The most impressed anyone has EVER been with me was NEVER over a flair. Most can catch that crap anywhere.
I have literally had people tell me WE LOVE YOU why?
because your the first bartender that remembered our names and drinks.
promise 
after you get done studying every shooter book in the world,
90% of the bar wants a jack n coke, and rum and diet, a cran and vodka,ect.
AND…
when they do order shooters?
you wont get it right, because even if you have the correct recipe, they have it altered.
to suit them.
personal touches make money.
damn skippy.
oh-
learn to grab all the bottles and pour at once while talking to them.
we did that to save time, but for some bizzare reason they think they are getting the kitchen sink.
give it to them.
this is what they say to see if you will please for money.
never ask “whats in it for me”.
they always say a fat tip, you will never see one.
if they throw a ten at you, its the only ten they will ever give you and they want the extra shot EVERYTIME.
or your a JERK.
important.
girls do what guys do-
see if they can get the bartender.
if they CAN, they WONT go home with you.
they are just impressing their galpals/making boyfriends jealous.
If you are the one no one can get,
your a freaking GOD.
sleeping with patrons is bartender DEATH.
you will,and i promise,either get fired or quit.
just want to say first I TOLD YOU SO.
yes, and in addition to what Tigerlily says, they are looking to score drugs. you will help them do that because they are outrageously sexy.
dont be a sucker.
in addition to this,
kiss the ASS of ALL hospitality that walks through your door.
buy them drinks.
KISS THEIR ASS.
they will be the ones paying your bills and spreading the news of your glory. the bartender to the bartenders/waitresses/waiters is what every bartender aspires to.
dont believe they aspire to wait on celebs. sometimes they behave as if you are lucky to serve them. i have been there
people want to be entertained.
they want the evening to be all about them personally, and they like to impress their friends.
make them look good to those they are with, they tip for it.
nothing is more important than good service.
i made more money than the less-dressed hotchicks…
because service is more important than relying on visuals (dressing,flair,ect)
that eventually gets old and people move on…unless you make them feel like they ARE somebody.
one more note:
movies arent accurate 
happiness does not make people tip.
DHV makes them tip.
read my journal
14 years,baby. ive worked in sports bars,clubs,microbrew pubs…
best tips were in DIVES.
no lie.
no school here …ever.
i was left in the bar with the words “have at it. wow me. i’ll count your drawer in the morning.good luck”
damn Lor, that’s nuts.
I agree with the bartender suicide, I hit on a girl once, she became a waitress, I never talked about it again with her, then she asked, I said I don’t hit on or date staff. She was floored, and I have yet to get her off my back, she was pretty pissed for like 2 weeks.
I said outside of the bar, but I personally feel bars for pickup are tacky and degrading.
btw im on page 12 of like 70…
lol…
I had some bartender get upset with me over that a long island ice tea is 4 alcohols, and a texas ice tea is 5… but I told her that the LIIT is 5 and the TT is 6… below are the recipies:
Long Island Ice Tea:
0.25 oz Tanqueray® gin
0.25 oz Smirnoff® vodka No.21
0.25 oz Captain Morgan® Silver spiced rum
0.25 oz Jose Cuervo® Especial gold tequila
0.25 oz triple sec
1 oz sweet and sour mix
6 oz cola
1 wedge lemon (optional)
Texas Iced Tea:
2 oz 1800® Tequila
2 oz rum
2 oz vodka
2 oz gin
2 oz bourbon whiskey
2 oz triple sec
2 oz sweet and sour mix
Coca-Cola® added last to the pitcher
Am I wrong on this?
BTW, Texas is new for licenses, do you have a license Lor?
What are your views on holding a server license, Texas does not require it currently but if we are seller/server certified it indemnifies the bar and all the heat goes to us. Guess that is why we have to know peoples limits..
Dude Gabriel, I’m a bartender and depending on where you work, the ounces don’t really matter just as long as you have all the proper ingredients in the drink. When someone ask me for a LIT or Texas Tea I use: Vodka, Rum, Tequila, Gin, Triple Sec, coke, and sweet and sour mix. I just notice that after saying all the recipe, I never used Tequila lol and I never once had a complaint.
I work in a high volume club and I always fuck up on drinks and I never once had a complaint even though I knew I made the drink wrong, people just want their alcohol and they don’t care whats in it, most of the time they don’t even know what’s in the drinks they ask for.
I agree, but I lock my cocktails, and I can tell by the taste of a gin & tonic.
That was a Report on the news, they were talking about how to save a few $$ at a bar, and did a story about the High end Designer Vodka’s. They found most people cannot consistently tell when they are drinking Gray Goose and when they are drinking the cheap stuff when used in a mix drink. they made like 6 drinks the same, with different vodka’s and numbered the glasses, asked the people to taste each and score the drinks on their flavor, smoothness, like, and favorite. I can’t remember the labels they used but they were GrayGoose, Absolute, Smirnoff, VO and a couple others I have not seen.
Now then Straight shots it makes a big difference, most could tell their Preferred brand label when drinking straight.
All the drinks were served in the same glasses, same temperature and in random order to each contestant.
After the first few drinks most people can’t tell what they are drinking anyway.
your right, except they CAN a few hours later…
i will get a blazing migraine
(not a headache, a curl-up-in-the-fetal-position-and-pray-for-death migraine) if i drink well or call vodka.
i would LOVE to go out on ladies night and have free well all night !
i will die if do 
first off, a real bartender that has been a bartender for ANY length of time knows that every place
(including different counties within the same damn state )
makes all drinks slightly differently.
not because they are dumb,
not because they dont care,
but because its how places differentiate themselves and its done on purpose to encourage bonding.
the fact that anyone (especially another bartender) is calling you out, means they right-off intimidated by you.
jealous, right off the bat.
they should have your back,
they should be saying “really? this is how we do it, but hey you do it your way brother because i know how it is,man…”
shame on that ass.
girl or boy.
another thing, is that you need to learn to not react when someone calls you out on ANYTHING in the bar.
coolness tip #1
nomatter what, diffuse.
they want to say “your wrong!”
say
“wow, you know this guy thats old enough to be your dad taught me,
but its whatever you want,guy.
i want you to love your drink, so just tell me what you want in it,and you got it.”
change the topic from what goes in the drink to what makes him happy.
diffuse.
debating when someone is angry is tip-death.
on the license thing:
i have had repeated years of “responsible vendor training” renewal.
its a 2 hour lecture on how much alcohol someone can consume and metabolize in any given amount of time relatively safely.
its math, its tricky, its fun, and after 4 times its boring as !!!T and
we all end up drinking while the dude says yadda yadda lets sign these papers.
so technically its NOT a license, and its not enforced,
but most places want you to have it because they will back you and your knowledge up if you have to go to court.
i wanted it.
i liked being able to EXPLAIN why some dumbass wasnt getting his 4th LIIT.
its the little things in life
lol I knew the recipe to a LIIT, but I never knew triple sec was an alcohol so I always thought it was only 4. Rum, tequila, vodka, gin. Sigh, how embarrassing. For me, after 5 drinks I can’t tell from low and medium quality, but I can tell from top shelf like blue label vs black… but I’m sure most people can so thats not very impressive. LOL.