bar work new york

cena

Is the wages good in new York or even in the states. Could you live comfortable on the wages.

carlmango11

cena wrote: »

Is the wages good in new York or even in the states. Could you live comfortable on the wages.

If you're in a busy bar in New York you can make quite a lot because the Americans have a bizarre tipping system. If you're somewhere not so busy you will struggle. The employer will pay you next to nothing so if his business is doing badly, so are you.

iusedtoknow

it's pretty rough going either way.

If you get a salary, it's usually a pittance, and it just about pays your tax bill. You rely on tips. I don't know about NY, but here in SF - you usually tip $1 or $2 for a beer/wine/mixer and a $3 or $4 for a cocktail (depending on the place, it can be $1 a beer $2 a cocktail).

InTheTrees

I believe there's a seperate "minimum wage" for workers who get tips and its a pittance, maybe $2.50/hr?
you also have to pay tax on tips.

Just remember to tip in the Usa. Its not an extravagance, the staff depend on it.

iusedtoknow

InTheTrees wrote: »

I believe there's a seperate "minimum wage" for workers who get tips and its a pittance, maybe $2.50/hr?
you also have to pay tax on tips.

Just remember to tip in the Usa. Its not an extravagance, the staff depend on it.

$2.35 in NY. Fortunately...the richer the city, the better the tips.

Darren1o1

InTheTrees wrote: »

I believe there's a seperate "minimum wage" for workers who get tips and its a pittance, maybe $2.50/hr?
you also have to pay tax on tips.

Just remember to tip in the Usa. Its not an extravagance, the staff depend on it.

If the tips are bad, the employer is supposed to make up the min wage ($7.25?).

coylemj

iusedtoknow wrote: »

$2.35 in NY. Fortunately...the richer the city, the better the tips.

And in turn the lower the basic pay, an upside down economy if ever there was one. I imagine the tips in the bars and restaurants in the Hamptons in the summer are pretty high considering it's full of high rollers from Manhattan, do the employees have to pay the bosses for the jobs I wonder :rolleyes:

iusedtoknow

coylemj wrote: »

And in turn the lower the basic pay, an upside down economy if ever there was one. I imagine the tips in the bars and restaurants in the Hamptons in the summer are pretty high considering it's full of high rollers from Manhattan, do the employees have to pay the bosses for the jobs I wonder :rolleyes:

A guy in the same building as us, works in an irish bar in SF. For an 8 hour shift, he is guaranteed $35.

If the owner takes a dislike to you, you're put on a crappy shift with low tips, unless of course...you bribe him - $50 a week usually sees you put on busy nights.

carlmango11

Darren1o1 wrote: »

If the tips are bad, the employer is supposed to make up the min wage ($7.25?).

Yeah that'll never happen

Paul_Hacket

Darren1o1 wrote: »

If the tips are bad, the employer is supposed to make up the min wage ($7.25?).

Nope. This does not happen. If your tips are poor then it's just tough luck for you.

I live in NYC, barmen can make a ton here if the bar is busy. However many are not and in those place the bar keep is lucky to make $50 a night on average. This is especially true of bars in Queens and many neighborhoods in Brooklyn.

Also - what experience do you have? American's drink a lot of things beside just beer. Even in most Irish bars you'll need to know how to make all the basic cocktails. If you don't have a ton of experience and a good customer rapport you'll have a hard time getting a job anywhere here. You'd be well advised to come over on a vacation first and talk to a few owners in bars before pulling the trigger.

cena

Paul_Hacket wrote: »

Nope. This does not happen. If your tips are poor then it's just tough luck for you.

I live in NYC, barmen can make a ton here if the bar is busy. However many are not and in those place the bar keep is lucky to make $50 a night on average. This is especially true of bars in Queens and many neighborhoods in Brooklyn.

Also - what experience do you have? American's drink a lot of things beside just beer. Even in most Irish bars you'll need to know how to make all the basic cocktails. If you don't have a ton of experience and a good customer rapport you'll have a hard time getting a job anywhere here. You'd be well advised to come over on a vacation first and talk to a few owners in bars before pulling the trigger.

I was a supervisor of a local night club. I would have to brush up on the cocktails

ProudDUB

It is not a job that you can just walk into, unless you have prior experience. You may be able to talk someone into hiring you who likes your Irish accent, or how well you sell yourself in an interview. But initially, you'll be given all the crappy shifts. The big money making shifts (weekend nights) will be already locked down by regulars who will be hard to shift. I used to be a manager in an Atlanta restaurant chain. We promoted most of our bar tenders from the ranks of the waiters. The best ones could multi task brilliantly, were calm under pressure, could deal with the public very well and could sell, sell, sell. So we threw them into the bar on a quiet night to see how they did. The good ones got to stay, the crappy ones were sent back to being a waiter.

If you have worked in a night club, I'd get some experience behind the bar there, both in handling customers and making drinks. If they serve food, get experience doing that too. Even if you work as a bartender in the US, most of them are part of a restaurant too, so you'll be involved in serving food. Reading up on cocktails won't cut the mustard in the US. You'll need to prove that you can keep 10 different drink orders in your head, close out 3 different tabs, ring in table fours food, deal with table threes undercooked steaks, handle the drunk idiot at the bar who is hitting on your food runner, change 2 kegs, deal with a blocked dishwasher, restock the Budweiser, rustle up 12 more martini glasses for the hen party who want to have a James Bond themed night & deal with the manager who is giving you a hard time about bar sales being down compared to last week, ALL AT THE SAME TIME. If you can't hit the ground running do all that, you won't get enough bar work to even pay your rent, never mind live off.

cena

ProudDUB wrote: »

It is not a job that you can just walk into, unless you have prior experience. You may be able to talk someone into hiring you who likes your Irish accent, or how well you sell yourself in an interview. But initially, you'll be given all the crappy shifts. The big money making shifts (weekend nights) will be already locked down by regulars who will be hard to shift. I used to be a manager in an Atlanta restaurant chain. We promoted most of our bar tenders from the ranks of the waiters. The best ones could multi task brilliantly, were calm under pressure, could deal with the public very well and could sell, sell, sell. So we threw them into the bar on a quiet night to see how they did. The good ones got to stay, the crappy ones were sent back to being a waiter.

If you have worked in a night club, I'd get some experience behind the bar there, both in handling customers and making drinks. If they serve food, get experience doing that too. Even if you work as a bartender in the US, most of them are part of a restaurant too, so you'll be involved in serving food. Reading up on cocktails won't cut the mustard in the US. You'll need to prove that you can keep 10 different drink orders in your head, close out 3 different tabs, ring in table fours food, deal with table threes undercooked steaks, handle the drunk idiot at the bar who is hitting on your food runner, change 2 kegs, deal with a blocked dishwasher, restock the Budweiser, rustle up 12 more martini glasses for the hen party who want to have a James Bond themed night & deal with the manager who is giving you a hard time about bar sales being down compared to last week, ALL AT THE SAME TIME. If you can't hit the ground running do all that, you won't get enough bar work to even pay your rent, never mind live off.

I worked in the night club serving customers it was my baby. Restaurant was the other side which I worked in.

InTheTrees

Darren1o1 wrote: »

If the tips are bad, the employer is supposed to make up the min wage ($7.25?).

nope.

ProudDUB

cena wrote: »

I worked in the night club serving customers it was my baby. Restaurant was the other side which I worked in.

That's great. You probably have lots of insider knowledge on how the food an beverage industry works that will greatly aid your getting a job. But I'd still try and get some experience behind a busy bar, making drinks and serving customers. It will look good on your CV and job applications when you get to the US. Plus, the better you are at the actual job, the better the chance of your getting lots of the busy shifts that will pay the bills. They won't mess about in giving a newbie time to learn the ropes.

cena

ProudDUB wrote: »

That's great. You probably have lots of insider knowledge on how the food an beverage industry works that will greatly aid your getting a job. But I'd still try and get some experience behind a busy bar, making drinks and serving customers. It will look good on your CV and job applications when you get to the US. Plus, the better you are at the actual job, the better the chance of your getting lots of the busy shifts that will pay the bills. They won't mess about in giving a newbie time to learn the ropes.

The restaurant has a busy pub too. More like pub food.. We had funerals as well where they would come into the nightclub for food after the mass like dinner etc which I setup for.

Darren1o1

Paul_Hacket wrote: »

Nope. This does not happen. If your tips are poor then it's just tough luck for you.

I live in NYC, barmen can make a ton here if the bar is busy. However many are not and in those place the bar keep is lucky to make $50 a night on average. This is especially true of bars in Queens and many neighborhoods in Brooklyn.

Also - what experience do you have? American's drink a lot of things beside just beer. Even in most Irish bars you'll need to know how to make all the basic cocktails. If you don't have a ton of experience and a good customer rapport you'll have a hard time getting a job anywhere here. You'd be well advised to come over on a vacation first and talk to a few owners in bars before pulling the trigger.

I am not denying it doesn't happen but it is the law.

iusedtoknow

Darren1o1 wrote: »

I am not denying it doesn't happen but it is the law.

there are a lot of things that are the law that don't happen. The reality is that if you don't like the fact they don't make up your wages, there will be someone else happy enough, so they'll hire them

Darren1o1

iusedtoknow wrote: »

there are a lot of things that are the law that don't happen. The reality is that if you don't like the fact they don't make up your wages, there will be someone else happy enough, so they'll hire them

Agreed, I'm glad I certainly don't work in the food services.

dave2pvd

ProudDUB wrote: »

.........restock the Sweetwater 420.......

Come on now - you could have thrown in a local cue.

dave2pvd

cena, as others have indicated, it would be highly unusual for you to be given a bartender position starting out. You have to 'graduate' to it.

ProudDUB

dave2pvd wrote: »

Come on now - you could have thrown in a local cue.

I wouldn't serve that muck to my dog !

cena, I still stand by my point, that some good, hard experience behind a bar, is what you really need to enhance your chances of making it bartending in the States. Working in night clubs here, or helping out serving food, or helping funeral parties with their Mrs Doyle-esque trays of sambos is all well and good. Keeping up with the pace in a 300 seater restaurant, or a 12 screen sports bar that can comfortably hold 1000 punters, spread out over three different floors, is going to be whole different kettle of fish.

sawdoubters

unless you know some one with a bar you will not get work,you will need bar experience,you need a green card and be over 21,


http://www.indeed.com/q-Bar-l-New-York,-NY-jobs.html