Sounds to me like he is just trying to increase his stable of waitresses.
What he told you is dead wrong. How can you learn to be a bartender of you
spend all your time out in the dining room? I would kindly explain to this
guy that you would rather have a job behind the bar and if he is unwilling to
provide that, look elsewhere.
> Ok, if you didn't know, i'm 20 years old, but I am seriously looking
> at becoming a bartender. I don't have the money, and I don't think I
> really want to actually go to a bartending school. I've read through
> past posts here about bartending schools vs. becoming a barback or a
> cocktail waiter/ress, so I know pretty much whats going on with
> that.
>
> Anyways, I recently found out that in Indiana (of course thats where
> I live) you only have to be 19 to serve alcohol; I had thought it was
> 21 so I had pretty much abandoned the thought until I turned 21. Ok,
> anyways, I had a first interview for a restaurant/sports bar that was
> fairly new and was hiring. I wrote on the application that I wanted
> to be a barback, and explained that I thought it would be a good way
> to gain experience in bartending - mainly because I see a lot of
> people here say its one of the best ways to go about it. Well, this
> guy (who was also the owner) started saying that he NEVER had a
> bartender who started out as a barback turn into an even mediocre
> bartender...He said the best bartenders he had started out as
> waitresses ... It just kind of seemed like he was trying to get me to
> become a food runner or a waitress instead of a barback, because I
> see so many people on this forum say being a barback gives you good
> experience of how the bar is run, etc. stuff like that ...
>
> Ok well I guess my question is, lol, does anyone else think like
> this? This is the first guy I've ever encountered to say that being
> a barback isn't a good way to start out on the road to becoming a
> bartender...
>
> I dunno, I just had to gripe ^_^
>
> Cheers~