I was a bartender for five years in College Station. Hard work, late hours, decent pay, lots of puke, lots of fights, lots of ass.... If you want to become a bartender you should probably start out at the door if you have no experience, unless you are really lucky. You need to be certified by TABC to actually serve alcohol, a bar will usually pay the fifty bucks or whatever it is to get you certified. But if you really want to become one just go to a bar you like, ask them if they are hiring, they will probably want to start you at the door, take that job because you will likely become a bar back in about six months and then about six months to a year later depending on the need, you could likely start bartending. I have a friend who is a bartender at the Drink in Austin and he makes 60,000 a year. I made about 30,000.
A friend of mine went to bartending school in Florida. He never ended up working as a bartender anywhere after that, though. Here's an article about my friend and his bartending school experience from the Broward-Palm Beach New Times newspaper (a sister publication of the Houston Press): http://www.newtimesbpb.com/issues/2001-08-09/news2.html/1/index.html
I bartended for many years.....mostly in Nacogdoches, but I did a few years at Dave & Busters. I got my start at Steak & Ale in Windsor Plaza. I was waiting tables there, and they were looking for someone to take the slow Sunday shift. I didn't make much money, but I got my foot in the door. After that, it was easy. Restaurants are the easiest place to start I would imagine.
Depends on the bar but I wouldn't make a habit of hooking girls up with free drinks or otherwise you will become known as "the guy who gets us free drinks" and you will find those guys all across the country not getting laid.
Working in a bar over here is OK, but you won't earn much money, and the hours can be cr*ppy. Don't worry about bar-tending school, or anything like that, most place don't expect a high degree of skill. The hardest thing you'll probably be asked to do is hand-pull a pint of bitter (which is easy with a bit of practice). Some places will want experience, but some won't, so once you've got your first job, you should be fine. Picking up girls? Not too sure. I only did it for about six months, and since I didn't do many shifts, I often got stuck doing Saturday nights, which was way too busy to chat to women. Then again, maybe I don't have the patter.
