I used to be a bartender, and depending on the place you work it can be good craic, or a freaking nightmare. I've worked in cocktail places, real ale places, busy places, quiet places...I'm sure we can drum up some good bartender stories on here.

Em I remember working at a real ale pub when I was pretty young (I won't name it in case they get the feds on me), but the policy was you are able to drink on the job, and also get paid tips in drinks. But there was no real checking of how many tips in drinks you had received, apart from a list beside the till. It was pretty easy to add 5 tips for yourself at the end of the shift, and then proceed to get blootered.

And then what was considered a 'drink' in tip terms was not really metered. So people would start pouring themselves brandies, or double vodkas, or treble vodkas etc, and that would be considered a 'tip'.

Sometimes the bar staff were totally wasted, much more than the customers. But I think this kinda added to the charm of the place, and made us all very fun rather than the usual surly barstaff.

I think it kinda stopped after I left, just because someone was apparently taking more than drinks as tips, and a lot of cash was missing from the till.