DrinkWire is Liquor.com’s showcase for the best articles, recipes and reviews from the web’s top writers and bloggers. In this post, Annie Button offers some industry advice.

If you’re looking for a temporary or part-time job, chances are you’ve considered bar work. From the outside it seems like easy money and a pretty sociable way to pass the time and, besides, you’re at the pub half the time anyway – so you might as well get paid for it, right?

It’s easy to think this if you’ve never worked in a bar, but if you say “yes” to any of the points below, you might be better suited to something else. Check out the millennial’s guide to the hospitality industry, and see how you fare with these ten pointers as to whether it is for you or not:

1. You think it seems cool

Maybe you’ve been inspired by mixologists flipping cocktail shakers around, or the team of trendy twenty-somethings behind the bar at your local. Whatever the reason, lots of people have the misconception that working behind a bar is glamorous.

Your first shift will bring you back down with a bump, as you will almost certainly be bar-backing in order to learn the ropes. That means squeezing through the crowds to collect dirty glasses, keeping the dishwasher constantly running and being shouted at from every direction.

Even once you’re past that stage, expect to leave work every night covered in beer and sweat.

2. You like routine

If you’re the type of person that likes predictability in their life schedule, stay away from bar work. Although some managers are kind enough to try and put you on the same hours and shifts each week, there’s never any guarantee.

You’ll also be constantly battling people ‘no-showing’ and asking for shift-swaps at the last minute, usually through the medium of scrawled notes on the rota, or anonymous texts.

Be prepared to become practically nocturnal due to your shifts not ending until 4 am and don’t ever expect to make social plans on Friday or Saturday nights.

3. You don’t like people

Bar staff get to interact with lots of people – including louts, idiots and creeps – who are nearly all under the influence of alcohol. Some customers are absolutely charming and make every shift worthwhile, but do you know what alcohol does to weirdos? It makes them weirder.

Most bartenders become gradually more cynical, which is why so few people stick it out as a long-term career. If you already know that you have a low tolerance for even mildly unpleasant people, there’s probably not much point in even getting started.

4. You’re not very assertive

As they say, with great power (serving alcohol), comes great responsibility (doing it legally). Minors, drunk people and other customers that are trying to flout your bar’s licensing terms rarely like taking “no” for an answer, so you’ll have to be good at standing your ground.

5. You don’t drink

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with being tee-total, but a lot of customers are going to expect you to be able to help them choose their drink. You wouldn’t work in a gym if you didn’t like exercise, or a butcher’s if you were a vegetarian, after all.

If you don’t know anything about a particular type of beverage, you’re seriously going to have to learn as much as you can and blag the rest – otherwise, you’re (unfortunately) likely to lose their respect.

6. You never turn down a free drink

The issue of drinking goes both ways. Lots of nice customers are going to offer you free drinks, so if you can’t say “no”, bar work is going to be bad news for your health. Different bars have different policies about if/when/how staff can accept these drinks, but if you are already thinking about “getting away” with a few shots on the job, maybe it’s best to steer clear altogether.

7. You’re a bit rubbish at prioritising

A barrel needs changing, there’s no more ice in the bucket, you’ve run out of pint glasses and there’s a crowd 4-deep all along the bar. Oh, and one of your team members didn’t show up for their shift.

This is the status quo at most bars, so if it sounds like a lot to juggle, you had better start getting used to it. Memorising and pouring several orders at the same time becomes second-nature and bartenders develop a spidey-sense about when the fridge needs restocking and which customer is next to be served. Single-taskers need not apply.

8. You love a sassy clapback

Are you proud of your razor-sharp wit and your zero-tolerance of morons? This is not the line of work for you. Not only are you going to be dealing with some of the rudest, most entitled people you have ever met, you’re going to have to do it with a smile.

Leave your short fuse and snappy retorts at home if you want to keep your job long enough to collect your tips.

9. You don’t have time to get hit on

If the idea of a stranger calling you “sweetheart” (regardless of your gender) makes your skin crawl, re-think your bartender career. Chitchat is part of the job and light-hearted flirting comes with the territory, both with the colleagues you’re squeezing past all night and the customers that are buying you drinks and making your tips.

Try not to see it as creepy, but as a way of loosening up and passing the time. Not sure you (or your other half) can do that? Move along, please.

10. You’re in it for the easy moolah

In case we haven’t made it clear already, bar work is not easy. Unless dealing with all kinds of people, not sitting down for hours and lugging barrels and bottles up and down stairs – all while getting covered in beer, losing your voice – sounds easy. Add to the fact that nearly all bar jobs are paid the minimum wage, and you’ll see that you really have to love the work to stay smiling.