We were lucky enough to score our first celebrity bartender interview. Today we talk to Cheryl Charming a.k.a. Miss Charming who not only runs an excellent bartending site but has written several books on the subject.

Why did you decide to get into bartending?

For the money.

How did you go about getting your first bartending gig? Was it tough to land your first one?

I started as a pizza waitress, then progressed to a food server at a nice restaurant, cocktail server at a nightclub, barback, service bartender, bartender, then head bartender.

What is your favorite drink to make?

I like making most shots or shooters and pour them into stacked glasses. I mostly like the look on the guests’ faces.

What is your least favorite drink to make?

Margarita. Only because there are many modifiers you need know in order to make it. Most people don’t know how to order it. "I’ll take a Margarita bartender"…"Sure, how would you like it?"…"Ummmmm, I don’t know". So, I have to go through the whole thing; up? rocks? frozen/blended? salt? no salt? top shelf? well? Then they want to get into conversations about Tequila. Meanwhile, the the guests standing in line behind the Margarita drinker are wondering what’s going on up there.

What is your bartender pet peeve?

I have to mention just one? I use to have a long list, but now things don’t bother me so much. But I’m sure I could guess the top three most common ones for bartenders.

1. People that don’t have their order ready or money ready.
2. People from other countries that order one drink at a time –for a group.
3. People that sit at the bar and brag how they are a bartender too and leave a lousy tip.

What’s the most interesting/scandalous thing that’s happened to you on the job?

Oh my, how do I choose? Hmmmm. Just one? Here’s a weird one. I was working as a bartender on a cruise ship. That week I was working the pool bar and around dinnertime a guy sat down and ordered a double Jack neat. He then showed me a diamond ring and asked what I thought about it. He then put it between his teeth and swallowed it using the Jack to swish it back and down his throat. He then took off running off the back of the ship and jumped. Apparently, he proposed and the girl said no and he was sad… However, he didn’t realize that there was a deck below him, so instead of diving into the ocean he fell to the next level knocking himself out. Can you imagine waking up the next day thinking you’d be dead? With a diamond ring in your body to boot!

What’s the best line somebody has used to get a free drink from you?

There are no lines that can be used to get a free drink from me. I have some lines for the ones brave enough to ask me for a free drink.

What’s the most memorable pickup line you’ve heard?

Can you please move away from the well because you’re melting all the ice.

Who would YOU want to have a drink with and why?

How about Joe Bartender for starters? There are too many to mention.

Tell us one thing about tending bar that we might not know.

The cash money made every shift is very easy to spend. While you’re making all that cash, invest in an IRA account as soon as you can. All you need is $3000 to open one and contribute $100 a month. By the time you retire, you’ll have millions with a minimal investment.

Four months before you buy a house or condo put as much money in the bank as possible so they can see some numbers other than the very low tipped employee check numbers.

Cheryl Charming has been in the Food & Beverage industry since 1976. Twenty-five plus of those years has been tending bar from a cruise in the Caribbean to Walt Disney World. She is the author of many other bar & cocktail related books and her teaching experience includes a mandatory bar trick and magic course to Walt Disney World servers and bartenders. Cheryl also writes cocktail related articles and frequents as a celebrity cocktail guest on various radio, television, and podcast shows. She is a member of The Bartenders Guild, FBA (Flair Bartenders Association), and The Museum of the American Cocktail . She resides in Downtown Orlando Florida and maintains the website MissCharming.com.

Tags: bartender interview, miss charming, cheryl charming

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