Hey all,

I live in America, San Francisco, to be exact. And bartend a couple nights a week to earn extra money. I plan on moving to Madrid and am wondering how well bartenders get paid there. Here, you get a base wage of $10 per hour plus tips. Nightly tips usually total from $200-$800 on the weekend.

During the Day I work in Tech Support. So I was thinking that when I move to spain I could bartend to pay the bills until I get on my feet with a "real" job. But I've heard conflicting info. Some say bartenders in Madrid don't get tips, some say they do.

What's the real story?

Thanks.

Hi! I am sure that you'll get other responses from people who've had more experience, but in general I think where you will notice the difference in bartending here in Madrid is in the tips....

As with all jobs in Spain, the difference in salary between what you earn here and what you would earn elsewhere such as the USA is huge.

Spaniards as a rule don't tend to tip hardly anything at all - at least not compared to the USA. So it might depend on what type of bar you work in. If you worked in Hard Rock Cafe or somewhere with a lot of tourists you might well get far better tips than a local Spanish hangout so that might be better for you. Even more so than an Irish Bar. Either place I wouldn't expect would give you anything like $200+ tips though...sadly, more like 50-100.

There seems to be a lot more IT jobs here in Madrid lately though, I've put a link below to a website but in general I see more and more so you might have a good chance to find a nice IT job here. Normally the usual response is that jobs are so hard to find here and it takes ages etc but perhaps now is a good time for IT work? The salaries are completely awful though, but I am sure you have heard that already!!

Perhaps someone else can post exact bartending wages here but I would imagine it to be around 7 Euros per hour more or less with not a huge expectation of tips but hopefully someone more experienced can post up.

Good luck with the move....just be prepared to take a huge salary dip but I think all in all most foreigners here think it's worth it... :-)

http://www.ambientjobs.com/it_jobs.php

Thank you for the thorough response. And that link was great! I found several jobs that I'm interested in. But since I'm not a Spaniard, nor are my parents, am I eligible? I easily meet the job requirements but is some type of special permit or visa required?

Hm, time for the hard truth here. If you don't have a job offer in hand (which most don't) nor EU/relative connections, you are not going to be legal to work in Spain and it will be very hard to get legal to work here.

Having said that, many people come and live here for many years working "under the table," including in bars. It will be an additional hurdle in getting an IT job, though, as they will prefer to hire EU nationals rather than go through the hassle of trying to get you a work permit.

In your case it comes down to how much do you want to live here? Many find the lifestyle SO wonderful that it's worth giving up the salary and even the legality, at least for a period of time. They aren't likely to chase you down to deport you, and frankly living here is a blast, even if you don't have much money. (To give a real example, my husband works in IT and made around 80k in the states and his first "real" job here made 23k euros).

And, how's your Spanish? In Madrid that will make all the difference in even getting an interview for an IT job.

Soooo...how much do you want to live here??

Cheers,

Juliette

Oh, I'm coming for sure. I would like a "real" job there but if that's not possible, I will just save more money while here in the states, to help ease my stay in Madrid.

What process did your husband go through to get his first IT job there?

Oh yeah, my Spanish is definitely not bueno at the moment. But I am half mexican and my father has wanted to teach me Spanish for the longest time. Wish I wouldn't have resisted learning from him when I was younger, but ah, oh well, haha. Time to get it done.

hey Trankuility.

the "hostelería" field (everything to do with restaurants, bars, hotels, etc...) is VERY poorly paid here in spain. unless you are the manager of the hotel ritz or the palace or the business is your own, you will not be pleased with the earnings here, especially as a bartender and/or waiter.

i waited on tables for over 7 years through high school and college in ny and made a LOT of money. also delivered pizzas and tips there were good too. i could make $200 in tips on a friday night delivering pizzas in ny and here in madrid, that would probably drop to about $20 or less. i always give the pizza delivery guy here a 2 euro or so tip but i am pretty sure by the surprise on his face that i am the exception.

even the 50-100 euros mentioned by hcl123 above is not realistic.

VERY few waiters will make that, even in very touristy areas.

also, you will have to understand and speak spanish pretty well to bartend even in the irish/english pubs here since the majority of the customers who drink/eat there are spaniards.

many ex-pats look to bartending in pubs as an alternative to teaching english which it is but the pay is really not god for the long hours at 7 euros per hour and 10-12 hour shifts (depending on the bar/restaurant).

saludos,
jer...

Hi again T, my husband is EU...and it STILL took him 2 years to get a real job here, I think mostly because of language/cultural issues. Interviewing was tough, but eventually he learned and scored several offers at one time.

However, after a year he quit and went freelance, The salary was just too low, and the work too beneath his abilities. Now he works freelance. Perhaps you'll be able to find a way to make something like that work for you, too.

Not sure how much money you're saving up, but there is an amount you can bring over to start your own business here (it's a lot) and be legal. Anyone know how much that is??

Or can you get some kind of techy freelance work from a US source and do the work from Spain? Even with the horrendous exchange rate, you'll probably still make more than you would here... You'll definitely want to save up as much as you can--preferably enough to live for several months.

Jer,

That information is helpful. Thank you.

Juliette,

Wow, 2 years. That's a long time. And yeah, it sounds like I may have to go freelance. The possibility of starting your own business and being legal for a large sum of money is intriguing, hope someone here can tell us more.

Mariposita,

I plan on saving enough money to live for over a year so I'm good on that end. And good idea about talking to US employers to freelance for them in Spain.

Hey Trankuility--
It sounds like you are on the right track... one year will give you time to make a lot of progress in Spanish and figure out the lay of the land. You could study and get student residency that way--it's also possible to work legally 20 hours a week on a student visa.

It's true that making money is the hardest part about life here. But the rest more than makes up for it! Also, after you live here for a while, you might find that you need a lot less to be happy.

quote:

Also, after you live here for a while, you might find that you need a lot less to be happy.

Mariposita has really hit the nail on the head with this one. I have no interest in the latest technology or ever owning a home. I just want to live my life with very little and save a lot.

Shawn

I am glad Jer could post up his exact experience of bartending...it seems as if it's nothing at all like the tips in the US! But, the agreement does seem to be that for some people the huge dip in wages is made up for by a nice lifestyle here. I just wanted to post because I saw this ad and thought it might be helpful, sometimes opportunities appear in different ways than you might originally think of. As other people said, as a non-EU citizen it's really hard to get work, but perhaps something along these lines might be an alternative. I don't know the authenticity of this but perhaps it's worth looking into as a US citizen:
From: gconran@netdes.com
Date: Thursday, July 19, 2007
Category: Jobs Offered
Region: Seville (Rota, Moron, Madrid )
Description: We need folks for some short-term computer help at Navy Exchange locations in Rota, Moron and Madrid. If you are able to assist, please contact me immediately.

Thanks for posting the job, but I never believe any of those advertsiments because at the end of the day, they are looking for Americans who already have their working papers in order. I wish people would be up front.