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Selling animal for its meat is considered a wrong livelihood. Made intoxicants and sell them is also a wrong livelihood. If people are working on a non-vegetarian food counter, I believe that is not a wrong livelihood. With the same understanding, if someone is working on the wine counter, the duties are serving customers who ask for wine, beer, filling shelves, that is also considered not a wrong livelihood.
But is being a bartender considered a wrong livelihood or not?
Vaṇijjā sutta discusses Right Livelihood in for levity which include: business in weapons, business in human beings, business in meat, business in intoxicants, and business in poison.
If you sell meat or drinks for a living this is not right livelihood. I think is suffices if you are part of the establishment and need not be the proprietor / owner / shareholder. So if you work in a meat shop or bar or liquor store then this is not right livelihood.
If you are working is a big supermarket which sells among anything meat and drinks and you work in a generic counter not dedicated for the sale of meats or drinks then this might be OK. I.e., if you are part of a large store out of which a small part of business is meats, drinks and poisons unless you are involved is specifically to procure and sell these items it might be OK. As management or owner or shareholder of such business might be OK if this is a minor line of business and you are not involved in the planning and management of such activities.
Kandaraka Sutta, Apannaka Sutta mentions that those who torment themselves, those who torment others, those who torment both, and those who torment neither themselves nor others, out of which the last is the most conducive. Similarly one's job or business should be ideally organised around the same principles.
Also Ama,gandha Sutta discusses that it is not meat you should abstain from but from evil action.
So in conclusion bartending, being in the wine counter, being part of a butcher or meat shop, or being in the meat counter, is not right livelihood, but eating meat is not an issue.
I do not think there is anything which Buddha called right livelihood. These are interpretation of people. If you are a Bar tender clearly you do not have much choice in your life. There is nothing wrong if you are not acting out of desire. Desire is the key thing which differentiates right from wrong. If that job gives you hell lot of money and power, which helps in fulfilling your desire for a sports car, big mansion etc etc then clearly something is not right. A job ideally should be an expression of your talent/self. If you unfortunately not in a position then there is nothing wrong in it. 95% of humans are working for sake of money to survive. It is just a role you are performing to make a living. You are like an actor who is performing a role. There is no bad kamma associated with a role. An actor performing a role of Hitler will not become as bad as Hitler. Hungry and wretched people can not afford religion.
