Closing time creep

“I had one guy who would come in every night, buy one drink, sit in the corner and take about 4 hours over it. Yes 4 hours. Anyway we got used to him and just brushed it off as harmless. He never spoke never really moved to be honest.

After about 2 months of this guy coming in I’m locking up for the night about 2am as usual and I go through the motions switching things off etc. I walk the whole place to do this upstairs and down and I used to lock myself in after the last customer left. So I’m coming down the stairs and out the corner of my eye I see him. Just sat there with his drink. Not looking at me. Not moving. My heart at this point is beating so fast I feel sick and my palms are slipping on the stair rail. I say pathetically “errm sorry we’re closed now you’ll have to leave”. At first he doesn’t move. Then slowly he stands and drains his glass whilst I prepare to run or die and say a prayer in my head. Then he looks me dead in the eye. Grins. And just slowly leaves. Thing is the door WAS locked cause he had to turn the key to get out (it was hanging in the lock) and I swear he was NOT there when I locked up.

I have never been so freaked in my life. I rang the manager etc and got picked up rather than driving home. The guy never came back to the bar after that and no one ever found out who he was.” — aimee-reb

Too much touching

“I worked at a Gay Bar that catered to older clientele (the younger gays frequented a different bar). One customer that would come in would often beckon me over, seemingly to order another drink, and then proceed to sweep his arm around me, pull me in close, situate me on his lap and compliment my appearance. This only happened a few times before I caught on to his technique and stood far back. I was young (early 20’s) and didn’t have much of a backbone or I would have said something. Ultimately I always just felt embarrassed after and would try and make myself busy behind the bar and not make eye contact with him.

Creepy entitled men exist in both straight and gay bars, unfortunately.” — SimonSaysx

General craziness

“I’ve dealt with chicks reaching over the bar to grab my crotch, kicking 2 people out for ‘hanging out’ in the same bathroom stall, people literally trying to climb into the second story bar I was working in, 1 stabbing, 1 gun being flashed, a girl literally spat on a cop and screamed ‘BLACK LIVES MATTER’ in his face while him and I were talking about a separate incident (he and his partner were both East Indian decent). I’ve seen people round the bases in booths, and poop on the floors.

15 years in the industry.” — Twice_Knightley

He followed me home

“One of my customers was waiting in a stairwell at my apartment.” — kchezknee

“Can you get this girl drunk for me?”

“I was working a cocktail bar that aspired to be a club with an in house dj and dance floor etc. Guy was on a first date with a girl, she loved that he could dance and was really good at it too but quickly realised he couldn’t hold a conversation. She was keeping safe and not drinking much despite that being the status quo for everyone else there.

When she went to powder her nose, he came over to me “hey man, I got this date and it’s going okay, but I want it to go amazing you know? Can you make her the strongest most panty dropping drink you got?”

I told him no, and that his date won’t go well if he thinks getting her blind drink will make it better.

I then caught her on her way back from the ladies and let her out a back entrance (she already had her purse and agreed she didnt want to deal with that anymore).

Looking back I wish we’d had an ‘angel shot’ scheme or similar for customers to alert us to that sort of stuff not just be me keeping an eye out. Considering there were 3 bars in that venue another bartender may have obliged his request.” — CaptainDrinksAlot

Perverts

“Once had a dude follow me to the staff area, unbuckle his pants and get his dick out. Luckily my manager was also working and beat the shit out of the guy outside. ” — mmmoonpie

Sexual harassment and drugs

“I bartended at a normal, nice little family friendly restaurant that had a bar and let’s see: customers cheating, owners son cheating on his pregnant wife with the waitresses, men and women constantly sexually harassing bartenders and servers because “don’t you want a big tip?”, watching depressed individuals drown their sorrow in booze and greasy food every night, cooks and other older staff rape younger waitresses while “helping them to their car” after a few drinks when we were closing (they learned what staff would go out and stop them and which ones would just let them go do it for drugs or money) and lots and lots of drugs being dealt, I mean really some restaurants are just giant markets for sex work, drugs, etc.” — Davis1511

Basically a war zone

“The amount of couples having sex or hands down each other’s trousers whilst on the dancefloor/up stairways is insane. Piss, shit and vomit over walls/FOH areas is incredibly common. I’ve never dialled 999 as much in any other regular situation than my last hour in work on a weekend close. I’ve lost count of how many people have taken a swing at me when I’ve tried to remove them from the premises (usually for already fighting or abusing the team). I got followed home and had a knife pulled on me by two lads quite recently. Women putting their hands over my crotch or grabbing my ass whilst pushing through the crowd is a regular. Handsy men often try to grip the younger female team members.” — baldyfeller

Grabby McGrabberson

“I worked in a pool hall for a few years but before I started there my now husband was bartending. I used to visit him on my way home from work if he was off shortly after. I was at the bar one night and this chick walks by with her guy following a bit behind her. I didnt think anything of it until his hand was very firmly and invasively on my ass. If I hadn’t been wearing jeans his fingers would have been inside me it was so aggressive. I turned around so fast and started screaming at him mentally reminding myself not to cost my husband his job. He almost hopped the bar but didn’t as he saw this guy was stuck between me and his girlfriend, both of us screaming our heads off. She chased him out the door and I locked it behind them.” — Crys127

His head almost fell off

“Worked at a neighborhood dive biker bar & one night 2 guys & a girl I’d never seen before came in, got drinks & went out on the back patio. After a few minutes 1 of the guys and the girl left. The other guy came in & sat down at the bar. I said he had some dirt or something on his neck & handed him a wet napkin. When he tilted his head back, his throat was slit ear to ear.” — hendermom

He tried to pull me over the bar

“Back then I used to have long hair. At work I wore it in a braid. This dude was hassling all night. Subtle come ons first then constant low key harassment. Just before closing, when the bar was almost empty, the dude reached over the bar and grabbed my ponytail, yanked backwards hard, like he was trying to pulled me over the bar by my hair. I yelped. The owner of the bar was mercifully nearby grabbed the dude and threw him out the door, about 5ft drop onto concrete” — vrosej10

“Just jokes”

“We had a regular customer (as in, he was there every single night of the week) get way too drunk on our cheapest whiskey. It got to a point where it was myself and a younger waitress left to close up, and she couldn’t drive, so it fell onto me to get him home (we lived in a rural part of South Africa so no ubers or taxis). We knew each other well, so I didn’t think anything of it.

It was 2am when we left the bar, he told me he lived nearby, and would navigate. We ended up driving to a town about half an hour away, and got lost in his suburban neighbourhood where all of the streets look the same. Eventually we found his house, but he started trying to invite me in. When I said no, he put his hand behind my head and pulled me in to kiss him. When I pulled away, he grabbed my keys and wouldn’t give them back unless I agreed to go inside with him. After a lot of shouting and him refusing to get out of my car, and me threatening to drive to the police station, he told me to chill out and he was just joking. Got him out of my car and sped home. I never served him ever again, he never apologised or even acknowledged what happened.” — LittleMissMedusa

The smells

“Sunday football home games were the worst. You have never seen more grown men passed out cold, throwing up, shitting themselves, etc.” — Wtfismypassword4444

Junkies and fist fights

“First night on shift in charge, a homeless lady comes in and asks to use the bathroom. We usually let them if they’re nice and actually ask us because then you both know they’re there and it’s usually no problem. Except this time she doesn’t come out for ages, I knock on the door she says it’s fine I’ll be out in a second. Half an hour later I open the door to the toilet to find her passed out on the floor with a needle in her arm. Police and ambulances came very quickly, but it wasn’t fun. Another was a fight where the two guys ended up behind the bar. Got blood sprayed on me that night, and even found a little more behind our coffee machine a few days later after we thought we cleaned up everything. Not the first time people had bled on me or the bar, but it was sickening finding it days later.” — denybeing

A cop tried to buy me

“One time one of our regular cops asked me out. I politely declined. He then offered to pay me double what I make in a night to spend it with him. He said it in front of all his rowdy cop friends, including other women. Nobody batted an eye. It was intimidating to say the least. Thankfully my coworkers had my back and ran interference regularly so that I didn’t have to deal with him anymore.” — Sonofabiscochito

She took her leg off and showed me

“There was the time I wouldn’t let a lady in the bar because she fell over a couple of times and I accused her of being over-served…until in protest she showed me that she just got a prosthetic leg and it was her first time wearing it out. I mean, she was probably ripped and just using that line on me but I cringed so hard that I reversed and let her in.” — Changeurblinkerfluid