Bartenders Share Their Wildest Stories From Working During The Holiday Season

Posted by u/jbwashere:

One from from our Christmas party when the bar gets opened up to the staff after everyone goes home and the place is cleaned:

We were all standing around the bar area when the roof started leaking. It was coming out of a light fixture, and there was some discussion as to what it was. It was really close to where we were all standing, and a few people put their hands under it. It was about this time that someone came from behind the bar, laughing, saying one of the staff members was in the roof. Someone yelled out, "Oh, it must be alcohol, Jeremy's pouring his drink out." Then, without thinking, another staff member puts his head under the stream and lets it drip into his mouth.

Anyway, turns out it was p*ss.

Posted by u/Irishdude1995:

Me: "That's 21.30 please, pal."

Customer: "21.30? You're having a f***ing laugh?"

Me: "Gin and tonics are 7.10 each, and you ordered 3 gins and 3 tonics, I can take one of the tonics back if you'd like?"

Customer: "Nope, I'll take them." Hands me the money "I hope you have a f***ing sh*t Christmas"

Me: "Thanks very much, I probably will if I have to deal with the likes of you again."

Posted by u/embasaan:

Our resident DJ thinks he's a big time local celeb. This guy is truly deluded. He refuses to adapt to changing music tastes or our constantly changing customers (it's a music venue, so we don't really have regulars). Afterparties are usually disasters when he's involved.

One night around Christmas a couple of years ago, he decides he's having way too much fun to stop, and keeps playing music past 4:00 am. This is meant to be our finish time, and the bar had been closed for an hour. We were just waiting for everyone to leave so we could lock up the bar area, wipe tables, and sweep up plastic cups... So we turn on the lights. And this guy throws a full-on DIVA fit... Mr. Big Shot DJ goes around the room karate-chopping tables, breaking chairs, and at one point, he physically attacks a member of staff. This guy is a grown man. He's powerfully built. And he's crying as all this happens, because the nightlife in our town has understandably changed, and he can't get a gig unless it's a '80s night or wedding.

Honestly, hilarious because this guy is a real inconvenience with no respect for bar staff. He demands free drinks (staff don't even get DISCOUNTED drinks) and tries to put his speakers on our f***ing bar.

They let him come back. He still works for us.

Posted by u/DontGuessWhereIWork:

I now manage a bar right outside DC where I've bartended for at least five years...

Our 18 year old, fresh-faced busser (still has braces) gets [intimate] in the bathroom at our closed holiday party with a 50-something semi-regular who somehow managed to get in. Three times in the next week, she comes in saying, "Seth owes me money." The last time she came in, she brought a dude who was obviously her pimp. Veiled threats ensue. I ban her the next time I see her.

Posted by u/must_pet_kitteh_asap:

It was Black Friday in Britain... the other bartenders warned me that it was going to be a rough shift because Black Friday in Britain is the Friday before Christmas, when most offices have their annual Christmas parties, and a lot of people who didn't normally drink much would be drinking that day...

Finally, the long and tiring shift came to a close, and as the over-crowded bar started emptying out, the other bartenders and I suddenly noticed that there was a drunk woman sitting at a table by herself, completely passed out... We tried very hard to wake her up by saying that it was time to go and we could call her a cab. There was absolutely no sign of her getting up. All the remaining patrons said that they didn’t know her and eventually, everyone left... Finally, one bartender found a note with 20 pounds that had been left at the corner of the bar. The note was from her “friend”. It gave us the drunk woman’s name and address and pretty much said that she was too drunk so they had left her here and wanted us to get her home. I dunno about the others, but I was pretty shocked that whoever she was with had just left her there, passed out drunk on her own in a bar.

One of bartenders agreed to drive the drunk woman home... Two of us volunteered to help, and the three of us carried the woman out to the car because she couldn’t be woken up. As we carried her, the drunk woman proceeded to pee herself all over the carpet that we’d just vacuumed and across the stairs that she was being carried over. We were all grossed out and screaming because we had pee on us, and somehow the combination of peeing and us screaming woke the drunk woman up. Even though the woman had partially woken up and had peed all over everything, the nice bartender still agreed to let the woman inside her car because that was still the best way to get this over with - we did not want to leave her on her own.

The drunk woman kept passing out throughout the ride and had no idea what was going on. After we finally got to her apartment block, we checked repeatedly with the woman to see if this was really her apartment so that we could get her safely to her bed. Then two of us carried the woman to her second floor apartment because she could barely stand up by herself. As we carried her up the stairs, she looked at us both and said, “Who the f*** are you two weirdos?" ...We snapped at her for the statement but dropped her safely on her bed and kept the measely 20 pounds her [awful] friends left us.

Posted by u/babooshkaa:

We had a great New Year's Eve. It was about four mins to 2:00 am, almost closing time, and I see this little dude running towards the door yelling... Our bouncer stops him, and he is fighting to get away. I thought, WTF? But this guy had shoved a pint glass in another guy's face then took off. A PINT GLASS. There was blood EVERYWHERE. I had never seen so much blood. The [attacked] guy's wife was covered in blood...

The guy eventually turned himself in. I mean, he was stupid for trying to run anyway. I had his credit card receipt with his name on it for the cops when they walked in.