Bartenders Tell The Wildest Stories Of When They Had To Cut Someone Off

Posted by a former Redditor:

We decided to let her finish her drink before we cut her off. After a few sips, she got real ornery and called me over, angrily demanding that I serve her a drink. Confused, since she had three-fourths of a cocktail sitting in front of her, I picked her drink up, spun around, and put it back down in front of her. "Thank you," she said with a bite to her tone, and took a sip.

Not a minute later do I hear her b*tching again that we won't serve her. Same deal, nearly full drink right before her eyes, so I do another pirouette with her cocktail in hand and drop it back in front of her. I must have done this a dozen times times, and she never once realized it was the same drink. My only regret is not charging her each time I did it. 

Posted by u/schwab002:

I work in an Irish Bar, and on St. Patrick's Day this past year, our owner tells us before the madness starts that it's okay by him to have some drinks to celebrate, be merry, and help deal with the drunks and madness better. I don't think he was thinking straight, but it was a nice gesture. Still, he probably should have at least set a limit... a low limit.

Anyway, one of the bartenders is taking shots with some customers while making drinks for herself and other customers, and gets pretty darn drunk by 3 pm. The rest of the staff tries to cut her off, but she continues to take shots with customers to the point where she can barely serve anyone anymore. The place is completely packed, people are asking her for drinks, and she's just making them whatever she wants (mostly beers, simple well cocktails). One customer starts yelling at her that she's not going to pay for a drink that she didn't order, and the bartender flips out and starts screaming at her, eventually throwing a drink right in the customer's face. She then immediately starts a fist fight with another bartender who is trying to smooth things over with the wronged customer, and threatens to jab our server with the drink-order-receipt spike.

The only person our bouncer kicked out that day was our bartender.

She didn't even lose her job because the owner is dumb, felt it was his fault he allowed her to drink.

Posted by u/notnicholas:

I bartended weddings in a hotel ballroom in a smaller, rural town.

At one particular wedding, the groom and groomsmen went out to the parking lot to annihilate the beers that were stashed in the groom's truck. The wedding party had already cashed in four kegs by 9:30 pm, and the father of the bride, who was paying for it all, declined buying any more.

Anyway, all of the groomsmen eventually came back in to the reception/dance. The bride storms out to the parking lot when she sees everyone but her new hubby return, then promptly returns, red in the face, makeup smeared, and bawling her eyes out...  she screams at her bridesmaids to "go get her out of that truck!"

Bridesmaids go out and drag another bridesmaid out of the truck and into the hotel bathroom to help her get back into her dress properly. Groom strolls up to the bar and orders some Jack while tucking his shirt in.

We closed the bar at that exact moment.

Posted by u/ivegotagoldenticket:

They ordered a shot. Took it. Threw it up into the glass. Took it again.

...Yeah, you're done.

Posted by u/smithandcrossed:

Okay, in my town, there's an ICP-themed tattoo parlor with matching staff. One night, one of their guys was celebrating his second anniversary at our shop. This guy was huge, 6'6" to 6'8" easy, and all night he's having kamikazes and vodka crans... fast forward to five till close and this kid is pie-eyed, but in a good mood. We let 'em know it's time to mosey, and they thank pay out, tip well, and thank us for our service. Groovy.

About twenty minutes later, we get a knock on the door from this guy and his friends asking for one more round. Without unlocking the door, we politely tell him that we're closed, it's not legal, and it's time to boogie. Much through-the-door arguing ensues, and we tell them if they don't leave, we'll call the cops, at which point they all cheer and more arguing ensues. When we inform him that we've called the cops, we hear him shout, "That's fine! They'll go to jail with me!" We then hear his other friends bolt rapidly.

Now it's just him, and he's p*ssed. At first, we hear him tossing around our 400-pound picnic tables like they're Lincoln Logs, then he turns his attention to the front door. He ends up pulling so hard that the knob was unrecognizable and the hinges were about to give. Another bartender, our bouncer, a late guest, and myself were all on the other side with bottles and pool cues, waiting for the inevitable, when everything goes silent.

A minute or so later we hear a knock at the door. "Police." We step out to our thoroughly wiped-out patio and see him struggling in the back of a squad car. "Yeah, when I approached, he walked at me with fists clenched. Warned him twice, had to tase the dummy."

Posted by u/YukonCornIV:

I was standing at the end of the bar when a bartender... cut a guy off. He threatened to "come back there and shake" her and began to head for the back of the bar when she responded with, "You can't touch me! I'm Wonder Woman, and I have an invisible force field!"

He stood there for a minute, scratched his head, then left.

It was beautiful. I was smitten. We have been married for 13 years.