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71 Bartenders Share Customer Gossip They’ve Heard On The Job, And The Tea Is Piping Hot
We all know alcohol can act like a kind of truth serum, loosening people’s tongues after a drink or two. And in a crowded bar, with loud music playing and conversations buzzing all around, it can feel like whatever you say will disappear into the noise. Well, not exactly.
One Redditor asked bartenders what rumors they’ve heard lately, and they delivered with some seriously juicy gossip they’d overheard on the job. Below, we’ve rounded up some of their best answers. Grab your popcorn and scroll down to read them.
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#1
I overheard two doctors at my bar discussing how they only treat symptoms and never the actual problem anymore. If they do try to treat the problem, they get red taped by insurance companies or reprimanded by the hospital itself.
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#2
A woman was planning her dog’s birthday party, and was debating which dogs to invite since some of the dogs didn’t get along with her dog.
#3
No joke January 2020 i was bartending a conference for Doctor’s and heard some talking about “something happening over in China” and hoping for it to make its way over here to get it over with.
Beak Hookage 2 hours ago
Ha, I had one of those things pointed at me without warning during the worst of it! As we don't have guns I didn't freak out but I was a bit taken aback.
#4
Not a rumor, but my almost 80 year old customer said “My wife said I need hearing aids. I asked her why and she said, BECAUSE YOU CAN’T HEAR THE SAFE WORD!” Thanks for the laugh, John.
#5
I've heard discussions on if my chest is real.
Listened to a couple in an open marriage and apparently bi scout out the picking for the evening.
Listened to tons of people telling their SO that they were working late. One guy even met a date later.
Listened to a couple have a very intense whispered argument about custody. I assumed a kid. Turned out to be a cat.
Listened to a couple guys plan how to rob me.
Bartending was fun I miss it sometimes.
Beak Hookage 1 hour ago
huh, I'm looking for work at the moment. Maybe I should give bartending a shot.
#6
Not a rumor, but last night I got to listen to a middle aged German foreign national explain to a middle aged, American couple the parallels between his country’s history and our own country’s current events. Once the conversation steered towards WW2 history I had to step away or else it would’ve been obvious I was eavesdropping!
#7
A customer is on the phone in the middle of the bar, not too crowded but a long bar. Guy couldn't have been more than 25. I go to help someone at the end of the bar and on my way back I overhear:
"No, I don't care! She's my sister, she is THIRTEEN and there is no reason she should be doing illegal substances! At all!"
Gave him a few drinks on the house that night.
#8
What happens a lot while working in bars is that you overhear small snippets of conversation that sound really weird taken out of context. Stuff like:
- The best way to steal eggs is to pretend that they are something else..
- The dogs wouldn't stand a chance against Bruce Springsteen in his prime...
- I don't know if she can swim, but she bought sandals in the 90s...
I usually entertain myself making up stories about these conversations.
#9
A regular of mine recently told me all of these “second homes” and “air bnbs” out here on Oahu have been vacant for so long that when he goes to do any inspections or repairs the units are destroyed from rats coming up from the toilets. He says you see their footprints and turds everywhere and they chew up whatever they can.
#10
Not a bartender but a bouncer. We have been getting a TON of reeeeally good fake ids to the point where a lot of the ones I get I am just guessing. Like perfect indistinguishable from real ids in every way. I heard from the older college kids that apparently AI is changing the fake id industry big time.
Miriam Insidecor 21 minutes ago
When I worked in a bar and saw a fake ID I would ask them to tell me their date of birth. And they never got it right.
#11
These siblings (aged 50-60’s) arguing over their (not even passed and in fact present at the table) mother’s will and who gets what. It ended in a heated argument and the son speeding off.
#12
Back when you kept a news paper on the bar...
Guy walks in and goes straight for the paper. Looks in one section then the other. Places paper down.
I asked him if he found what he was looking for, and he said no. His ex isn’t passed away or in jail. Then he asked for a beer.
#13
On Valentines day this year, we had a guest who accepted a face time from his girlfriend while his side-chick was with him at the bar. He angled the phone so his girlfriend wouldn't see the girl, but it was so obvious.
#15
“They’re giving us (POCs) cancer in coffee. We should only drink pure hot water with lemon” [proceeds to drink multiple D’usse margaritas with Grand Marnier floaters].
#16
Word on the street at my bar is American professional sports games are being thrown by players and/or refs due to sports betting. For example the NFL, every year I over-hear more and more people casually say to their friends “The game is rigged”.
#17
The best rumors are the ones that start with “Don’t tell anyone, but…” and then spread around the bar in 20 minutes.
#18
Had a nurse telling his colleagues that vegan meats are going to cause huge societal problems because they are structurally the same as human meat. And apparently once people acquire the taste for human meat, it’s an insatiable hunger they can never let go of and are going to naturally desire eating other humans.
I hope to never see him on his working hours.
Kelli Wilson 1 hour ago
I feel like my meat made from pea protein is not at all similar to human meat but what do i know
#20
These three middle aged women (alone at the bar) discussing in excruciating detail their adult fantasies, which seemed to include “being with a younger man.” I was 22 at the time. They obviously knew I could hear them but it was so awkward. I stood there cutting the hell out of lemons and limes.
#21
I overheard a guy telling his friend that he was going to have intimate time with that bartender (pointing to me). He proceeded to say, “she might not be there, but I am still going to.”
#22
Two businessmen having after work drinks on a Friday, where the conversation built up to one of the sweetest sentiments I've heard.
At first the usual "Lemme tell ya, you're a good person. I love you man."
Later on (still fairly basic): "F the wives! Hey, you and me, we buy motorcycles!"
To finally this gem: "If a tornado were to blow you away... I would fly after you.".
#23
Randomly overheard two middle aged women,
'as a woman ages she can choose between her face or her bum, but she cant choose both'
I have no idea.
#25
Last night I was told by a guest that the Rosé of Cabernet I had displayed on my bar was actually Tequila and I was just trying to trick people... at a winery.... where we make the Rosé of Cabernet... from grapes on property.
When I told him he was mistaken, he told the entire bridal party I had a secret stash of tequila I was hiding from them.
#26
I just heard this week that there is going to be yet another big scandal coming out soon in the sports programs at the local high school. I am zero percent surprised.
#27
Trey broke up with Tammy because Maureen Kanallen said that she saw Tammy flirting with Walt Timny at a party, but she was only doing it to make Trey jealous because you know, she thought that Trey secretly liked Erin Henebry, but he doesn't like Erin Henebry, it was all a bunch of bull.
#28
The owner of the bar is hooking up with a 22 year old server and paying for her apartment money walks I guess.
#29
Not a rumor, but a something weird that happened last week while I was bartending.
Someone got drunk and start boasting about his 'Very small pp' to his friend. He kept saying "very tiny", "very macro". He then proceeds to lower his pants and show it to everyone in the bar. Lol.
#30
Ok, check this. In October, Alberta, Canada is going to secede from the country and become the “Dubai of the west” because of their vast oil fields. This came from a person calling themselves a pastor and govt figure. He seemed really excited about this revelation and he was very adamant he had “the numbers” to see it happen.
#31
I was playing music at a wedding and I told every drunk person “I’m going to play your song next.” Only one person noticed their song wasn’t next. She came back to tell me and I told her “I have told every drunk person that I will play their song next.” And she said “oh, ok, cool.” I did not play her song next.
#32
Heard it from a bartender that the newly elected mayor was/is having an affair with the wife of a cop.
#33
Bartender at a place near my office said a big tech guy comes in every thursday and always tips in cash so there's no paper trail. didnt say who. been trying to guess for weeks now.
#35
One time I walked out to the patio to have a smoke break into three people all talking very drunkenly but also very seriously about theoretical physics.
#36
I’ve bartended but my favourite conversation was overhead while I was on the other side of the bar.
“Look all I’m saying is Grand Theft Auto severely ruined our generations perception of how many police helicopters exist”
Sounded like they were getting really heated over the matter haha.
#37
I will tell you the strangest thing that's happened to me.
I cut someone off because they were pissed.
That person returned hours later while we were closing.
I said "sorry mate you're not getting a drink, I've already cut you off"
"Oh is that right?"
"Yeh it is"
"Well then" and he precedes to pull out a cooked fillet of chicken from his pocket and puts in on the bar and leaves without saying another word.
Dumbfounded, me and my mate carefully pick up the cooked chicken fillet, it was cold. So this lunatic has gone home and cooked a chicken fillet then put it into his fridge on the intention of later placing it onto our bartop as some sort of "horse head in the bed" kind of revenge.
We still have no bloody idea what he was doing.
#40
That the reason a $30,000 meat grinder/sausage machine went away is because it was used to dispose of a body. She was serious, but I really doubt it, she just wants reasons to hate the owners.
#42
I'm not a bartender, but I have a good friend who is. He works at one of the most awesome gay bars I've ever encountered in my life. Vibrant. Full of life. Just a good time to be around and dance.
That said much of the staff and patrons partake in certain apps. Recently, he matched with a well known politician and the guy is, one of the bigger religious ones. Apparently made him sign an NDA and that was all I got out of him, which I wanted to know soooooooo much more. Though, he thinks the guy's stress got him sort of careless. We will see.
The other one was Jax from Vanderpump Rules and The Valley. He showed up and said he was on a goal to do Sydney Sweeney and then said drinks should be comped because his presence was basically assuring they would get business. Spoiler alert: it changed exactly zero things.
One that's just...boring but weird. Chris Pratt wanted them to run to Starbucks to get black coffee.
#43
I was standing by a group of guy friends and one of them goes “I can never tell Josh I did his wife.” Josh being one of their other friends who wasn’t at the bar with them.
#44
I heard about some strange woman living in an old house down near the shore. They say she's creepy as hell, and think she's the first person to invent toe shoes. Folks talk.
#45
Had someone yell “RIP Olivia Newton John” and I interjected that she wasn’t passed. Big mistake. Drunk idiot got on one of those drunk loops about how I was wrong until we closed 20 min later. I even showed him on my phone that she wasn’t and he said “you can google anything”.
#46
A woman at a corporate event was explaining to 3 male coworkers how she loves the thrill attained from snow being snorted off of her.
#47
I'll share mine real quick. Two girls sitting at the bar, otherwise the place is empty. They start discussing the details and numbers of abortions the one girl has had. Not terribly offensive to me or anything, but I certainly didn't expect to hear about it at work when I came in.
Otherwise the good ones come from a game of hypotheticals called "Make It or Break It". Essentially, you have your perfect romantic partner. Everything about them is perfect, except for one flaw, and you have to decide if it's a deal breaker. My favorite one is "Make it or break it: She's your perfect woman, but she tells you after you've been dating for a while, that one time she slept with her dog." "I think make it." "What if she tells you it happened more than once?" "I don't know dude, probably still make it if she's perfect." "What if it was YOUR dog?" "Dude that! That's my DOG man!"
#48
Once this older couple (55 ish) were talking about their "bedroom problems".
The guy clearly had impotence issues and the lady kept complaining that she was feeling frustrated because he was frustrated.
And meds weren't really helping, or at least not helping enough.
Let's just say that other people around them weren't as comfortable as them about the conversation.
#49
Three girls were talking about some guy one of them was hooking up with. Apparently the night before, she’d puked all over him in bed. Still slept together. Got alllll the details I never wanted.
#50
I worked in a bar in a truck stop & we got lots of solo men. Guy on bar stool says "The government can track our every move. Now they're putting chips in newborns right at the hospital." The trucker next to him-who he just met-shakes his head and says, "Yeah, I know." Both were serious as could be and talked with each other about how the world is messed up. (It was the 2nd truckers response that got me).
#51
I once listened to three people have an in depth discussion about how they were going to end the "local vampire" and the steps to take to protect themselves from the coven that said vampire is surely from.
My favorite though what a heated debate over whether the first Robin would be a crime fighter if Batman hadn't picked him up and trained him.
#52
Was visiting my mom at work once (she tends bar) and heard her making conversation across the bar with a patron.
Suddenly, over the music, I hear the guy slam his fist onto the bar and yell "YOU... ARE FACTUALLY... WRONG." He immediately faceplanted on the bar, and his buddy had to carry him out of there.
My mom was just commenting on the fact that the song that was playing was country...
#53
I bartended at a country club, and there was this one group of tennis-ladies that would always sit at the bar and get absolutely wasted on weeknights at our wine nights.
They took a liking to our main bartender and kept calling him exotic (he’s Mexican), they would say how love his beard, would talk about their fav (not tennis related) positions, how they kept their nether-regions tidy, slip him their numbers, how bad their husbands were, etc. Gave me glares every time I’d be bartending/bar-backing with him.
#54
Work in a downtown hotel bar right across from our convention center. I’ve heard way too many negotiations between businessmen and ladies of the night.
Last one I heard involved the guy asking the lady how much extra she would charge to let his friend watch. (She said it was $200 to watch, $500 if he joins in).
#55
I once heard a guy talking to his buddy about how he likes to have intercourse with both a female and male at the same time and likes to lick up the after effects of the male stuff off of her. Everyone’s got their preferences but that was not something I expected to hear.
#56
Well, I'm not a bartender... but I once went to a very loud cuban dance party (in a church, if it matters) and was trying poorly to chat with a lovely young lady and she was scream-talking to her friend when the music suddenly stopped at the end of the song and in that half-second of silence she hollered out "I don't care I just want to get laid!!!". I thought that was a good sign, since she was clearly talking about me, which was unusual. Made it back to her place and she showed me her angel sticks (dorky things you pull out and they have a word that "describes you"). I got "forgiving", and she concentrated really hard then pulled out "efficient" and burst into tears and locked herself in the bathroom. I let myself out.
#57
Ex bartender, guy who worked for Von Miller (linebacker for the Denver Broncos) was a regular and would sit at my bar. Heard many things about Vons life that humanized him to me instead of him being some super star.
#58
A lady, her weird boyfriend, and the girl’s sister at my bar. When the girl went to the bathroom, her sister scooted in towards him and was saying they should get out of there before her sister gets out of the bathroom and go get a motel.
They both must have seen something I didn’t because this dude was UGG-LAY.
#59
I work in a hotel bar. There's a couple that comes in every monday. The kicker is that they're not married to each other. The woman got drunk and asked the guy if he thought about her when he slept with his wife.
#60
Not a bartender, but I love hanging out on the riverfront and sounds travels quite well there.
I overheard the gentleman that were hanging out near me discussing whether to rob me or not.
#61
Not a bartender but I heard two girls discussing how the bartender, who was easily within listening distance, would be attractive if he wasn't fat. Then they went on to joke about how he probably takes so many bathroom breaks because he is stuffing his face with fries in the back room. They were drunk and loud and weren't looking in his direction, I don't know if they realized he was so close by.
The bartender was looking over and clearly listening in, but when he saw that I noticed what was going on he just got red in the face. Poor guy.
#62
Was at a bar with my friend and all we heard was "yeah he pissed me off so I ran him over." Still no idea what happened but I didn't want to inquire for obvious reasons.
#64
I (25 F) recently had a bar guest on her (33 F) first tinder date (recently divorced) show up extra nervous. She ordered a drink and we chit chatted for a bit.
After a while her date showed up. He ordered a coffee and ended up telling his date that he was only 18.
She immediately cringed and told him that he seemed very sweet but he should be honest on his profile from now on (where he said he was somewhere around 30).
He then started just insulting her age from then on out. Asking things like "I bet you remember the Clinton administration" and other stupid stuff I can't remember. Lmao
That poor lady. She sent him home and I got off shortly after, then we got hammered.
#65
Heard a woman talking about how she had been starving the pigs she was farming for a few days. She then proceeded to say they ate all but the hair and teeth of Danny. Don’t know if Danny was a person or what...but I let my manager know what was said.
#66
I work at a wine bar.
A couple is sitting there and the girl basically yells at the guy "Stop staring at my calf! People are starting to think we're weird!"
I just kept polishing glasses and walked away.
#67
Not a bartender, but a few nights ago I overheard a girl telling the five dudes at her table about how she slept with her friend's boyfriend named "monkey".
It was at a beach front Hooters.
#69
Not a bartender but I was in Aldi last week and a self described "Teaching professional in the community she's currently shopping in"
On the phone airing out another teacher's business about she's messing with a higher up and that's why he's going through a divorce. That affair teacher is also married to a state sheriff
I mean the store was packed and kept saying she trying not to say too much since she's in a public Aldi line.
#70
Talked to an anesthesiologist who said they’ve heard multiple tales of patients rising up just after they pass out, saying “I’m not going to wake up again,” then passing during surgery.
#71
Was a bartender at a hotel bar, had all sorts of interesting folks come through.
One time a group of guys, of varying ages, all came down and took the biggest table. No big deal, it was a slow night. They proceeded to reach in their bags and set up a game of Dungeons and Dragons and start playing, accents and all. (I distinctly remember something about Bob the Necromancer). The other guests thought it was funny and interesting, so I figured no harm no foul. Let them play all night.
Later in the night, the same guys still playing, we witnessed some guy with a gold robot head made of cardboard go running by the main window of the bar. He was wearing the gold robot head, shoes, and nothing else. The cops arrived shortly after and we all had to give statements. The cops proceeded to interrogate me about the D&D players because "they like to dress up in weird costumes, right?" I told the cops that the guys hadn't left the table all night. One member of the adventuring party bid the cops farewell, in character.
Another time I had a camera crew show up and start setting up. They were apparently with some ghost hunting show and were checking to see if we were haunted. I guess the owner had put them up to it (No press is bad press?) So I let them do their thing.
Apparently we were "super haunted" (not the exact words they used), but the episode never made it to air. They ended up finding a secret crawlspace which was pretty cool, but it was completely empty.
