#queuejumper #bartenderrevenge #pubstories #pettyrevenge
—
## Bartender’s Petty Revenge on a Queue-Jumper
Preface: This story takes place in the UK, where queueing is very important and we take it seriously. The drinking age is 18 but it’s not relevant. This isn’t technically -my- petty revenge but I thought it’d be worth sharing nonetheless, I love this sub. TLDR at bottom, SFW.
A few years ago I was going to see a few friends for a drink. We’d arranged to meet in a local pub, but some of them said they’d get there a little early to watch the football. As a few of us weren’t really into football, we said we’d meet them later on.
### The Encounter at the Bar
Cue later on. I got to the pub and went to get a drink. It wasn’t overly busy, but there was only one bartender so there was a bit of a delay at the bar. Found a spot at the bar and waited my turn. There were a couple of guys waiting to my right, and a bit of a gap to my left, to another group who had drinks in hand and weren’t ordering.
As the bartender walked in front of me, he asked who was next. I nodded vaguely to my right and off he went to serve the other guys.
### The Queue-Jumper Appears
A few minutes later, a girl (probably barely old enough to drink) stood next to me. You know that feeling when you instantly know someone’s going to be rude? I got that feeling straight away. She stood at the bar, arm outstretched, card in hand. Not even bothering to look over to anybody else stood at the bar. When the bartender then asked these guys who was next, she shouted across “yeah, two passionfruit martinis and a pina colada”.
### The Bartender’s Revenge
Remember I said she didn’t bother to look at any of us? Well that was probably a good decision as I turned to look at the other guys and they were all staring daggers at her. The bartender took her order and began mixing the drinks. Whilst doing so, he looked over at these guys and shot a subtle wink at them.
The bartender finished making the drinks and put them on the bar, out of reach of the young lady. He went to the terminal, pressed a few buttons, and said “okay, that’ll be £186.14”.
The girl said “I-wait, what?”
Quick as a flash, the bartender replied “there was a round going, the last order was paying the bills. Are you not with these guys?”
The girl replied, “oh, no, I’m just paying for these drinks, thanks.”
The bartender’s reply was very dry. “So, you weren’t next in line then.” He then turned to the other guys stood next to me. “Who was next?”
### Just Desserts
The queue resumed as intended. When the guy standing next to me got served, he pointed at me and said “this girl’s next.” At no point in these exchanges did any of the orders come anywhere near the value of the “round”.
I got my drinks (I remember it was under £5 for two ciders!) and paid. Quietly said “nicely done” to the bartender as I did, to which he gave me a knowing smile.
### The Aftermath and Acknowledgement
I headed back to our table and shared what had happened with my friends. Whilst doing so, some of the guys at the bar looked over, to see us staring in their general direction. To my surprise, a few of them waved, with some of my friends waving back.
One of my friends explained, “oh, we were standing at the bar earlier watching the footy with those guys. They’re all [our team]’s fans too. Bartender’s a fan too, he’s sound.”
The girl was stood there for another 10 minutes waiting to pay for her drinks. She spent the time studying a menu, assumedly not wanting to look at anybody else at the bar.
### TLDR
Girl cuts in line at a pub, bartender pretends there’s a round going on and then ignores her for 10 minutes.
—
In conclusion, queue-jumping may not always lead to a smooth experience, especially when a bartender takes matters into their own hands. Remember to respect the queue and wait your turn, or face the consequences! Next time you’re at a busy bar, be sure to observe proper etiquette and don’t make enemies with the bartender. Cheers!
The British sense of humour. Lead her down the garden path believing she pulled a fast one. Only to have a ‘I-wait, what? moment.
Hilarious!
That’s a pro move from the bartender! Love it!
Two pints for under a fiver?!
Bartender for thirty years here. This didn’t happen. No chance in hell that a semi-busy bartender would ever, in a million fucking years, make two Martinis and a pina colada as some sort of ‘tease” to teach a lesson. He never winked at some random dudes, and he never shot you some idiotic “knowing smile.” Quit your fucking bullshit.
Mandatory upvote for the correct use of “cue” 🙂
Proper barman that is!
I’m not sure if it’s a thing in the UK, but I would have given the bartender a very generous tip on my next round for a move like that.
I was quietly amused to read some of the comments about the good old days when you could still buy 2 pints for £5.
My first job when I left school was in a pub where we had discos a couple of times a week attended by 200-300 young people. There was nigh on a riot when the price of a pint of bitter rose from 2 shillings to 2 shillings and sixpence( in decimal coinage from 10p to 12 1/2p.
Sounds too good to be true? My weekly pay was £14 10shillings so I could buy 116 pints for my weeks pay.
Today if you can find somewhere to buy a pint for £5 you would need to earn £580 to buy that 116 pints so, yes those were the good old days
So very professional and polite! Classy! I love the British!
I’m English. Yes we care about queuing. If you don’t wait your turn like a good citizen of the empire you will be dealt with mercilessly.
I hope that when it was her turn, she got the originally mixed drinks at full price. Good show, though.
Pretty cool 2,500 word story that could be a few sentences. The drinking age in the U.S. is 21 but that’s not relevant to my comment
Ohhhh, is that why they took it so weird when I accidentally waited in the wrong line once in the UK!!
All kinds of people were harrumphing and making snotty comments and I could tell something was wrong, but I checked my zipper and breath and everything I could think of; it turned out I had queued up wrong.
I was shocked by how rude everyone was acting; people were acting like I hit a child. Like yah, I’m sorry I stood in the wrong line, but that only inconvenienced me. No one else waited longer.
Ok wow that suddenly makes sense.
Edit: I could see why they were making comments after I understood how the lines worked; it made sense then. If the clerk hadn’t noticed, I would have cut the line, which is not cool in any country.
I was just shocked they seemed to be so serious about it! (The clerk was perfectly polite; he just let me know I needed to wait in a different line; it was just the people waiting). I thought I had done something really wrong like (think knocking over a person on crutches wrong or taking candy from a baby and laughing as they cried).
Bartender deserved all the tips.
Probably a tourist. I know in bars in America it’s basically if you get the bartenders attention at all you’re next. If you can’t get the bartenders attention either try another area of the bar or find a different bar.
How civilized. Bars in Canada/US are often free for all’s.
“Takes place in the UK”
“A few of us weren’t really into football”
Sorry, does not compute
Had a somewhat similar incident when I was working in bars.
Long story short my colleagues asked me to come to the front bar as there was a guy saying he was Swedish and couldn’t speak English.
Lucky for him I could speak Swedish. Let’s just say he was trying to queue jump and it didn’t work out well for him at all, and all his mates laughed in his face about it.
Brilliant!
We queue, too, in the USA, and line-jumpers are frowned upon.