How To Become Your Local Bar's Favorite Regular
So you've finally found it, that special watering hole you'd like to call your very own. Maybe you haven't felt this way about a bar since your first in college, when you stumbled nightly across campus to slam back penny pitchers with your buddies and fondle the Golden Tee machine. Maybe you've just moved to a new town and had to leave behind your favorite dive and the only bartender you've ever loved.
How to Become Your Local Bar's Favorite Regular (Slideshow)
Whatever the case, once you find a bar you jive with, the best thing to do is stick with it. Don't roam the streets looking for cheap substitutes when you've found "The One."
Why would you want to be a regular at a bar? Isn't that for sad mailmen in '80s sitcoms?
Absolutely not. There are a plethora of advantages to hanging out at a spot "where everybody knows your name." The first is that, as a regular, you know when the specials are. Monday night $3 margaritas, happy hour two-for-ones, the world is yours when you've been hanging at a bar long enough to become familiar with the deals.
You'll also be in the loop when it comes to things like trivia nights, movie viewing parties, and local bands, so you never have to deal with crippling FOMO (fear of missing out). And finally, it's pretty cool to have a bar to chill at without an entourage. Sometimes you need a drink and all your friends pass.
When you're a regular, the bar's always full of friends: bartenders you're on a first name basis with, other regulars, and cool new people you're not scared to talk to because this is "your" bar.
If you've got a spot you love, but you're not sure how to break through to "regular" status, read on for our Dos and Don'ts. You'll be the life of the party in no time!
Do
Tip consistently. Look, you don't have to throw handfuls of golden doubloons at your barkeep à la Scrooge McDuck on a bender, but a dollar for a beer and two dollars for a cocktail is only fair for the person who's sweating behind a barmat so you can have a good time.
Don't
Expect free stuff. How would you like it if someone came to your job and said, "Hey, when you take out my appendix, could you get my gall bladder too, but for free?" And when you said you'd be fired if you did that, he or she whined, "But I get sick in here all the tiiiimmme?" Your bartender's job depends on selling drinks, not donating them, and she could be fired for "hooking you up."
Read More About How to Become Your Local Bar's Favorite Regular