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You are a bartender working a night shift when a group of people come in on a Valentine's Day pub crawl.

Posted in Valentine's Day on Nov 1, 2022

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✍️ 33 stories

No footprints in the snow

Shortlisted for Contest #21 ⭐️

It was nearly midnight and I was beginning to hope I could spend the last hours of my shift quietly cleaning tables and polishing glasses. Then the door blew open and a man dressed as Santa Claus stepped inside.“Merry Christmas!” he said, beaming at me and throwing his arms wide. He even ho-ho-hoed.“And to you,” I said, smiling my customer service smile. “What can I get you?”“A glass of coke, please.” The guy in the Santa suit was broad and round-bellied and had a little difficulty getting onto a barstool. The padding was probably his own.I ...

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The Bar at the end of Infinity

Submitted to Contest #21

I loved working at that little bar. It was a hole in the wall at the end of a road that went on forever. It was so far out of town that very few even knew it was there, most just stumbled upon it when it was meant to be. It was quiet, clean and dark. I knew the locals and they trusted me to supply them with their usual until they slipped into an early morning coma.So naturally I thought it impossible. Never in the ten or more years that I have covered the midnight shift had we seen a pub crawl. As the clock ticked over to three in the mornin...

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A Magical Wintersday Eve

Submitted to Contest #21

“Welcome to the Fairy Grotto.” I greeted the new patrons entering my pub. “Happy Wintersday to you all.”“Yeah, same to you,” one of them muttered as they pushed into the bar, tearing the edge of one of my wings as they passed.It had been a quiet night so far. The only customers were a group of ten elves sitting in the back corner. They’d been here since I’d opened up. They were nice and polite and they’d ordered just about everything on the menu. Elves held their liquor well however, so they wouldn’t be a problem. This new group, though… wel...

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Careless on Christmas

Submitted to Contest #21

(Genre: dark comedy)Jen clutched the kitchen knife so tightly that his knuckles went white. He had been hiding behind the counter for the past fifteen minutes, trying to hear what the dubious group was planning to do next.“How about we bomb them? We can drop five bombs and finish the rest off with our guns.” Said the guy with the fruit soda.“I think it’s doable, that way, we won’t have to face the army either as none will be left.” The beer drinker added.“I don’t know man, think about all the innocent lives lost.” The man with the water said...

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Taproom Reversal

Submitted to Contest #21

It was three days before Christmas on a cold winter night in 1899. The city of Brooklin had the holiday spirit in full swing, there was no holding back. Carolers prowled the streets every night, skies lit up with the collective glow of Christmas lights, snow danced across the frost bitten air and stores were jam-packed with every holiday supplies imaginable. It was on one such festive night, that a bartender sat alone in his pub. Technically he didn’t close up until ten o’clock pm, but the place was deserted. A single lonely drunkard sa...

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Standing Up For The Lady

Submitted to Contest #21

Bob headed to work.  The cold December wind chilled his bones and the sky was filled with ominous clouds, a possible storm approaching.  He hurried his steps anxious to get inside. Another Saturday night at the bar.  Last weekend before Christmas so it shouldn’t be too crowded.  Maybe just a few regulars, Bob thought with a sigh.As a San Fransisco transplant Bob often wished he worked at Finnerty’s the Irish Sports Bar just up the road.  They usually had Bay Area  fans. &n...

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Peach Schnapps Peach

Submitted to Contest #21

Most of the staff hated the holiday pub crawl crowd. “Take the bar, Marty,” they would say. “College kids home for the holidays and alcohol are worse than the usual drunk idiot crowd.” It was no matter to him. Drinking was drinking, booze was booze, he enjoyed both in his time and would not judge another for doing the same.The first few groups came and went, leaving Marty a generous tip each time. A new group entered. “Peach schnapps all ‘round.” The leader of the group was the stereotypical fraternity boy. He had the huge smile, shoulders b...

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The Same Shade of Silver

Submitted to Contest #21

Look, I’m as charitable as the next person. Okay, maybe not if the next person were Mother Teresa or Bill Gates, but saints and billionaires are pretty thin on the ground, and I reckon I more than do my bit, though I sometimes think if another of those earnest young persons oh so politely accosts me outside the shopping centre insisting they’re not after money and there’s no obligation, I might just forget I’m a lady.     And we’d certainly done our bit in the Berry and Beer Gut. We firmly believed that col...

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The Triple Broken Nickel

Submitted to Contest #21

Ugh, Savannah screams. I’m tired of this graveyard shift at Triple Broken Nickel Bar and Grill. Why me? Can’t I catch a lucky nickel and get the heck out of here. Just as Savannah slams the brown bottle down on the bar to her routine customer Harry. A bar crawl of medical and law students come in. Oh, great says Savannah. Harry loudly says to Savannah you going to have good tips tonight? Savannah giggles. As the bar crawlers are getting cozy. The atmosphere of the bar pauses as Savannah reflects on her hard semester at Harvard. She thinks to...

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Detective Deplorable's Greatest Case

Submitted to Contest #21

“Twelve thirty-two, you say?”“Roughly”“You can’t be rough about this we need specific times. Don’t tell me roughly, tell me smoothly”“I don’t think that’s a thing”“If I say it’s a thing then it’s a thing”. The detective smashed his hand down on the table and stared right into my eyes. He spent about two minutes doing it. I’m not sure if he thought we were having a staring contest or whether he’d just zoned out. I couldn’t tell.“So six of them came into your bar?”“Yes, I’ve already told you all this. I’m not sure exactly why you’re persisting...

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Margaritaville

Submitted to Contest #21

I stacked the beer mugs into the freezer then hung the wineglasses above the bar.Christmas Eve, and I'm working the night shift at the Ocean Spray Restaurant. Not a bad place. Live music most weekends and a pub menu. Ouside there was a 10 slip marina and ocean as far as I can see.I didn't really mind working tonight because I had no family, no boyfriend, no big holiday plans.I heard the familiar screech of brakes as my boss Jimmy swung into the parking lot. He thought it was fun to drive his red corvette fast towards the front window, then s...

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Lessons from the bar

Submitted to Contest #21

Thank god it ain’t happy hour. The last customer was about to close his tab. The man stood up from the old wooden stool at the counter and staggered as he struggled to stand still. His head was weary from an extensive night of drinking. Too many beers before closing time. Three empty bottles rested at the countertop and another one lay broken on the floor after he dropped one an hour ago when he was slapped harshly by a young woman. What were they fighting about? I had no idea. All I knew is that she left soon a...

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Bad Apples

Submitted to Contest #21

“Kashmir” played over the house speakers. My mind drifted to the streets of Marrakesh, a place I had never been. The heat, the vendors, and the bodies there, squashed together, probably smelled worse than the bar I tended. But how would I know? I’ve never been anywhere. The Christmas lights brightened the often low lit pub. Gossamer’s wasn’t the kind of place you drank at if you wanted to be seen. With the lights out, it’s less dangerous — at least, that’s what Cobain will say over the JBLs before the night is through. I trust him. So w...

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Spider Hole

Submitted to Contest #21

Serving drinks on Christmas Eve is far from ideal. The bar isn’t exactly the final frontier for the holiday season and yet, everyone is itching to drown in booze whether sprinting away from problems or getting the liquid courage to stare them down. No one wants to cover a holiday shift and I’ve got no family living to spend the time with hence why I’m here providing respite to anyone who needs it unless it’s emotional. I’m tapped out or at least closed up with that. I skip the tradition of making the place seem more festive than it is. ...

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RICH PUB

Submitted to Contest #21

Rich Pub"There are places where an already frenzied youth comes to get more. Here, entertainment is the bread and butter of the locals and locals are so sparse that they can be counted on fingers with respect to tourists. This is goa, where rebels of the society are welcomed with open arms."For Indians, winter may not hold much festivity but Westerners' holiday had just begun. It was beginning of the December afterall. All the pubs are full, except mine. Youths spew trouble in the city, but here in the suburbs, all is quiet. But the door has...

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