How to Become Your Local Bar's Favorite Regular

When you're a regular, the bar's always full of friends.
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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.

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!

1
Don’t
Make a mess. There’s a Sheryl Crow song where she watches the man beside her at the bar “peel the labels from his bottles of Bud” and “light every match in an oversized pack.” That is a terrible idea. Take your empties to the bar. Don’t set things on fire. Sounds like common sense, but when alcohol is involved, sometimes common sense stops being common. Photo Credit: Thinkstock Click Here to see More Tips on Becoming Your Local Bar’s Favorite Regular
2
Do
Chat up other regulars. If you want the corner bar to feel like home, make nice with the people who’ve been coming there for years. Get a card game started; order a pizza for the most likely starving bartender and the patrons who don’t want to leave to eat. Folks will be greeting you with “Hey Norm!” (or whatever your actual name is) in no time. Photo Credit: Shutterstock
3
Don’t
Hit on the bartender. No one likes being sexually harassed at work (or ever, really), so extend your bartender a little courtesy and treat him or her like a person you respect and not someone who has to force an awkward smile and put up with your disgusting leering to pay the bills. Photo Credit: Shutterstock Click Here to see More Tips on Becoming Your Local Bar’s Favorite Regular
4
Do
Get home safely! Don’t make your bartender or the other bar patrons wrangle your keys from your clammy drunk hands. You’ll forever be remembered as “that girl” who couldn’t hold her liquor. Call a cab. Call a friend. But whatever you do, don’t drive drunk. Photo Credit: Shutterstock
5
Do
Have a great time! If you love a bar enough to go on the regular, you’ll probably become a regular. Just be your cool, considerate self, and the bar will like you just as much as you like it. Click Here to see More Tips on Becoming Your Local Bar’s Favorite RegularPhoto Credit: Shutterstock

-- Emily Alford, The Daily Meal

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