The 10 Types of People You'll Meet at a Bar

Bars can be a great place to have a drink, chat with friends, dance the night away, or meet an interesting person or two. Depending on where you are and what time of day it is, your bar experience will vary.

Some people go to bars for many different reasons; some enjoy the social atmosphere while others choose its locale for convenience. Whatever your reason may be there are types of people that you will surely meet at your local watering hole.

1. Bartender

The bartender is a key to the bar experience because he is your first contact with the establishment and he or she may have intimate knowledge of the bar's happenings and history.

They are often a wealth of information about the neighborhood, city, or town and will greet you with a warm smile, offer you a drink from his own stash, or tell you where to find your favorite type of beer on tap that day.

If they don't accommodate you then be wary because they may not give attention to other customers arriving after you as well as to potential customers coming in after you.

2. Dive Bars

These can be a scary place for some people as you will meet locals that are not always the most pleasant, especially if they are in the mood to party and have had a few too many drinks already.

You may even find your neighbor from next door there drinking at the same time or total strangers talking or dancing with you. You may want to take a friend or two with you in case you need backup.

If there is trouble, just walk away; this would be a bad place to fight and it is better to leave before it gets bad around you and remember, cover your drink with your hand as a bartender will come by after he/she sees two people fighting at the bar.

3. Hipster

The hipster is a hybrid of the promenader and barfly. These are the people that are usually found with their laptops or at the bar with a beer and a book, but they never stay in any one place for long.

The hipster goes from table to table and group to group of people with not much interest in either one conversing or playing darts or pool. To make matters worse, if you happen to be talking to them about something other than their current topic, they will act as though you have said something completely off-base and distant from what you were trying to say causing you to want nothing more than for them to leave immediately or shut up already.

4. Promenaders

Whether or not you are a promenader or like to promenade, these people can be overwhelming for some and even for those who love to promenade, some will meet one that just isn't as fun as the others you have met before.

This is especially true in groups when they take up a lot of room in a very small bar, they may get you into a conversation and try to talk you into buying them a round of drinks, or they may be involved in an interesting conversation but don't invite you into it because they are waiting for someone else to arrive that may know the other person better, or worse yet be on their cell phone or computer all night long. To be on the safe side, if you can, go somewhere else to get a drink before they arrive.

5. Dancing Female or Male

With the exception of the promenader, these people are likely to have a very good time or at least seem that way. They may have had a few drinks before arriving or even been drinking them all night long. Dancing with them will be impossible as you will be held closely by one of these and when she wants to dance with another customer she will pull you off of her and move onto that customer even if you are more interested in going home than dancing with her.

6. Table Hoppers

These are the same people as the dancing female/male but for different reasons. One of these may have quite a tab and may not want to pay it all at once so they will freely order drinks from many different bartenders and waiters to avoid getting caught before leaving by one of them.

They may also do this to see if their favorite bartender has left for the night or if he is still around so that they can keep ordering drinks from him because that is the person or people they like best, not necessarily because they like for him or her to get extra tips; some of these people just really enjoy drinking a lot.

7. Crowds

The crowd is sometimes referred to as the "buzz" by those who are in the know. The crowd can be a fun place for some people but it can also be a noisy and inattentive place for others.

The crowd is not always bad, especially if it is a group of friends enjoying themselves and talking, but you will meet some that will make you feel like you are at the center of attention simply because they are there headed to your side of the bar, rather than over where you were heading.

They will order more drinks than they have time to drink and ask you an amazing number of questions that you could answer if they would just leave you alone and give you a minute but they won't.

They may try to strike a conversation with someone else while talking to you, which can be rude especially if the person already knows them.

8. Barflies

There are people that like to go to bars and hang out there all the time and others that go once in a while or only when there is some event going on in the area.

There are people that prefer from those who feel like they have to go out every weekend and be seen at the bars for a month at least, if not more.

They may have friends that look up to them as being one of those people who hangs out at all the bars in town and they may want to please them by staying at a bar as long as they can stay rather than going home or heading somewhere else.

Always be aware of people like this and make plans to be somewhere else if you are not ready to go home.

You may near the end of the night decide to leave as well but they may not want to because they were told to stay as long as they could by someone else or they want to keep drinking until closing time.

9. The Bouncers

Bouncers can be a good thing at times or not so much, it all depends on the person manning the door who will either let some or many people in or not let any in at all.

The last thing you want to do is be caught in a line up outside the bar with people who just can't wait to get in because you will be standing in line for a long time, even if you really don't have to.

If you see that there is going to be a line up and it seems like it is going nowhere, head over to the other side of the street or back down the block until they get bored and decide to let people in rather than wait around yourself.

10. Overly Attracted People

Some people talk to everyone in a bar and others will only talk to certain people. While most of the people that talk to you are nice and friendly, there are always those few that are overly friendly and even sometimes insulting.

They will come up to you, ask if they can help you in any way and then suggest that you take them home instead of going back to your own home.

While they may have said it in jest or as a joke, they probably really mean it because other than being obnoxious the bar is the only place they have to go where women or men will at least be receptive to anything they say, even if it is mean or insulting.

In Conclusion

Some people are great to be around at bars, especially bars where you can sit down and have a drink while they peruse the scene while others are more enjoyable in small doses that only last up to an hour or so. It also depends on what kind of a bar you're going to as well, some types of bars attract certain people that other kinds don't.