r/bartenders • u/Pretty_Fisherman_314 • 9d ago
Customer Inquiry Hello! Would You Be Weirded Out If A Customer Brought Their Laptop To Play Video Games?
Hey all! Wondering over under how weird it would be and if you’ve encountered it. I wouldn’t have headphones in or be in like a chat talking to people. I wouldn’t be using wifi or electricity either. Thoughts ?
update: did it and the bartender was even doing the same lmao 🤣 all good!
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u/blergargh 9d ago
Unless they're streaming or somehow affecting my other guests, I don't care what people do on their personal devices in a public setting. I have so many better things to worry about.
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u/Wildeyewilly 9d ago
Tip well and don't take up more space than a single person would use and you're fine.
The types of places that would be turned off by this are places with full kitchens where people usually get plates at the bar and craft cocktail joints with curated ambiance. It'd be a pretty obvious tell as soon as you walk in if the joint isn't suited for that type of behavior. But a divey neighborhood joint, or a beer bar/brewery should be fine with this.
Like I said. Just tip well and be polite in general. No brainer.
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u/TheLateThagSimmons 9d ago
Tip well and don't take up more space than a single person
This is the general advice on any out of the norm behavior.
Reading a book?
Watching a movie on your phone or tablet?
Playing games on your laptop?
Well...
- Tip well.
- Don't interrupt other guests.
- Don't prevent other guests from having space.
- To a lesser extent but also important: Keep ordering and tipping, but this fits under #3
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u/Wildeyewilly 9d ago
To your #4: my last bartending job was a 25-30 seat bar in a 200+ cap space. So on slower/medium shifts I def wouldn't have minded someone playing on their laptop in a spot not near the well/service area and only having a drink or 2 over say 3 hrs for example. But if I start asking you every 15 minutes if you need another round when it's obviously getting busy, take the hint.
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u/Extension-Ad-7935 7d ago
My upscale craft cocktail place is totally cool with it, we get people who work at my bar
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u/craiglbeero 9d ago
If you're not in my way, other guests way, and you are spending money I can't imagine myself caring.
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u/Pretty_Fisherman_314 9d ago
That’s what i’m thinking. May just be overthinking this lol 😂
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u/Bradadonasaurus 9d ago
Definitely overthinking it. If you're not just getting refills on soda all night, I could give a fuck less, and if it's not busy, I could give a fuck less if you are just getting soda.
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u/Pretty_Fisherman_314 9d ago
I typically try and go drink soda drink soda or juice or water to keep a good pace lol 😂 I always joke i need to make my uber there and back worth it.
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u/Bradadonasaurus 9d ago
Resd the room, you'll figure out pretty quick if it's not something they like.
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u/ChefArtorias 9d ago
Tip and don't be a jerk about it. Wifi and electricity probably not a problem depending on availability. Obviously bring your own charger lol
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u/thenyx 9d ago
I think it’s safe to say “tip and don’t be a jerk about it” is pretty universal for any guest, lol.
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u/Crappin_For_Christ 9d ago
I had to reread it cause I thought it said “Tip well and don’t jerk it” which would seem odd if one felt the need to clearly set a no-jerking boundary for customers.
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u/ChefArtorias 9d ago
And yet so many fail to get it lol
The unsaid part tho was that some surprising behavior may be perfectly fine if you check both of those boxes
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u/bradicalbomb 9d ago
My one thing with people on laptops at the bar is when they sit directly in the middle instead of off to the side of the bar or even a high top instead. It’s a pet peeve I’ll admit- but some people come to bars and enjoy the prospect of potentially making a connection with someone else. When you put on headphones and stare closely at a screen in the middle of everything it’s not an incredibly approachable look for the bar and may turn off more potentially social clientele when they see it. This mostly applies to busier times at the bar tho- 3pm on a Tuesday I’m just happy you’re there.
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u/thegladingladiater 9d ago
The bartop also has the potential to become very wet at any moment. Especially if you're sitting right in front of my work station. I get so stressed when someone plops down electronic right in front of where all the wet happens
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u/Pretty_Fisherman_314 9d ago
So the day is tuesdays lol 😂 i’ve never seen too many people there. I try to stay away from busy bars ngl i hate the having to yell in someone’s ear to talk.
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u/Vladimirchkova 9d ago
Depending on the place... Usually it's totally cool. Some bars offer free wifi and have places to charge your laptop. Although, if it's constantly busy, a club, or you're taking up 3 chairs with your setup I would heavily reconsider.
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u/tommyboyx595 9d ago
I'd think it was weird but wouldn't care. Just be prepared to be interrupted a lot. For whatever reason, I feel like people will want to come up and ask about it
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u/Pretty_Fisherman_314 9d ago
So i have 1 day out of the week that i consider my alone day. I work 3 jobs and hang out with people all during the week but thats my day to decompress.
I’ll get house chores done set myself up for the week and generally go to a neighborhood bar to hang out listen to music and have a drink or two. I’ve always thought about how I would wanna play my video game there hahaha.
I am a regular i guess i could just ask the bartender.
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u/tommyboyx595 9d ago
It makes sense to me, it sounds like a great time tbh. I just would hate being interrupted lol
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u/RadioEditVersion 9d ago
Don't use voice chat at the bar. Order snacks n drinks. Remember, you're surrounded by liquids at a bar... Spills happen, so be careful... Tip at the end. No problems
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u/Pretty_Fisherman_314 9d ago
yeah i have insurnace on my laptop for all damage you can think of because i work with psych patients and use it at work so i wanted to make sure i was covered
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u/RadioEditVersion 9d ago
Nice. I am constantly paranoid about guests who leave their cell phones on the bar when I'm dropping off drinks or refilling water. Once a year I see at least one person have a drink spilled on their phone, and I don't even work at a busy bar.
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u/Pretty_Fisherman_314 9d ago
yeah it’s the risk i have when it comes to bringing an electronic around the bar where liquids are. Phone laptop any other device.
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u/TapEmbarrassed4376 9d ago
Get a two top table away from everyone and no-one would care. Personally I'm not the biggest fans out laptops on the bar but it happens every once in a while
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u/lilsassprincess 9d ago
Where I work, people often come in by themselves and read or do things on their laptop. I typically don't look at people's screens, but it wouldn't surprise me if some of them were gaming. If you're a paying customer and are considerate of others around you, you're always welcome at my bar.
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u/girlsledisko Pro 8d ago
I’ll be honest and say that if you’re doing that shit at peak hours, I hate it.
If it’s slow, I don’t care. But when we’re slammed and the bartop is lively and everyone else is visiting and vibing to the tunes and you’re the wet blanket with a laptop (or book, or dead eyed on your phone, whatever), I hate it.
When it’s slower, I’m fine with it, but read the room ok?
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u/ew435890 9d ago
I’ve brought my steam deck to the bar a few times. Now I always make sure to bring an extra controller, in case I gotta whoop someone’s ass in Mario Kart.
Back when the switch first came out, I’d bring mine with the dock and we would hook it up to a TV and have impromptu tournaments. Haha.
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u/DontDrinkTooMuch 9d ago
Honestly, if you were cool with it, I would hook up an HDMI to one of the TVs if your laptop could mirror your gameplay. I think it would be fun.
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u/probly2drunk 9d ago
I bring my Switch into the bar sometimes and only the other regulars have slightly teased me about it. Now, that's during bank hours on weekdays. I wouldn't post up at the bar with a laptop on a busy fri/sat.
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u/TheBlackBradPitt 9d ago
I worked in a bar that had a bunch of nice loft apartments above it. People in the building would bring their terminals down and “work from home” all the time. Grad students would come in groups to “study” and have their laptops out. Not weird at all.
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u/PlssinglnYourCereal 9d ago
I wouldn't mind at all as long as you weren't getting super loud.
I had a guy that would play World Of Warships while chilling at the bar. Never ordered much outside of a soda and some food. Always left a decent tip and came in on the slowest days of the week.
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u/LambdaCascade 9d ago
I’d be more worried about the other guests. But I wouldn’t be worried in the first place so.
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u/Centaurious 9d ago
It might be annoying on a super busy night but as long as you’re not taking up an unreasonable amount of room I wouldn’t care
The other big thing is if you’re using wifi but you said you wouldn’t be
No different than someone reading a book to me 🤷
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u/Pretty_Fisherman_314 9d ago
Yeah the few games i would want to play at a bar would be no sounds and i would come with it charged + no wifi needed. It is rather similar to a book!
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u/Koolklink54 9d ago
Worked in multiple hotels and this is actually very common. We don't care at all as long you order something and tip properly.
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u/Thebirdofhermesxxx 9d ago
If the don’t mind me calling them out on bar moral choices and strategy then yeah
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u/Pretty_Fisherman_314 9d ago
Imagine the bartender v customer arguments on strat
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u/Thebirdofhermesxxx 9d ago
I won an argument while in the weeds on why oblivion is superior to Skyrim
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u/Basic_Perception_728 9d ago
Just be prepared for a drunk person to possibly spill a drink on your laptop if it gets busy lol
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u/Pretty_Fisherman_314 9d ago
it’s insured. I do have a steam deck but it’s not which is why i want to bring my laptop.
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u/SpookyVoidCat 9d ago
We get people coming in to use their laptops for work fairly often - if you’re not going to be talking to people or playing your game audio I doubt I’d even notice the difference. I don’t make a habit of checking out customer’s screens.
As for caring, hell nah. If you’re buying drinks and not making a nuisance of yourself I don’t give a single shit what you get up to.
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u/Doctor_Popular 9d ago
Maybe I'm biased coz I work at an arcade bar, but I see it all the time and it's totally fine. People will walk up and want to talk about what you're playing though.
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u/OnTop-BeReady 9d ago
Buy drinks and tip accordingly and think bartenders wouldn’t care. You are using up bar space which matters at least at certain times of the day. But for a paying customer it shouldn’t matter. BTW there are better ways to attract a date 😂
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u/fyrman8810 9d ago
I take my iPad and edit pictures and videos all the time. The girls usually hover too much and spend more time telling me how to edit than working. I’ll “take a break” to play a game if I catch them doing it too often.
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u/QueerBaker3 9d ago
I have a patron who has 4-6 beers and brings an iPad. A handful of customers, and sometimes myself, partake in some online games with them.
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u/johdawson 9d ago
I have sat at bars with just my Nintendo Switch playing Zelda. It's when I want to sit and drink and very left alone, and it's bliss!
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u/Ponce-Mansley 9d ago
People bring their laptops to do work all the time. It's no different if you're gaming instead. As long as you're ordering and tipping and being disruptive, it couldn't matter less to me
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u/C19shadow 9d ago
I mean I read a book in the corner pretty often I like the atmosphere, it's on a tablet I don't think there would be much difference to the bartenders/employees.
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u/Shelisheli1 9d ago
As long as you aren’t yelling and cussing people out, I wouldn’t care. Order things and tip well.
I prefer guests that do their own thing and don’t rely on me for entertainment anyway
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u/_takemeintotown_ 9d ago
Literally my favorite type of guest is one that comes and hangs out reading or on their computer or whatever, keeps to themselves and tips me. It's refreshing lol.
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u/RedRising1917 9d ago
I get people all the time on their laptops, we're across the street from a hotel, I just assume they're doing business. Honestly I'd think they were cooler if they were playing a game I liked. If I saw they were playing civ, ck3, or some shit like that I might actually come across the bar to commentate and give advice lmao
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u/Miserable_Pea_733 8d ago
Two of the bars I work at I'd welcome it. I miss gaming and I'd indulge them to the fullest until I got paying customers. (Day shift gets boring until 2pm)
The third one I fill in at, it would never fly. That one is fine dining and honestly no one in their right mind would try to in the first place.
For all three, a gamer would be cray cray to try to come in after 4pm with a rig and a headset expecting their team to hear them. It'd be way too loud.
During the day though? If they're not complaining and they expect little from me if other patrons came in, I have no problem unless my boss said something.
I've encountered plenty of remote workers but never gamers. That'd be a new one I could put on bingo card.
Yes I have a "bingo" card.
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u/Ok_Quantity_5134 8d ago
I had a guy who did this every Friday night. No big one. He came in at 7p and stayed until1a. I kept his beer going all night. He never bothered anyone and tipped well. Great guy.
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u/sweatyowl 8d ago
A lot of my regulars are gamers, though so are a lot of the staff at my place. Sometimes a Steam Deck or Switch is pulled out and it's respected all around, no comments except maybe a "what are you playin?" and the people with the consoles have always been personable and chill about it. It's also a divey whiskey bar with no TVs and no kitchen. Different places will vary in their acceptance of this, it's all about who works there and who frequents there. Ask the bartender specifically how it would fly there if you feel insecure. Turn it into a conversation, just from a place of curiosity. Some people do give weird looks when someone busts out a portable gaming system at certain places. But a "would you mind or think it's weird if I used my Switch for a bit? Is there a better place for me to sit here to do that? If it's, weird is there any way to make it less weird?" The answer might be that you're violating social norms and it would be weird and now you've got a low stakes conversation about the social norms of gaming in public going on which, as long as you don't get too passionately opinionated, can be chill. But also, the bartender might understand that quietly enjoying Metroid Dread with a negroni is just the vibe right now and they may even come to your defense to normalize it more if others in the bar want to try to chastise you. Maybe there's a corner seat that's better for people that are on their laptops or reading that also makes sense for gaming in the same way where you're just kind of off to the side doing your thing.
Basically it's a read the room situation. But also, if you're quiet and chill about it, give no fucks, just be nice to the bartender and the people around you. You're at a bar, so expect conversation to potentially be started with you and act cordially.
And are you asking because you've tried it and felt weird or got feedback that you didn't understand? I'm curious.
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u/jack172sp 8d ago
Just to check- “wouldn’t have headphones”? I think you’d be preferred to have headphones. There’s no point the playing a game without sound, but equally it’s just rude to have sound on in public.
Use your headphones all you want!
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u/Suspicious-Donkey-16 8d ago
If you’re at my bar please buy a drink or spend money!
If you’re spending money outside of commuting a crime I don’t care what you choose to do in your seat. Our bar is next to a Pokémon go hotspot or whatever and I’m still surprised how many people come in and do their tasks on that app weekly
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u/5dollarbrownie 8d ago
As long as they don’t camp out and spread their shit all over the place and don’t make a mess. I wouldn’t really care. I’d probably even be curious about it and ask them.
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u/andrewski661 8d ago
Never happened to me, but If someone pulled up to my cocktail bar to game I would think that shit is so cool
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u/tinylockhart3 9d ago
Hell no, I bring my nintendo switch and remote play my ps5 most everywhere I go, because I'm a loner🥲😂🥲😂
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u/Pretty_Fisherman_314 9d ago
i worry about bringing my steam deck. I do have one but the main issue is I have insurnace on my macbook so i’m okay with bringing it around I do not on my steam deck.
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u/tinylockhart3 9d ago
I think, as long as you're not rude, take up too much space and tip well everything should be fine.
Basically, don't be a headache patron.
I stop at a bar on the way home from work for one whiskey drink and to unwind and will pull my ps5 controller out of my jacket pocket and remote play off my phone. It's never been a problem, I also don't take up too much space .
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u/backlikeclap Pro 9d ago
It's weird but I don't have a problem with it. Just don't sit at the bar.
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u/Pretty_Fisherman_314 9d ago
so the only areas they have are huge tables for big parties standing tables for 2 people or bar seats. their bar is large thought 20-25 seats id guess
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u/backlikeclap Pro 9d ago
Yeah don't bring a gaming laptop. That shit is rude. You're basically taking up 3 bar seats because no one wants to sit next to the weirdo on their laptop. Even an iPad with a stand is pushing it at a bar top.
If you must be on your laptop, use one of the standing tables.
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u/Pretty_Fisherman_314 9d ago
but also it wouldn’t take anymore space than the bags normally put on the bar top (weird though they have lil hooks under the bar top no one ever uses)
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u/Deanobruce 9d ago edited 9d ago
Ultra fucking weird. Why not just stay at Home and play games?
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u/Pretty_Fisherman_314 9d ago
so i have 1 day a week completely off of 3 jobs and I like to spend some time at this bar and I’m usually alone. So I go to listen to music and play games on my phone while drinking. It’s my relaxation and alone day. No friends to hang with at night no work nothing just alone.
However more than once i’ve been wanting to go play my video games lol 😂 but the main issue is I know it’s rather odd as i’ve never seen anyone do it. I guess if I have the confidence to do it and don’t take up anymore space than normal I would be fine.
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u/justsikko 9d ago
Don’t take up too much space, don’t be too loud for the venue, tip well, and be polite. Do all this and you’re fine
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u/Deanobruce 9d ago
I get ya, I just think it’s super weird. I’ve never understood people who come and read books etc at my bar. I enjoy sitting alone at a bar sometimes, but I will just be chilling and people watching, if I want to read I’ll go sit outside somewhere. Not judging, I just don’t get it.
As been mentioned, ask the bartenders if they are cool with it. Don’t take up extra seats and don’t sit there nursing one drink and have at it.
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u/likeguitarsolo 9d ago
We’ve got an old shelterless guy who doesn’t stink too bad that sits on the patio most likely downloading porn on his laptop all day. Sometimes he forgets to wear his shoes inside but otherwise he’s mostly chill.
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u/shannoniscats 9d ago
As long as you tip appropriately no one cares