Sometimes a fun night out with friends can lead to having too much to drink in the eyes of the bartender serving you, which can prompt them to "cut" you off.
A viral TikTok reveals that bar employees have secret ways to keep a drunken customer from having another alcoholic drink, and one method is quite brilliant.
Bartender Benji Spears, famous for disliking "surprise me" orders, recently posted a clip showing how he serves a friend who has had too much alcohol, and so many other bar workers are commenting that it's something they do with patrons.
"When your drunk bestie is insisting on another drink, but you know they have to work in the morning," Spears captioned the April 27 post, now with a massive 7.5 million views.
Whether they are looking out for you or you're simply too inebriated, the bartender hack for cutting patrons off goes as follows, based on Spears' video: fill the glass with soda and juice while acting like you're pouring liquor into it at the same time, then smile and butter them up by saying, "All right, honey, a strong one coming right up!"
According to other bartenders in the comment section, drunk customers usually don't suspect a thing, and if they do, there are even more tricks up their sleeves.
"Me when I cut my regulars off. They’re like, 'doesn’t taste like alcohol!' And I’m like, 'Wow, are you SURE you’re not drunk?'" a bartender commented.
Another TikTok user suggested yet another way to trick a drunk person.
"Put a TINY TINY bit of lime juice down the straw. It’ll give them that 'OOOHEEEY' sensation and think nothing of it," they wrote.
The comment section on the bartender's viral TikTok.benjispears | TikTok
There are even people who are thankful for Spears' suggestion, calling him both a good friend and bartender because he looks out for people's well-being.
"As someone who always asks for one drink too many… you are doing the Lord’s work out there," one user wrote.
In this situation, Spears was simply looking out for a friend. However, there are legal risks that establishments can face when it comes to overserving a customer.
According to American Addiction Centers, there are currently 30 states in the U.S. that have a form of a "dram shop law" which governs "commercial establishments that sell and serve alcoholic beverages to people who are visibly intoxicated, or to minors, who go on to cause injury or death to others (third parties)."