In fiction, the sole
Idle Animation for
bartenders who aren't currently filling a glass is to dry a glass (unless they're the main character, in which case they will never do
either of these things). You'll never see them stocking ice or frequently-ordered drinks, or trying to keep customers (who aren't the protagonist) engaged. In real life, bartenders who always have a glass in their hand tend to get fired.
Understandable in TV and Movies, where its an easy barkeeping duty to do in multiple takes, while many other jobs would need undoing before they could be done again and cause continuity problems. Less understandable in other media; it's probably a result of the stereotype.
Examples:
Anime and Manga
- Giriko Kutsuzawa in Bleach, specially in the anime.
Comic Strips
- Wormy in Dragon magazine #79. The troll bartender is shown drying a glass as he listens to his customers.
- The Mother Goose & Grimm comic for November 16th, 2012
◊. The dog Grimm is at a bar where the bartender is cleaning a glass with a cloth.
- Pardon My Planet has an occasional strip with a bartender drying a glass and listening to a customer talk.
- The strip for November 29th, 2012 has the customer complaining about his wife.
- The strip for January 12th 2013 has a similar scene with a customer talking about pursuing the American dream: life, liberty and the pursuit of happy hour.
- In the strip for February 21st, 2013 a customer is complaining about his wife not finding it romantic when he holds up her old black lace teddy and says "Let's see if you can still fit into this".
- strip for April 18th, 2013. A man says that when he told his wife that it would be O.K. if she found someone else after he was gone, he meant "gone" as in dead, not "gone" as in "at work".
Film
- The bartender in Blazing Saddles who "always kept things nice and clean" by spitting in them and shining them.
- The bartender at the saloon in Back to the Future Part III.
- Heavy Metal segment "Taarna". When the title character goes into the bar the bartender is drying a glass. When she goes over to get information from him he's still drying a glass.
- The Sting. Just before Billie leaves the lounge of her whorehouse to warn the con men about Snyder, the bartender can be seen drying a glass with a cloth.
Literature
- In Harry Potter, Aberforth Dumbledore's first appearance involved him wiping a glass that seemed to be getting dirtier. The barkeep washing glasses is an obvious cover for his eavesdropping. Two books later, the stereotype falls away altogether as he becomes a full-blown Rick Blaine type.
- Lampshaded in Guards! Guards!. Sham the bartender is constantly cleaning glasses, which always confuses Vimes because the glasses never seem to be clean. A possible (and obvious) answer to TP's dilemma offered by - who else? - Douglas Adams is that the cloth is actually dirtier than the glasses, resulting in an opposite effect where the alcohol kills whatever germs have peacefully been living on the towel.
- Mac, the proprietor of McAnally's Pub in The Dresden Files, is always either wiping glasses or polishing the bar.
Tabletop Games
- Dungeons & Dragons adventure I6 Ravenloft. The barkeep of the "Blood of the Vine" tavern mindlessly cleans glasses one after the other. When they're all clean, he starts over. He only stops doing this to take drink orders and serve drinks.
- Kobolds Ate My Baby 3rd edition. The sample village of West Bumble has the Screaming Unicorn Tavern. The barkeeper is washing the three unbroken glasses in the place.
- Paranoia supplement Acute Paranoia, adventure "Botbusters". When the barbot (bartender robot) Jonesie receives a message from The Computer, he's standing around polishing some glasses.
Video Games
Western Animation
