When he said "last call for shots", he wasn't kidding.
So the hero wanders into a seedy bar. Maybe he brushes against a less-than-reputable goon. Maybe the goon is just looking to pick a fight.
Maybe the hero can't afford to pay the tab. Whatever the case, this scenario can only end in bloodshed.
The bartender quickly dives behind the bar. A cowardly move... but then he emerges, shotgun in tow and ready to quell any disturbances to his business.
This action is not necessarily limited to bartenders, although it is a common occurrence. Similarly, while the shotgun is a common firearm used, other firearms such as rifles or pistols may be used. The key point is that the firearm is retrieved
specifically from the bar.
Examples:
Anime and Manga
- In Black Lagoon, Bao, the owner of the Yellow Flag, keeps a shotgun behind the bar handy for inevitable shootouts. It doesn't hurt that the bar itself is fully armored to withstand gunfire.
Film
Live-Action TV
Literature
- The Dresden Files: Artemis Bock, the bookstore owner, keeps a sawn-off 10-gauge wired underneath the counter. Mac Anally the bartender has one as well as two M1911s, but they're only placed easily accessible when there's trouble brewing.
Video Games
- The bartender in Deus Ex has a sawed-off shotgun behind the counter. However, she also carries her own.
- After Bond crashes the Kiss Kiss Club in Everything or Nothing, he automatically takes cover behind the bar and acquires a shotgun.
- During Mafia's mid-mission stages, Luigi the bartender packs a shotgun behind the bar and will not hesitate to gun Tommy down if he attacks any of his allies.
- Bartenders in Mafia II will pull a shotgun on Vito if he tries to rob them.
- After Jenny in Gun is taken hostage at the Alhambra Saloon, the bartender unlocks a cabinet behind the bar and pulls out what appears to be a rifle. However, after the cutscene ends he actually uses a pistol instead.
- In the "Massacre at Cheung Chau Fish Restaurant" level of Hitman, if 47 pulls a weapon on the bartender, he will duck behind the bar and unload a sawed-off shotgun on him.
- In Bioshock Infinite, after the player blunders into his bar, the bartender screams "WE'RE CLOSED!" and proceeds to shoot the crap out of you.
- In Max Payne, there is a shotgun tucked behind the (unmanned) reception desk in one of Vinnie's apartments, near the laundromat.
- In Dirge of Cerberus, Vincent can retrieve the Hydra rifle in Edge from behind a bar inside a deserted building.
- The player can do this in Poke646: Vendetta. In Nation City, there is a empty bar the player has to pass through. Picking up the shotgun makes Aliens telepot in, as convenient target practise.
Western Animation
- Bartender Moe Szyslak keeps a sawed-off shotgun handy in case of cheapskate customers or when he loses his temper, which happens all the time. Or when he just wants to rob people.
