Most people understand that closing time means it’s time to leave.

Unfortunately, there always seems to be that one customer who believes the rules don’t apply to them.

This bartender thought she was simply finishing up another late shift when a mother and son stopped in for a drink shortly before she planned to close.

She explained the situation up front and even agreed to serve them bottled beer after cleaning the taps for the night.

However, the woman’s son had other ideas as to how it should all play out.

Instead of paying his bill and heading home, he decided to argue with the bartender over how late he should be allowed to stay.

Read on to see exactly what happened.

AITA for cussing out a customer at the bar after closing hours when he refused to leave?

I’m a bartender/waitress at a bar, and I usually work alone on my shifts. Officially, we close at midnight, but I sometimes stay open an hour or two longer if there are still customers.

Yesterday, there were quite a few people around midnight, so I decided to stay a bit longer.

Around 12:30 a.m., a mother and son showed up. I told them I was closing at 1 a.m. The son said it was fine, ordered a beer, and said something I didn’t catch. Unfortunately, he went to sit down before I could ask what he said.

Apparently, it was another beer he wanted.

I brought them their beers. Everyone else was paying their bills and leaving except one group still waiting for their friend in the bathroom. I started cleaning the beer tap.

When the mother and son finished their beers, they called me over. I asked if they wanted to pay, and the son said he’d told me to let him know before I cleaned the tap because he wanted another. I told him I hadn’t heard that, but the tap was already cleaned and I was done serving for the night.

He said I had to serve him another because he told me earlier. The mother asked if they could have bottled beer instead, to which I agreed and brought them two bottles, adding that they’d have to take them with them once the last group left.

Thankfully, the mother’s attitude was much better.

 The mother said okay, but the son started insisting that the owner told them they can stay however long they want. That’s not true, if the owner wants someone to stay longer, he always calls me first, and I hadn’t heard from him.

The son kept interrupting me, repeating that he can stay as long as he likes since he’s not here often and when he is he wants to enjoy it, then he said he’d tell the owner about my behavior.

After several minutes of this, I lost my patience and called him a bad word, basically **** (it could also translate to idiot in English).

He didn’t get his way, so he threatened to call the cops.

He immediately got defensive and said he’d call the cops. His mother tried to calm things down, saying I was angry because of the other group that was still here, but I told her that the group wasn’t causing any trouble.

I admit I shouldn’t have called him that, that was unprofessional, and I take responsibility for that.

They said they’d pay, and he made a point of saying I’d get no tip (which is weird, because tipping isn’t even common here unless someone rounds up the bill). He also started saying that I’m ugly, nasty and that he doesn’t understand how someone would even hire me.

At this point, she couldn’t lock the door fast enough.

Once they paid, the other group left, and I reminded the duo that it was time to go as agreed. The mother got up to leave without issue, but the son started threatening again to tell the owner. I told him to go ahead.

He kept yelling that I was an incompetent bartender, and at that point I yelled back. He acted shocked that I was raising my voice at him, even though he’d been yelling first.

I showed them to the door, the mother left quietly, but the son grabbed the door and said, “Let me give you some advice…” I pried his hand off, slammed the door, and locked it without letting him finish.

AITA?

Wow! That guy had quite the attitude problem.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a waitress who refused to return a tip after a party returned to the restaurant with a complaint.

Let’s check out what the folks over at Reddit think about how she handled it.

Oh, he definitely heard her.

Here’s a great way to handle future situations like this.

For this reader, you should always respect the bartender.

This person doesn’t care that he wanted another beer.

Entitled people can ruin just about anything.

This bartender tried to be nice and give the man a little extra time, but that still wasn’t good enough for him. Instead of thanking her and heading home, he turned a simple situation into an argument because he didn’t like the answer she gave him.

Sure, she shouldn’t have called him a name. But then again, most people would have lost their patience long before that point.

Honestly, the man’s behavior was ridiculous. Grown men should know better than that.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a customer complaint that led to them losing their VIP status.