Ask Joanna: Where Do I Place Empty Glassware at a Crowded Bar?

Navigating a crowded bar as a guest can be tricky. How do you get the bartender’s attention without being rude? And if you don’t have a seat once you get a drink, where do you go? Then when you’re ready to leave, what do you do with your glass? (Going to a bar is obviously not this bad, but go with it for the purpose of this column.) Unless you’re sitting at a table or standing around a high top, where one might naturally leave empty glassware to be bussed and cleaned for the next guests, the most sensible place to leave any glasses is back on the bar. Which, yeah, might be just as much of a pain in the ass as getting the drinks in the first place, but is far better than leaving dirty cups on another table, especially if people are still at it; a random ledge; or, I don’t know, the floor. And when you make your way back to the bar, don’t worry about getting the bartender’s attention or handing it to them directly. They’re likely already swamped and will see to it that your glasses are taken care of.

Bars only have so many glasses on hand, especially if we’re talking about specific cocktail glasses, and if you’ve ever had the experience of a stretched wait staff scrambling to collect empty glasses so they can be washed and reused, you understand why getting your glass back to the bar, inconvenient as it may seem, is actually pretty important for overall service.

*Image retrieved from ANGHI via stock.adobe.com