Split the Corner Podcast
2 ex bartenders have their favorite bar conversations. Your home for phone down bar discussions on movies, music, sports, history, hypotheticals and whatever else we feel like.
Split the Corner Podcast
Season 1, Episode 15: Tall Tales and Bar Superstitions
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To all the believers and non-believers out there, we here at the Split the Corner Podcast would like to wish you a very happy National Loch Ness Monster Day! If you've ever wondered where Kaz and Kyle stand in relation to cryptozoology, we are prepared to put those questions to bed in this conversation. As it has a tendency to do, the discussion takes a sharp left turn as the guys dive into some of their favorite bar traditions and superstitions. Two dollar bills, counting tips before the shift is over, and whether or not it is bad luck to have your first pull of the tap result in an empty keg are just a few of the superstitions we're discussing today. Who knew bartenders were such a superstitious bunch?
Welcome to Split the Corner. What can we get you?
SPEAKER_01Shout out to Brock Lesnar. I mean, it was it was unexpected, and I'm and I'm not a hundred percent sure if it's legit, right? Because it's WrestleMania and it's pro wrestling and suspension of disbelief and yada yada yada. But from what we saw, Brock Lesnar, the the beast incarnate, has retired.
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah. I don't think that was a I don't think that was a work, dude. I think that was an absolute shoot. I'm curious to know if it was planned or not. It looks like it looks like it wasn't. I agree.
SPEAKER_01I agree. I it I've seen the statement from from Triple H after the show where you know he said, Well, sometimes you just run into a bigger, badder thing, and you've got to consider your life choices, and and that's what happens when you run into the next big thing. You must decide that you know it's your time has passed. And it just the statement just felt like holy shit, he's gone. We gotta say something, let's make the best of this.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it sounds like they didn't know. Yeah, it sounds like he made a decision right then and there. Like they told him ahead of time, hey, you're gonna get essentially squashed by Obafemi. And then he said, All right, cool, took it on the chin, and sold like a mother effort and made him look like a million bucks, but then was like, you know what, that's that's it. I'm gonna call it a career. So 100% shout out to Brock Lesnar, dude. Like that guy was an absolute force of nature. I don't think you'll ever see anything quite like him again. He definitely did not exist prior to his entrance in 03, but there's never gonna be another like Brock Lesnar.
SPEAKER_01No, because you'd have to have that combination of like ultimate physique and just monstrous physical ability. Between the amateur wrestling background and what he pulled off in the UFC cage, and and the fact that everyone that you talk to tells you that he's the the the freak of nature. He's the the absolute pinnacle of physical specimens that they've seen in a world full of physical specimens, and everyone without flinching goes, yeah, Brock Lesnar.
SPEAKER_00And that's not something you can fake, man. Like you can talk about you know wrestling having predetermined outcomes and all of this, but that level of physical ability and that level of being an athlete is not something you can fake. Even even in an era where you know they're getting drug tested and all this, and he comes up clean time and time again. If you and you know, looking back at the physical specimens that there were in the 80s and the in the 90s, you know, he surpassed them all and he did it the right way. But his ability to do things like I'll never see a guy that size do a moonsault ever again. I mean, he didn't land it, but it looked good from a 360-pound behemoth of a man. I mean, that level of physical ability is just that is not something you can fake.
SPEAKER_01He pulled off a couple of spots that I don't think there's anyone left that can pull off those spots. The the superplex for the big show that breaks the ring. You know, like it just's an all-timer, dude. That's how it is, and I don't see anybody in in the in the coming generations that take that place. No, no one's gonna be able to pull that off again.
SPEAKER_00And the thing is, dude, Oba Femi's a big boy, but he's not Brock Lesnar. No, you know what I mean? He's a big boy, and he's got all the potential in the world, but he's not Brock Lesnar.
SPEAKER_01Now, I do have to say that the caveat that comes with it, and the reason that Brock Lesnar is not going to make my mount rushmore, as much as I love Paul Heyman, I don't feel like I can put you on a rushmore if you needed a mouthpiece.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. You're not a five-tool player.
SPEAKER_01No, you're a you're a four and three-quarters tool, but you know, like you're straight A's and everything but cutting a promo.
SPEAKER_00I'm looking forward to the Mount Rushmore of wrestling episode that we eventually are going to do because that is going to be very hotly contested, not just amongst each other, but anybody who listens to this podcast and has an affinity for wrestling. That's going to be a very hotly contested subject.
SPEAKER_01Totally. Uh, and it definitely has to happen at some point. Like three hours of just arguing, um name-calling and things. So, but I want to talk because you and I both froze at the same moment. We knew that he that this was an oh shit moment because of the fact that there is a superstition in the wrestling world that says when you retire, you're supposed to do two things. You're supposed to put over the new guy, and you're supposed to leave your boots in the ring. Right. So literally, your match is over, you sit down and untie your shoes, take them off, and leave them right there in the middle of the ring. Right. And that is what Brock Lesnar did during WrestleMania. He left his boots and his fingerless MMA gloves in the middle of the ring. And that was the moment that froze you and I staring at the TV, going, holy shit. Holy shit. So here's my question. As a bartender, if you were going to retire from the bar, I'm not taking my damn shoes off. No. I don't know what's on the floor. What do you my last shift? Maybe I'll just clean. Um what do you leave behind to let all of the restaurant industry and all of your other bartenders know I have retired?
SPEAKER_00Is my dignity an answer?
SPEAKER_01No, you leave that every night. Every night, right? It it rinses down the drain with all the spilled beer.
SPEAKER_00New Jersey Turnpike shots that you pour for that one last guy.
SPEAKER_01Let's fill in some listeners on that, because that's probably an East Coast thing. I can't imagine that they do Jersey Turnpike shots in Seattle. I'm sure they call it something else. Uh, hop in the comments. Let us know what you guys call the shot that comes from the bartender wringing out the bar rags at the end of the night. It is a thing. I've seen it do we call it a Jersey Turnpike. And it's super gross. It's the bar rails and the and the towels. They get wrung out and then poured into a shot glass and then served to some unsuspecting fraternity guy or newly 21-year-old. I can't imagine.
SPEAKER_00I've I've heard it told that it goes to like the pledge or the newly 21-year-old or the biggest asshole, drunkest asshole at the bar. I've been giving everybody a hard time. I've never actually served it to anyone, but I have seen it done, and it was to a fresh-faced 21-year-old.
SPEAKER_01I've seen it done as well. I've never served it or had one, and I've done a large collection of disgusting shots. Uh, that's for another episode.
SPEAKER_00I think most of the things in the early 2000s. Yeah, well, let's just comment on it. Let's come back here. Let's come back here. Let's start off by saying, What's up, everybody? Welcome back to another episode of Split the Corner. Thanks for being with us. Because, Kaz, it's a very important day to celebrate today. And I think that's why superstitions is gonna play such a big part in today's episode. Would you like to inform all of our friends and listeners what today is? Today is National Loch Ness Monster Day. Hooray! Huzzah! Hooray and Huzzah. Do you believe in the Loch Ness Monster? Let's just put it out there.
SPEAKER_01I 100% believe in the Loch Ness Monster. Get out of here, dude. 100%. Man, I've watched way too many B sci-fi movies about what could potentially be living in the depths of like I don't know, Lake Plat any any place apparently more that you can't see the bottom of apparently has some sort of haunted fish in it, right? According to the sci-fi network. I mean, I've watched Sharktopus, I've watched all sorts of crazy stuff that could be living in the deep. Um, so yeah, I mean, I do I don't know, I don't know about the science of like it's a trapped dinosaur in a Scottish lock that has been there since the Jurassic period or whatever. Um I'm I'm as inclined to believe that as I'm inclined to believe that the Loch Ness monster is a little Girl Scout that was trying to sell Girl Scout cookies, needs about Tree Fitty. Uh so I'm not a hundred percent sure where the origin story lies, but I do believe that there's something in that lake that they that they can't identify.
SPEAKER_00I can actually shed a little a little historical light on this. Uh, the first mention of the Loch Ness monster, I believe, was in like 595 AD, and some guy saw another guy swimming in the lake, and then saw this giant serpent-like creature come up, and he said he commanded it to leave, and it did. And that was the first recorded sighting. And then I think it caught fire again in like the mid-70s or something like that. But like, come on, let's just let's put our cards on the table here. Let's let's put our cards on the table. Let's put our cards on the table. Let's just say that this thing does not exist. The most famous picture of the Loch Ness monster is a black and white photo that is super zoomed in, and it looks like a toy in the middle of a giant puddle.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, or a guy's arm like sticking out of the water, making a dinosaur head.
SPEAKER_00There's just no way that something like that exists. I mean, let's what's what's the oldest living tortoise or something? Like, what do they get to be 150, 175, something like that? I mean, that's a long ass time to be alive. There's a tortoise in in the Philadelphia zoo that's what, a buck 15, something around there. But I mean, you're gonna sit there and tell me that since 595 AD, there's just been some giant ass serpent cruising around Loch Ness, and no one has any definitive proof with the advances in technology and the way that we can now scan things well below the surface of the water using radar or sonar or whatever, and they still can't find anything definitive to prove that this thing exists? Come on, come on, buddy. That Loch Nest monster was a guy's arm or a child's toy that somebody took a picture of and then went, I'm gonna I'm gonna go viral in 1975.
SPEAKER_01Of course not.
SPEAKER_00No, how could you? All the science shows that there aren't any more dinosaurs. And if you're telling me that thing's a dinosaur, I'm gonna tell you I don't believe you.
SPEAKER_01Ah, see, I don't know what it is. I don't know if it's a dinosaur. The I the the spotting of something uh yes, my argument is very much injured uh by the fact that whatever that thing is, it's probably 1500 years old. Um I don't I don't know how that plays out. Um but I do believe that even with our modern technology that there there would be ways for that thing to hide if it was really trying to hide. I I feel the same way about Bigfoot, I feel the same way about Chupacabras, I feel the same way about the Jersey Devil. If it really wanted to hide, it it would hide.
SPEAKER_00Like, I put the same amount of skepticism on Bigfoot as I do the Loch Ness monster. That was a dude in a gorilla suit walking around, probably like a couple of stoners. Like, hey man, like what if we put on a gorilla suit and pretend we're Bigfoot? That'd be that'd be pretty funny. That's just that's my stoner laugh. I don't know if you knew that.
SPEAKER_01Apparently, Beavis and Butthead are the founders of all modern superstitions. Um there's no such thing.
SPEAKER_00Get out of here with that noise. See, but I'm also the kind of guy, I'm the I'm the type of guy that needs to see proof. Like, I'm not talking about suspension of disbelief. I'm not talking about watching wrestling and knowing that these two dudes are gonna beat the shit out of each other and knowing that it's choreographed and knowing that there are ways to take moves that are going to make it less dangerous. I can suspend my disbelief there. But if you're gonna sit there and tell me that there's a seven-foot hairy ape-like creature walking around in the wilderness of Seattle or wherever, or wilderness of of Washington State or wherever, I'm gonna tell you that where's the proof? You gotta show me that there's proof, man. I can't just take you at your word. I gotta see it for myself.
SPEAKER_01So we did a whole episode on aliens and extraterrestrial culture, and and we agreed that that that we'd be naive to assume that there wasn't aliens. So is it the is it the finite nature of of planet Earth that allows you to to need to see proof where in the in the infinite reaches of the universe you're okay with just kind of tossing it up and being like, yeah, they're probably out there. But for some reason, for some reason the universe isn't an old growth forest in the northwest, so it's so it's unlikely.
SPEAKER_00It's a numbers game at that point. It's a numbers game in the universe to think that if this if the science proves that the universe goes on forever and that there are an infinite number of stars and planets and blah blah blah, it would be naive to think that we're the only ones out there. However, we have mapped the entirety of the world. Everything has been mapped, everything has been been been been shown to exist. Now, are they finding new species of bug and things like that and fish in the deepest part of the ocean that we haven't reached yet? I'm sure that there's stuff out there that we haven't been able to catalog. But if you're gonna sit there and tell me that you can get on Loch Ness with a bunch of sonar equipment and shoot it down and you've not found this thing yet, then I gotta tell you that it's not there. And if you're gonna sit there and tell me that they've hiked all over the forests of Washington State or Oregon or wherever it is the hell they think that that Bigfoot is and it's not been found, then I gotta tell you that it's not there. Not to mention that thing, if if we're talking about Bigfoot, I mean that thing's gotta be pushing 60 or 70 years old. And other than a tortoise, I don't know of any animals that are living that long.
SPEAKER_01I think that's a species. That I think I think the argument is a is a separate argument than the Loch Ness uh argument, because I agree with you. That's a that's a finite lake. We're not talking about you know, in the depths of the ocean, there exists a giant monster, because maybe. Um like we've never been down there. There's a there's like less than 10% of the world's oceans have been explored or whatever. So if you told me that Loch Ness was creeping or Nessie, right? Because the Loch Ness is the lake, Nessie's the monster. If you told me that that was swimming around at the bottom of the Mariana trench, I'd be like, oh, okay, maybe. But trapped in a lake, I'm kind of with you. It was one thing when it was a rowboat and like a stick, and you're like, I'm going out looking for it. I brought my stick. Uh, but we do we yeah, we can probably see every corner of that. And and honestly, you could probably do it from a half-decent fishing boat at this point. You don't even really need all of science. But I think Bigfoot is a species. Like, I think like the sasquatch is so we're not fighting a 1500-year timeline. You're you're talking about a species that has managed to stay so aware of humans that that they are invisible to us. And I do think they have a counterpart in the snow of the Alps and the and Mount Everest and the and in in Yetis and the abominable snowman. Men. Men, excuse me. The abominable snowman. Because again, it's species. So we've got we've got the hot weather, you know, Sasquatch, and then the cold weather Yeti, and they it's like it's like the the dragons of history, right? Like you so many people and so many cultures have have referenced these things that it can't they can't all be wrong. Where's the proof, bud? The proof is in believing the old stories.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so what you're talking about You're talking about faith then. You're not talking about you're not talking about belief, you're talking about faith. You have faith that these things exist with absolutely zero physical evidence. And I mean, listen, to have that kind of faith, I think that's awesome, man. Like, I don't have it. I just don't. I'm a cynical person by nature, I suppose, but if I'm gonna sit there and say, yeah, they probably exist, I need to see it. I need to see bones or I need a I need a video of it. And I'm not talking about the dudes in the forest in 1970, whatever. Like, you gotta show me that this thing exists. And if most of the world has been navigated or or plotted, or the topography of the world has been been understood, and there's no place else to explore other than the ocean, then why haven't we seen a Yeti? Why haven't we seen a Sasquatch or Sasquatches? What would the plural of Sasquatch be? Would it just be Sasquatch? I think it's still Sasquatch. I saw many Sasquatch that day. Yeah, that sounds right. Sasquatches doesn't sound right. Sounds like a watch brand.
SPEAKER_01That's not bad. I think the as far as mapping the world, I don't think we've done the interiors as much as you think we have. I think we've done the coastline and the little squiggly bits, but the Pacific Northwest has old forests. I Appalachia has real old forests, and the Amazon is ancient. There are there are snowy places in Siberia where people don't live and people don't go, and there there is room for a for a hidden world. I think it's the alien argument. I think we are naive to believe that we see everything all the time. I do think that it's harder and harder to believe in those things these days because of the fact that it is it would make it on social media. You know, somebody if somebody ran into Sasquatch, there would be a selfie and it it would it would have made the rounds, everyone would have seen it. But but the government has come out and admitted to alien contact, and everyone is still going, yeah, I don't know about that. So I think you're the majority here. I I think the the fact that 40 people around you could see it, and if you haven't seen it yourself, you still don't believe it is the majority take on Nessie and Squatch and all these guys.
SPEAKER_00I think that you're right, but it also depends on who those 40 people are. If it's some people that I know and respect or know of and respect, and they're like, Yeah, I've seen Sasquatch, I might be more inclined. But if it's these freaking Yahoos that are running around being like, I'd sell you me some Sasquatches, nah, dude. I don't believe you.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, see, but I would go in the Yahoo category for you because you know I believe in this shit. Well, I know that now. So if so, if I went camping with with one of our homies in at a cabin in West Virginia, and I came back with stories of large feet and hair left on trees and you know noises in the bushes, and we're pretty sure we saw, and even if he backed it up, you wouldn't believe us. Did you take pictures of the footprints of the hair? Did you bring the hair back? I would definitely take pictures of footprints. I don't know if I'd bring the hair back.
SPEAKER_00Well then, see, now we're having a different conversation. Yeah, but people have big well, that's a good point. No, that's a solid point. I still don't know if I'd believe you.
SPEAKER_01There's been there's been plaster casts of footprints.
SPEAKER_00They're easily made, though. You can make footprints. See, there we go. Yeah, there you go. I'm not sure I believe you. You just tore down my own argument. I'm trying to sit here and tell you I'd believe you because you're my buddy.
SPEAKER_01But I don't think I could. I become nefarious real quick. You're already flirting with nefarious right now, bud. So in this world of of superstitions, do you do you have a do you have a favorite? Even if it's not one you believe exists in reality, is there one that that the story just caught you better than the rest of them?
SPEAKER_00Like Santa Claus? Or spoiler alert?
SPEAKER_01Jeez. To all of our young listeners out there.
SPEAKER_00Put mommy or daddy's phone down so you don't have to hear this.
SPEAKER_01Kyle is very sorry. He doesn't know what he's talking about. He doesn't even believe in Sasquatch.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no, I'm the crazy one. Um, I think the Slender Man one was one that I I kind of caught on to um when that was making its rounds through the news. Um and I remember specifically there was uh like an online game you could play in the early 2000s. I think I was still in high school, but you basically it was like a like a website you logged on to, and the game was you walked around with a flashlight, and if you saw Slender Man, you had to run. And that was the entire game. And then, you know, a little later on you find out that you know this Slender Man myth has been making its rounds, and then you know, there's some pretty horrific things that happened in real life surrounding the Slender Man myth. But I remember that one being one that I kind of got fascinated with for a little bit, uh to the point of to the point of of looking into it a little bit deeper. And and it's one of those ones that was it was terrifying for a little while, but other than that, man, like I don't know. I don't really put much stock into any of these things. I guess I'm uh too much of a realist in my own head, I suppose. What about you?
SPEAKER_01I'm sorry to hear that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, listen, my life is is devoid of magic, and that's exactly where I was going with that.
SPEAKER_01Like, I enjoy these they don't they don't impede in my day in negative ways, you know. Like I'm not out there not leaving the house because of Sasquatch, you know, like I'm we don't live in his area, you'd be more inclined to get hit by the Jersey Devil. That's exactly where I'm going with this. Thank you. That's a that's a beautiful little bounce pass. Uh, Jersey Devil has always been my favorite. And I I love the Jersey Devil because the local creepiness adds to it, because it exists around a real like like most of these do, I would say, because it exists around a real place, and that real place has a general air of creepiness to it. So, so if you're not familiar, um, because you're not from the area or you just haven't heard the story, uh, the the tale of the Jersey Devil is uh that of uh a woman in South Jersey who uh her name was her last name was Leeds, uh, and she had given birth to twelve children. And exhausted and tired and fed up, she somehow found herself pregnant with her thirteenth. And when this happened, she cursed the child in the womb and you know, does all this dramatic stuff in my head, right? The clouds gather and there's thunder and lightning because she says that you know, if this if this baby is to live, let it be the baby of the devil himself. And apparently, while giving la giving birth, while in in labor, the the blood turns black, and the devil himself crawls out of her uterus, fully formed in this like half dragon part goat thing with wings, and it climbs up the chimney and away it goes into the night. Um so so there's more to it though, because apparently in order to protect the mother of his child, the the devil uh makes her surrounds her house with uh like thorn bushes, briar bushes, and makes the house walk. So the house has feet. This this is where it kind of goes This is why you can never find her house, because every time anyone gets near her house, the house moves. Um but you can tell you were getting close because it got real prickly in the bushes, and there are lots of thorns and all this stuff. So there's a there's a million variations of of the myth and all of that. But the pine barrens are a legitimate creepy place, and it's very easy to get lost. Um, it's it's an all-sand ground where the pine trees grow maybe two to three feet apart in any particular spot. So when you get out, say fifty to a hundred feet from whoever you're with, and you turn around and look back, all you see are trees. And it's super, super easy to get lost. We used to camp out there, and we would have to rope off our campsite so that you wouldn't wander too far from base camp. You would just bounce off the rope and know, oh, okay, I gotta turn back. So I that one for me has always been it it it's prevalent enough. We named a hockey team after it. Right? The New Jersey Devils are named after the 13th child of Mama Leeds who came out half goat, half dragon, and still to this day wreaks havoc on the Jersey farmers who leave their livestock out at night.
SPEAKER_00I think my favorite part of that story is that the all-powerful personification of evil in the devil thinks that in order to protect this house, the best way to go about doing it is mildly inconveniencing anybody hiking close by with bramble bushes. Specifically chicken feet.
SPEAKER_01In every story I've ever heard, they give the house specifically chicken feet. I I don't know if there's like a long-standing history of large I also don't know if they gave it giant chicken feet or normal sized chicken feet, but like a thousand of them. So it just looks like a stampede of chickens running through. I don't know. I have no idea. It's the most ridiculous thing. But it served a purpose, right?
SPEAKER_00But that's that's the great beauty, I think, in all of these stories, you know, whether it be Nessie or Bigfoot or or or the Jersey Devil, is that is that people put enough stock in them that they have continued on into today. And here in 2026, while we're sitting here recording this, we are in the most information accessible era of any time in human history. And these chicken feedhouse stories and these Sasquatch stories and this ancient ass dinosaur at the bottom of a lake stories, they still manage to make their way into our conversations. There's still there's still people out there that are are are buying into this stuff, even though with a real quick Google search, you can probably disprove most of it in a minute or two. But I think that's the cool thing. I mean, it's you know, here I am being cynical and all of this, but I still think there's a it's neat to talk about, you know, it's a fun topic of conversation. It's it's it's these stories that have existed for generations that just refuse to die. And there's something to that, you know. I think that's that's a cool thing.
SPEAKER_01I I do think uh you brought up Santa Claus earlier, and I do think that's an interesting take as well. And maybe maybe not the the man, the myth, the legend himself, but I mean you guys do elf on the shelf, right? Begrudgingly, yes. And so that's a that's a superstition that this is a real elf that you know at and whenever he's looked upon by children goes all Toy Story mode, but can be used to relay information about bad kids to the general up in the North Pole who will then and and isn't that where all of these come from? I mean, doesn't Nessie probably come from, hey kids, stop playing in the lake? You know, like doesn't Sasquatch well, I mean, people have seen him, um, but doesn't that probably come from like don't wander too far from the village?
SPEAKER_00It's funny that that all of these stories are intended to correct the behavior of children. You know, they come from a place of of hey, that kid's being a little shit, let's try to keep him in line. So here's an elf on the shelf.
SPEAKER_01I don't think it particularly pertains to I think you made a really good point earlier that uh we now live in an age where all uh the answer to every question you could have ever possibly asked is in your pocket. But I think we've been proving for the past 20 years that that hasn't been the problem. Like access to information has not been what's making us dumber. So I don't think I don't think that it's necessarily children. I think you saved as many morons from wandering out of the village as well by just being like, hey dummy, there's a big monkey out there. Don't go, it'll eat you. Oh, I don't want to be eated. I'll just stay here.
SPEAKER_00I'm scared of Sasquatch. Steve, Steve, you're getting too close to the water. Just there's a monster in there. Oh, oh man, thanks for the heads up.
SPEAKER_01In our world, in our in our world of bar conversations and and behind the scenes looks, there are a couple of these things that that kind of pertain to and not not the same, right? We don't believe in like a haunted keg room that like you gotta keep keep the maybe maybe that's not a bad idea. Maybe we should start telling the servers that the keg room is haunted, so they stay out of there. Same thing with the walk-in. I'm gonna need you to stay out of the walk-in. There's a there's a monster. Just we'll just see if we can start spreading.
SPEAKER_00There's been a couple of keg rooms that I was a little uneasy to go into.
SPEAKER_01I so I again, thanks for the lob. You would think we script this shit. Uh I worked in a in a haunted bar. Um there there was a uh the superstition was uh the the restaurant had been open since the late 1700s, and the superstition was there was a ghost of a small child that once you turn all the lights off for the night, the child would come running down the the hotel stairs and go back through the restaurant into the banquet room and hide in the curtains. And when you would go back to see what it was, they wouldn't be there. I chased a sound into the banquet room one night. I'm not saying I saw a ghost, I'm not saying, but in in my nightly roundup of I've gotta turn all the lights off and lock all the doors and be the last one out of this building, I definitely chased a sound into the banquet room thinking I heard something back there. So I I can't confirm or deny, but our world is not without encounters into this sort of thing.
SPEAKER_00Quick question for you Was there central air in the building? No. Was there air conditioning of any kind?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, there were window units.
SPEAKER_00Alright, well then maybe something kicked on. I'm not saying that it it did. I'm just saying like all of these things have answers. Do they yes? I got our resounding else. Everything has an answer. Except actually, okay, we're gonna go down this road. If everything has an answer, I'm actually interested in talking to you about some of these bar superstitions because there are things that happen behind a bar that are inevitable, like inevitably just it's something that every bartender knows, or or most bartenders know, and and not everybody adheres to these things, but I'm interested to know where if we have an answer to why some of these things have come about. So, for example, I know a lot of bartenders, mostly old school bartenders, that refuse to take two dollar bills as a tip. Have you heard of this? I have heard of it.
SPEAKER_01I don't participate in this one. I don't either. I like two dollar bills. Um I'm I'm happy to happy to put that in my stack and save those later. I think they're cool. Um, but I have I have been the one that walks with the two dollar bill because I've looked at a whole crew of bartenders and they've all looked at me like I had the plague for taking it. So I have seen it. Um I just don't know.
SPEAKER_00Centered around bad luck, I think. I think it's like if you take the two dollar bill, then your next shift you're gonna get dog shit for money or something to that effect. But I can never get a straight answer. And it's mostly old school guys, you know, mostly these grizzled old veterans who have been behind the bar since the you know mid eighties or whatever, and they just refuse to do it. And I don't know where where it comes from or why it's legal tender.
SPEAKER_01Same thing with change, and I've seen change from both sides annoying. I've seen that it's a stick move that a it's bad luck to tip with change from like a consumer side, um, and I've also seen that like it it's it's bad luck to to take the change. No kidding. But again, I got a jar. I'll take the change. I don't know why you guys are walking away from $14.38. Like, I'll take the change. Um, but I I have seen with the two dollar bills, I have seen that the the change is bad luck.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, like it has something to do with it's going to affect your money for the next couple of days or the next shift or whatever it is.
SPEAKER_01But that's that's all of these, right? Most well, the vast majority of them, because again, we don't have a we don't have a Loch Ness monster of of bartending, but most of them seem to be somehow related to you know, your night is going to suck, or you're going to not make a lot of money, or or the kind of Murphy's Law superstitions that, you know, if I don't have enough lemons cut, then that guarantees that I'm going to be making lemon drop martinis all night. Right. Yeah. The Murphy's Law of You know, I don't have enough cherry juice. Here comes a bus full of children that all of a sudden all want Shirley Temple's. So there is kind of that Murphy's Law of like unprepared leads to overly needed. And we've we've seen that. We did a wedding a couple months ago uh where eight bartenders shared one bottle of bitters. I've never had more old fashions ordered in another so many old fashions. And it's because we didn't if we each had our own bottle of bitters, it would have been dirty martini night. We didn't never touch those bitters. Yep. Yep. Um have you heard another one? Give me another one. Have you heard if the keg kicks during the first pour of the day? That's bad luck.
SPEAKER_00Oh wow. No, I've not heard that one.
SPEAKER_01That that was big when when I was in craft beer. We had a lot of taps, and and the bartenders would swear that you know you pull that first handle and it spits at you. And not not, hey, last night's bartender never changed the keg and I shouldn't have pulled this handle. You know, that guy's a dick. But like, you got a little bit of beer and then it explodes on you. They would they would swear that those were the days that they walked with less money.
SPEAKER_00Wow. Maybe that's just like a I don't know, superstition in general just seems like one of those things where you're just trying to figure out any way to blame bad happenings somewhere. So it's just the first thing that happens that is out of the ordinary, is the thing that is going to cause this run of of bad luck or whatever. But that's a good one, actually. I kind of like that. I mean, yeah, it it that guy's kind of a dick, but there's no way for him to know that the keg was gonna kick, so why not?
SPEAKER_01Well, right, plus management's gonna get mad if you leave half a beer in that keg.
SPEAKER_00No, no, no, it's not done. That's not you here to liquid in there? Don't don't you change that keg. We pay for that. You just cost us a dollar sixty-nine. Yeah. No, I'm with you on that one.
SPEAKER_01Well, what about what about uh patron side? Do you tap the bar when you cheers? Absolutely for the table.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. Wow. 100% every time. Two reasons actually. The first is that I've always been told that it is a cheers to the bartender. So you s you cheers everyone around you, you tap the bar, that's to the bartender, which I think is really cool. But the other reason is an origin thing where, and I could be completely off, but when I inquired a little bit more deeply to somebody that knew more than I did many, many years ago, I was told that this was a tradition from uh an Asian country, maybe Japan or China or something, where traditionally they have these really long tables uh where you're not able to cheers everybody. So you you tap the glasses of those people around you, and then you tap the table, and that's to everyone else. Which I just thought was really cool. So I don't do it for any reason that's a superstition, but I do it because yeah, I like to cheers the bartender. I think that's a cool thing to do. But I just thought it was a neat origin story for something that I kind of take for granted nowadays. Yeah, I love that. I've I've never heard that story.
SPEAKER_01I I've always taken it as a you know, a nod to the house. You know, thank thanks for having us, you know, that sort of thing.
SPEAKER_00That's one of my favorite that's one I don't think I could ever get rid of. It's an automatic reflex at this point. It's muscle memory. Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_01So, all right, there is a European superstition. Um, I don't know how much of Europe, but I know my German friends believe it strongly. Eye contact during a cheers. If you do not make eye contact, maintain eye contact during the cheers, it's seven years of bad sex.
SPEAKER_00Oh man. I've heard the eye contact thing, but I always thought that was just a sign of respect. It's like when you shake another man's hand, you have to look him square in the eye when you shake their hand.
SPEAKER_01I've I've heard Seven Years of Bad Sex.
SPEAKER_00That I'm dude, I am not I am not going to mess around with that. I will be looking everybody in the eye squarely from here on out if I haven't already.
SPEAKER_01What do you do when you toast your parents? And you just you go all in on that?
SPEAKER_00In for a penny, in for a pound budget.
SPEAKER_01What's good for the goose? That's right.
SPEAKER_00Yuck.
SPEAKER_01All right. Have you uh what about the what about the working ones? Do you know um do you know the superstition about no even number garnishes?
SPEAKER_00I I don't know why, but I do it. And I had a guy not long ago, I made him a dirty martini, and uh he asked for two olives, and I said no. And I he said why not? I said, because I know from a bartending perspective that it's considered disrespectful. But if there's more to it, I would love to know it.
SPEAKER_01Unfortunately, uh historically, it's Christian. It goes back to the early days of you know bartending and being religious. It goes back to the early days of bartending while being religious, uh, and you went with three. Three was the magic number for coffee beans in your sambuka, it was the magic number for olives on your on your martini. Uh, and that that's one for the father, the son, and the holy spirit. Um it has become you don't put two on anything, and we do one cherry for cherry drinks, and we do three for everything else.
SPEAKER_00So you're telling me that on a night you're getting hammered on Sembuka, you've got to invoke the Holy Trinity. He's there.
SPEAKER_01That that that's all they were looking to do. They they are there. They are there, she's there, somebody's there. Um that that was the plan because because we were drinking martinis like like we were fish in five martini lunches, but it's okay because the Lord is present in this martini.
SPEAKER_00The guy I talked about a couple episodes ago who crossed himself when he was throwing the beer pong ball.
SPEAKER_01God in three persons stuffed with blue cheese. Just standing there, because I know you've stuffed blue cheese olives at some point in your bartender life, right? There is there is no easy way to stuff blue cheese olives. I know that you guys all think that there is some Amazon gadget that you can put the blue cheese in here and put the olives in here and it figures itself out, but it does not. So to fill blue cheese olives, you're almost always squeezing out the pit and then stuffing it with blue cheese and a bar stirrer or or two. And and now I'll get in there nice. Just just deep in the green olive with this creamy blue cheese and be and being like body of Christ.
SPEAKER_00See, that's never what I was thinking when I was stuffing blue cheese olives. I was only ever thinking, you're a dick. Because now I gotta go back to Chef and say, hey man, I need some blue cheese. And he's probably up to his nips and and back orders and things. He doesn't want to give me a ramic full of blue cheese. And by the way, they always give you too much. I don't need a full ramekin of blue cheese to stuff two olives. Because you're you know what we're talking about. It's it's bad luck to give an even number of of anything in a drink. If I'm uh stuffing blue cheese olives, you're getting two because I hate you.
SPEAKER_01Because you made me do this, you did it to yourself. Right.
SPEAKER_00You would think that I'd only give you one, but no, one is still an appropriate number of olives to give. You're getting two. You dick.
SPEAKER_01Would you rather stuff the olives or juice the oranges for brunch?
SPEAKER_00Oh, I'd rather juice the oranges. I'd much rather juice the oranges because I used to work at a bar that we made orange crushes. And it was kind of part of the part of the show, as it were. It usually led to people talking to you about, oh man, look at all the effort you're putting into that. You know, I mean it's not that much effort, it's a freaking lever, lever, lever, whatever.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but when you're doing a case of oranges, you know, that that'll well I only did them individually.
SPEAKER_00Like that was that was the whole thing, is you'd put the the orange on and you know, they'd watch you cut it open and and pour all the juice into the drink, and then you'd add the ice and the vodka and and the triple sec and whatever else, and you made a show out of it, you know, and it it led to lining your pockets a little bit better. But yeah, I'd I'd rather I'd rather do the oranges, man, because olives stuffed with blue cheese represent two of the things that I hate the most. I think that olives are disgusting, and blue cheese is just moldy cheese, and I think I've come out enough on this show and talked about my dislike of cheese. So two things that I just cannot stand, combining them and then putting them in a drink, that's that's a bridge too far, my friend.
SPEAKER_01That is one of the garnishes that I wonder a lot about why we ended up there.
SPEAKER_00Like to find that fella and give him a kick in the chops. Yeah. Do you ever count your tips mid shift?
SPEAKER_01Never. Never unless you're cut early and you have to take a share. Never. You don't touch it. You don't now you gotta you gotta break a 10, you gotta exchange out a 20. You can go in there. Don't count it. Don't ever count it. Don't don't do that.
SPEAKER_00I'm with you 100% on that. That is you face your bills. I'll always always face my bills. Even when I'm going to the bank. Always. I that's not a superstition, that's just something I OCD.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, a little bit. I got to the point where I was counting enough money on a daily basis, a cashing out restaurants and hotels and servers and bars and and and you know, you you were there. At one point I was running two places all the time. And it it just I got to the point where I could do up and down and not have to do left and right. Like as long as everybody was was facing up, we were cool. Um, but I'm I'm a hundred percent with you. It also, those of you that knock this OCD, we we take this money to the bank. Like it goes, we we walk in with a big old envelope and we say, Here is our money, and then that poor cashier person is going to have to face everything while they go through it. So it's kind of a courtesy, yeah.
SPEAKER_00You know, hospitality helping hospitality.
SPEAKER_01Have you ever beetle juiced a guest?
SPEAKER_00I'm gonna need you to you have a horrible. I like that you said that like regular what it was. Like it was just a common term. You're like, we're beetle juiced anyone? I don't know, dude.
SPEAKER_01Oh, I've I've heard it. I'm gonna need an explanation. Um, you you have a regular that you don't like and you haven't seen them yet today, so you end up saying their name three times and they appear.
SPEAKER_00Oh my god, yeah. That's that's science, dude. That is that is a fact, that is an absolute fact that that will happen.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you got Jerry down at the end of the bar that's usually here on Friday, and you haven't seen him in a couple of weeks, and somebody looks and goes, We haven't seen Jerry in a while, and everybody goes, Uh-oh. And then she comes up again, and the server comes by and she goes, Somebody's sitting down there in Jerry's seat. Oh shit.
SPEAKER_00That's two.
SPEAKER_01And then the manager comes out and says, Man, it's been a while. Looks pretty empty without Jerry down there.
SPEAKER_00Five minutes later, the door bursts open. Hey, it's me, Jerry. Damn it. And you've done it. Yep, 100%. That is that is that is a fact of life. That is something that has empirical evidence. Unlike the Loch Nest Monster, Jerry will appear if his name is said three times.
SPEAKER_01Well, now you've now you've learned the term for that.
SPEAKER_00The kids call it Beetlejuicing. I it makes so much sense now that you've said it out loud. I just never had a name for it. Did you have did you have one in particular that sticks out? Like, is there a name that you can you can give that's not necessarily going to incriminate anyone? But is there one in particular that that was it was guaranteed to happen?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I'll throw it out there because the odds of him ever hearing this podcast are so slim that I'd take that fight. Um we had a regular known only as the colonel.
SPEAKER_00I'm not a fan of this already.
SPEAKER_01We called him that because he came in in street clothes and a military beret. That was that was his that was his costume, that was his gimmick. And he and and in and didn't matter what he was wearing, he always had the beret. And he'd come in and sit at the bar and and almost always find a way to start trouble with some active duty military person at the bar. Like he just naturally had this way of like you'd have two guys down the bar that are sitting there watching football, and in walks the colonel, and he sits down the other end of the bar and he's not bothering anybody, he's not saying anything to anybody, and you check in on your two military guys, and all of a sudden they're like, I don't know why he's wearing that beret. I'm gonna go say something. And it's like, no, you don't have to go. He's in here all the time, he's harmless. He's gonna sit down there and have pills and there. He's like, I'm not gonna disrespect me, like, I'm gonna go say something. It's like, oh my god, every time. Just by existing, this dude just pisses people off. And and we beetle juiced him into the middle of a slammed Friday on a regular basis. It would be, well, at least you don't have to deal with this guy, and then boom, there he is.
SPEAKER_00Was he ever active duty military?
SPEAKER_01We have no idea. Oh man, that makes sense. He swears up and down that he was this, that, and the other. And you know, but but apparently he was talking to somebody about it during shift one day, and that guy was like, none of his stories make any sense. And so we we have no idea if he was ever actually military.
SPEAKER_00We had a Joe who insisted on drinking Jack Daniels up to the rim of the glass. Jack Daniels on the rocks, all the way up to the lip. And if it wasn't all the way up to the lip, he would tap on the glass until you came and put in that extra millimeter of Jack Daniels because it had to be to the point where he had to lean over and sip it without using his hands, otherwise he'd spill it. And he was a bad tipper. No matter what, he was not a good tipper. He was an he was an alright guy, but he required a lot of your attention, and he would manifest after his name was said thrice. Thricely. Thrice. Did it always have to be topped off or it just had to start there? It had to stop, it had to start there. It wasn't that he would take a sip and you were expected to put more Jack Daniels in there. It's when he received his drink that if it wasn't up to the point where you were a little bit worried that he was going to spill it or you were going to spill it, or something to that effect, like you couldn't pour his drink while you were holding the glass, because if you did, you're getting JD all over everything. So you had to put it down in front of him, full all the way up to the top with ice, and then pour. And I tried charging him appropriately once or twice. He was one of those guys that would also say, I'm friends with the owner, who by the way, by the way, just this is a public service announcement. Don't tell me that. None of us care. Not a single person in here cares. Because I bet you if you were to tell your friend, the owner of the bar, that your bartenders weren't charging him for the things that they're supposed to be, I'm guaranteeing you that that owner's not going to be happy. So don't tell me that you know the owner. I don't care. Unless he comes over and tells me that for whatever reason you get special treatment. Guess what? You're getting charged. Yeah, guess what?
SPEAKER_01I also know the owner. I work for him. Yeah, that was always my response.
SPEAKER_00So do I special? Yeah, so do I. And I'm making him money. What are you doing? You're taking away. But Joe was that guy that I one time charged him for every single ounce that he got. And it was like the first or second time, third time that I ever met him. He caused such a shit fit that I had to apologize to him from the owner. It was a whole thing, anyway. But I gotta tell you, man, uh I did not think when we started talking about this that there were as many bar superstitions as we ended up coming up with. But now that we've had the discussion, you know, it's a superstitious lot, these bartenders, apparently.
SPEAKER_01We all are. I I think we could do we could equally do an episode on sports superstitions. Oh, that's that's that's where we kind of started, right? In the in the Brock Lesnar, I'm gonna leave my boots in the ring. And then you then you leave, you you go to NHL playoffs, right? Immediately, immediately you think of the playoff beard. Right. Right? It's playoff time, nobody's shaving. Nobody's shaving. Don't you dare. Uh, what's the the trophy that you don't touch, right? When you when you win the division and you're headed to the Stanley Cup and they bring out that trophy and no one touches it. Right. Love that.
SPEAKER_00So not changing your underwear during a hit streak.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, exactly. We as a as a species seem to like to create these little things that allow us to feel like we're controlling the uncontrollable. Yep. Right. Bartending on a full moon. Full moon night. It's gonna get crazy. All the ahoos are coming out. Exactly. Yep. So that that's our way of saying that, like, oh, well, you know, it was a full moon, that's why everything went off the rails. Yeah, that explains that. Right. That explains that. So whatever you control that. Yeah. Do you think there are podcast superstitions and have we broken any of them?
SPEAKER_00I don't think that we've been doing this long enough for me to know the answer to that question. But I would love to know some. So if you out there in listener land know of any superstitions that we should be keeping an eye out for whilst we're recording this podcast, we'd love to hear them. Get in touch with us. Email us, find us on social media, let us know. Do you have any superstitions of your own that you'd like to talk about? Are there any bar superstitions that we missed? If there are, we'd love to hear them. Maybe we'll talk about them about them the next time we're out here. But uh for myself, for Kaz, I think that's gonna wrap us up. And as always, the next round's on a mess. Cheers, guys.