History Main / ObsessiveCompulsiveBarkeeping

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* The page image is of the unnamed barkeep in the anime version of ''Manga/{{AKIRA}}''; his determination to man his station [[spoiler: gets him killed in the end.]]

* Izumo Kusanagi in ''Anime/{{K}}'', despite being a major character and second-in-command of one of the series' factions, still does this a lot when he's behind the bar at his restaurant (and Red Clan headquarters), Bar HOMRA. Used to great effect in episode 3 - when Misaki and Rikio crash [[BerserkButton into his bar]], he drops the glass, and as it falls, it reflects his face in TheScream pose.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Averted in real life. Health codes do not allow bar towels to touch clean glassware, it must air dry. Thus, being caught doing this at a real bar would get you disciplined and anyone who has been through bartending classes would know better than to do so. For repetitive tasks that are health code compliant, one could wipe down the bar or clean bottles. Real bartenders often use those tasks to look busy when there isn't much else to do but appearing idle would be a bad thing.
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* Creator/{{Infocom}}'s ''VideoGame/{{Cutthroats}}''. When you enter The Shanty tavern, the bartender will be polishing glasses with a worn towel.

* ''VideoGame/{{Cutthroats}}''. When you enter The Shanty tavern, the bartender will be polishing glasses with a worn towel.

* SpaceAdventureCobra on the Sega CD has a bar as the first area. The bartender isn't cleaning a glass, but he ''is'' endlessly shaking a cocktail.

* Mac, the proprietor of [=McAnally's=] Pub in ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'', is always either wiping glasses or polishing the bar.

* Bill at the soda shop in ''Film/{{Pleasantville}}'' is introduced wiping down the countertop with a towel when David, thrust into the show's role of Bud, arrives late for his shift working there. Because Bill literally cannot start his duties until Bud arrives, he'd been wiping down the counter long enough, and in the same spot to boot, that it had been word down into a circular smear.

* Moe Szyslak does this all the time on ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''.
* This is how we're introduced to VideoGame/{{Tapper}} in ''Disney/WreckItRalph''.

* ''Kobolds Ate My Baby'' 3rd edition. The sample village of West Bumble has the [[AdjectiveAnimalAlehouse Screaming Unicorn Tavern]]. The barkeeper is washing the three unbroken glasses in the place.

* ''Manga/{{Akira}}'' (1988). When Tetsuo goes to a bar after gaining his powers, the bartender is cleaning out a glass.

* Izumo Kusanagi in ''Anime/{{K}}'', despite being a major character and second-in-command of one of the series' factions, still does this a lot when he's behind the bar at his restaurant (and Red Clan headquarters), Bar HOMRA.

* The bartender at Fort Abraham Lincoln's canteen is, naturally, cleaning glasses after closing time when Custer comes in.

** The TabletopGame/{{Planescape}} setting adventure ''In the Abyss''. The Grinning Imp is a small tavern in the city of Sigil that sells drinks from all over the multiverse. When the {{PC}}s enter the tiefling bartender will be polishing mugs.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'': 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.

-> "All movie bartenders, when first seen, are wiping the inside of a glass with a rag."
--> --[[http://www.mediana.se/index.php?title=Hollywood_Cliches Little Book of Hollywood Cliches]], RogerEbert

* The bartender at the saloon in ''Film/BackToTheFuture Part III''.

* Lampshaded in ''Discworld/GuardsGuards''. 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? -- DouglasAdams 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.