History Main / ObsessiveCompulsiveBarkeeping

* ''Film/{{Passengers|2016}}'' has a [[RidiculouslyHumanRobot robot bartender]] who [[JustifiedTrope justifies this]] as a standby mode, perfect stillness [[UncannyValley freaking people out]].

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': Lampshaded in ''Literature/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? -- Creator/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.

* In ''Film/{{Victim}}'', the barkeeper at the pub is seen cleaning glasses while interacting with the patrons.

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'' episode "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS1E11AndWhenTheSkyWasOpened And When The Sky Was Opened]]". When Forbes is talking to a bartender about Harrington, the bartender is shown polishing a glass.

* ''Dangerous Journeys''/''Mythus'' main rules sample adventure "High Time at the Winged Pig". When the Heroic Personas ({{PC}}s) enter the title inn, they see the man behind the bar (barkeeper) drying a mug.
* ''It Came from the Late, Late Show''. Extras include bartenders, who seem to spend a lot of time polishing glasses.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

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->'''Jim''': I'm your only customer. Why are you always polishing a glass?
->'''Arthur''': Trick of the trade. Makes people nervous when a bartender just stands there.
-->-- ''Film/{{Passengers 2016}}''

* 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.
* Another main character example in ''Anime/HighSchoolStarMusical'': In season 2 episode 3, when Kitahara and Nanjo visit the restaurant where Kuga works as a bartender ([[ImprobableAge even though he's in high school]]), they have a loud conversation about their cocky attitudes towards the audition. Kuga overhears, doesn't like their attitude, and brings them some extremely bitter drinks, on the house. What was he doing when he overheard them? Yeah, drying a glass.

* ''ComicStrip/{{Wormy}}'' in Dragon magazine #79. The troll bartender is shown drying a glass as he listens to his customers.

* ''ComicStrip/HagarTheHorrible''. In the [[http://www.arcamax.com/thefunnies/hagarthehorrible/s-1547021 strip for July 16th 2014,]] Hagar and Lucky Eddie are talking in a bar. The bartender is behind the counter polishing a glass.

* ''FanFic/TheApprenticeTheStudentAndTheCharlatan'' averts this, as almost every bartender seen does something other than simply clean a glass with all of their time.

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

* The bartender in ''Film/BlazingSaddles'' who "always kept things nice and clean" by spitting in them and shining them.

* ''Film/TheSting''. Just before Billie leaves the lounge of her whorehouse to warn the con men about Snyder, the bartender can be seen drying a glass with a cloth.
* ''Film/ThreeAmigos''. When the German walks into the BadGuyBar, the bartender is polishing a glass.
* The innkeeper in ''Film/MyWeekWithMarilyn'' is fiddling around with a rag and glasses in both of his scenes.
* ''Film/TheFifthElement'': The bartender at the astroport does it, in probably what is a parody considering it's a robot.
* ''Film/TopSecret''. While Nick Rivers is fighting Nigel in the underwater bar, in the background the barkeeper can be seen polishing a glass with a cloth.

* In ''Film/TheyDiedWithTheirBootsOn'', the bartender at Fort Abraham Lincoln's canteen is, naturally, cleaning glasses after closing time when Custer comes in.
* ''[[Film/Passengers2016 Passengers]]'' has a [[RidiculouslyHumanRobot robot bartender]] who [[JustifiedTrope justifies this]] as standby mode, perfect stillness [[UncannyValley freaking people out]].

* Music/JohnWilliams' cameo in ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'' is as a bartender on Kijimi drying a glass.

* In ''Literature/HarryPotter'', Aberforth Dumbledore's first appearance involved him wiping a glass that seemed to be getting dirtier. The barkeep washing glasses is an obvious cover for his eavesdropping. Two books later, the stereotype falls away altogether as he becomes a full-blown [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Rick Blaine type.]]
* Lampshaded in ''Literature/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? -- Creator/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.
* Mac, the proprietor of [=McAnally's=] Pub in ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'', is always either wiping glasses or polishing the bar. It's implied to be an InvokedTrope-- Mac is ''seriously'' taciturn (he speaks an average of one sentence per novel) and always having a task to hand deflects social attention.
* Late in ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'', there's a brief mention of a barkeep who does this and is generally obsessive about keeping his place clean. The story kind of pokes fun at this trope by pointing out that the bartender gets so worked up with cleanliness that it actually unnerves customers and drives away business, because people who go in for a little DrowningTheirSorrows don't want to feel like they're stepping into an immaculately kept palace or museum.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''

* The bartender in ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'' is doing this.
* The bartender in ''VideoGame/MonkeyIsland2LeChucksRevenge'' is always cleaning the glasses... with his spittle.
* The default animation for the bartender at the Chicken Kitchen in ''VideoGame/GhostTrick''.
* The bartender in ''VideoGame/JediKnightIIJediOutcast'' invokes this, cleaning a glass as an excuse to ignore Kyle Katarn. Once Kyle slams his lightsaber on the bartop he [[OhCrap tosses it over his shoulder]] and switches rapidly to obsequious mode.

* Grillby in ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' is always seen behind the bar of his tavern/restaurant in Snowdin, polishing a glass.
* In ''VideoGame/StarshipTitanic'', Fortillian O'Perfluous, the [=BarBot=], is seen cleaning a glass as his idle animation behind the bar of the titular space cruise liner. The first time you talk to him, he actually gives you the glass he was cleaning.
* ''VideoGame/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.
* Bernie at the Squishy Juice Bar in ''VideoGame/JumpStartAdventures5thGradeJoHammetKidDetective''. Ironically, he's not very good at making drinks there, but people still come anyway.

* Mama the WholesomeCrossdresser barkeep in ''VideoGame/AITheSomniumFiles'' is a unique example, as instead of polishing a glass she polishes a dried fish to prepare ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katsuobushi katsuobushi]]'', a dish that involves allowing fermented tuna to grow mold that is then scraped off to enhance its flavor.

[[folder:Webcomics]]

* The bartender in ''WesternAnimation/RootyTootToot'' is seen cleaning a glass during the flashback to his testimony, and even wipes the ''witness stand'' when he's done.

In fiction, the sole IdleAnimation for [[TheBartender bartenders]] who aren't currently filling a glass is to dry a glass (unless they're the main character, in which case they will never do ''either'' of these things). You'll never see them stocking ice or frequently-ordered drinks, wiping down the bar, or trying to keep customers (who aren't the protagonist) engaged. In real life, bartenders who always have a glass in their hand tend to get fired.

[[quoteright:250:[[Manga/{{AKIRA}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/okgi6arj_6808.jpg]]]]

* The bartender in ''[[VideoGame/DarkForcesSaga Jedi Knight II]]'' invokes this, cleaning a glass as an excuse to ignore Kyle Katarn. Once Kyle slams his lightsaber on the bartop he [[OhCrap tosses it over his shoulder]] and switches rapidly to obsequious mode.

* This is how we're introduced to VideoGame/{{Tapper}} in ''Disney/WreckItRalph''.

* 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? -- Creator/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.

Understandable in TV and movies, where it's an easy barkeeping duty to do in multiple takes, while many other jobs would need undoing before they could be done again and cause continuity problems. Less understandable in other media; it's probably a result of the stereotype.

* 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]].

!!Examples

* 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]].

In fiction, the sole IdleAnimation for [[TheBartender bartenders]] who aren't currently filling a glass is to dry a glass (unless they're the main character, in which case they will never do ''either'' of these things). You'll never see them stocking ice or frequently-ordered drinks, or trying to keep customers (who aren't the protagonist) engaged. In real life, bartenders who always have a glass in their hand tend to get fired.

** [[http://www.oregonlive.com/comics-kingdom/?feature_id=Pardon_My_Planet&feature_date=2013-04-18 Strip for April 18th, 2013]]. A man says that when he told his wife that it would be O.K. if she found someone else after he was gone, he meant "gone" as in dead, not "gone" as in "at work".
* ''ComicStrip/HagarTheHorrible''. In the [[http://www.arcamax.com/thefunnies/hagarthehorrible/s-1547021 strip for July 16th 2014]], Hagar and Lucky Eddie are talking in a bar. The bartender is behind the counter polishing a glass.

* The ''ComicStrip/MotherGooseAndGrimm'' [[http://www.grimmy.com/images/MGG_Archive/MGG_2012/MGG-2012-11-16.gif comic for November 16th, 2012]]. The dog Grimm is at a bar where the bartender is cleaning a glass with a cloth.

->''"All movie bartenders, when first seen, are wiping the inside of a glass with a rag."''
-->-- [[Creator/RogerEbert Ebert]]'s Bigger Little Movie Glossary