Montana Bar Workers Hate it When Customers Do This

Working at a bar or casino in Montana might seem like a lot of fun. I'm sure it is, sometimes. Bartenders, cocktail waitresses, casino attendants, and barbacks are responsible for keeping the good times flowing, and many of them can make decent money on a busy night.

However, like any job, those in the casino and tavern industry also deal with all kinds of not-so-fun stuff... rude customers, lousy tips, vomit, drama, druggies, bar fights, and the occasional creeper/stalker/weirdo.

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Years ago, I discovered a seemingly innocent thing that drives bar workers crazy.

One of my friends runs a casino in Billings. One day, when I stepped away from the keno machine to use the men's room, there were homemade paper signs taped above the urinals with large letters that read something like "Please don't spit your chew or pouches in the urinals! Thank You!" I've seen similar signs at several bars in the Billings area.

A few weeks later, the signage was rewritten in a more aggressive tone.

I wondered why this is such a big deal, so I asked my casino owner friend about it. "Dude, why are you so pissy about people spitting stuff in the urinal?" I asked. He explained that the pouches and spent chewing tobacco don't flush down the drain. Apparently, that's how urinals work: liquids only, no solids or floating things.

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Since debris doesn't flush, that means someone has to clean all of those tiny little Copenhagen flakes and slobbery nicotine pouches out of the urinal by hand. And unless the establishment hires a nightly cleaning crew to tidy up the restrooms, this job usually lands on a bar employee. Perhaps it's the bartender who happens to close that night.

Be considerate of where you spit your nicotine.

Umm, yeah. I wouldn't want to pick gross stuff out of my own urinal (if I had my own urinal), let alone a public toilet. I doubt you would either. For the sake of bar employees everywhere, please have a tiny bit of consideration before you discard your Zyn, dip, or trash in the urinal.