Two friends walk into a bar, as they are heading towards the counter a man with a hat stops them. He says, "Hey guys, before you order you should know that this bartender has a really bad memory. After serving drinks he has trouble remembering who paid and who hasn't. When he asks for money, if you tell him you already paid he won't remember if you did or not. A bunch of us have been getting free drinks all night long!" The two are a bit hesitant but say "Um, okay thanks?" and continue to the counter.
As they approach an older man is getting up to leave. The bartender tells the old man "OK, that'll be $15." This old man looks confused and says "Wait, is that $15 more on top of what I already gave you?" The bartender gets a brief look of embarrassment and says, "No, sorry. My mistake. The first $15 was all I needed. Have a good night." As the old man starts to walk past the two friends he smiles and winks at the guy in the hat. The two friends see this and without speaking a word to each other just nod in agreement that they're going to get a few free drinks themselves.
The two friends order a few drinks and one says he needs to get going. The bartender tells him "Alright, that'll be $15" and the friend says "Um, yeah I know. You already told me that when I paid you." The bartender smiled and said "Oh yeah, that's right. Sorry for the confusion." The friend then says goodbye to his buddy and leaves. The second friend decides to get one more drink before leaving but when he tries to get the bartenders attention he sees the bartender looking around the bar a bit confused. The bartender looks at the friend and says, "Sorry sir, I'll be with you in just one moment" before disappearing into the back room.
A few minutes later the bartender comes back with a scowl on his face and a wooden baseball bat in his hand. The friend is a bit concerned by the bartenders sudden mood shift and asks him "Hey bartender, everything all right?" The bartender just looks slowly around the room, eyeing the crowd suspiciously and says "No, everything is most definitely not alright." The bartender looks at the friend and sees a bit of worry on his face, so the bartender softens just a bit and explains "Look, this isn't something I usually tell people but I have a bit of a memory issue. I sometimes forget things that just happened like if I gave someone a drink or charged them already." The friend is now getting a bit nervous as the bartender goes back to scanning the room and continues "And now I think someone knows about my condition and has been taking advantage of it to scam me for free drinks. I just went back to count the money I've made tonight and it's not nearly enough for how busy this place has been."
The friend tells the Bartender "That’s awful! So, um, what's with the bat?" The bartender gets an evil grin on his face and says "Well I figure that the next guy who tries to scam me is going to have to answer to old 'Thumper' here." The friend looks around the room disgusted and tells the bartender "What a horrible thing to do to you! I had no idea I was drinking in a place filled with such low life scum. Hey, look man I'm sorry and it's nothing personal but I don't think this is the kind of establishment I want to be in if thats how these people act." The bartender gives the friend a bit of a smile and says "I get it, won't hold that against you." The friend stands up and says "Good, thank you. If you can just get me my change I'll be on my way."
