Barfender Customer Types: Regulars, Drunks, the Hobo and Thieves

The Steam page names the core roster directly: “Polite regulars, rowdy drunks, hopeless romantics, bar brawlers” — plus “unwanted guests” like thieves. The achievement list confirms several more behaviors. Here is every type we can confirm at Early Access launch, and what to do about them.

Regular customers

Type	Behavior	Handling
Polite regulars	Order, drink, pay. Your bread and butter	Serve fast; tips add up (Keep the Change: collect 100 tips)
Rowdy drunks	Get drunk, get impatient, escalate	Serve or eject before they snap; 5 frustrated at once via puke = Patient Zero
Hopeless romantics	Flavor customers	Normal service
Bar brawlers	Start fights	Eject before the first punch lands (Bouncer)

Fights are the cascade starter: a brawl makes mess, blocks service, and frustrates everyone watching. The Bouncer achievement (throw someone out of a brawl before they land a punch) tells you the intended counter — react at the wind-up, not after.

The hobo (recurring NPC)

The hobo is not a nuisance to delete — he is a mini story line with achievements on both branches:

• Give him a free drink → Hobo’s Orders
• Give him money 5 times → Philanthropist
• Kick him out 3 times → Cold as Ice
• Kick him out twice, then later give him a drink in the same save → Third? Chances

You cannot get both extremes in one run cleanly — decide early whether your bar is kind or cold, or plan a second save.

Thieves

Thieves “grab what they can” and walk out. Two achievements define the interaction:

• Empty-Handed — stop a thief before he takes anything
• Caught Red-Handed — recover your stolen money from a thief 3 times
• Thief Trilogy — get all three thief outcomes in one save (the third outcome is not spelled out in achievements; the community is still confirming it)

Practical rule: someone on floor duty should watch the door during rushes. Money lost to thieves counts against a night that is already tight.

Choking customers

Random medical emergencies exist. Save 2 choking customers in one day for Heimlich. When the prompt appears, drop everything — a death on the floor is worse than a spilled order.

Difficulty note

Several behaviors tighten on Hard: Hard Way requires reaching 5 stars on Hard difficulty, and impatience timers are shorter. Learn the roster on normal first, then climb.

Next: drinks, recipes and licenses — what you serve is the other half of the rating equation.