Bartenders Share The Legit Smoothest Pick-Up Lines They’ve Ever Witnessed

We've literally never seen a pick-up line work anywhere other than in the movies. We've seen them get laughed at, get eye-rolled at, or get just plain ignored, but never work. Still, they keep showing up in movies and TV shows, so they have to have worked sometimes somewhere at some point, right?

What better place to find out than Reddit? A quick search told us we weren't the only ones wondering about it, but one user had a genius idea and asked the people who would probably know best - bartenders. They asked:

Bartenders of reddit, what is the smoothest pick up line you've ever heard?

We picked out some of our favorites to share with you, so grab your pencil and get ready to take some notes, single people. Here are some of the smoothest pick up lines the bartenders of Reddit have ever heard. Please note, these did not all end in success. Some were massive train-wrecks, but we totally give points for creativity and sass around here, so... enjoy!

1. The Flawless Rejection

Sort of an anti-pickup line but I witnessed a drunk girl get decimated at the bar one night.

She was hot, and one of those "haha you're cute you should buy me a drink" type girls. Some dumpy looking dude walks up to the bar and orders a Corona and she pulls the whole "And put a rum and coke on there for me!", insinuating that he should buy her next drink. He looked at her casually and says "Make it a rum and diet." and then just walks away.

I was speechless. I'd never seen him before and haven't seen him since, sometimes I wonder if he ever existed at all.

2. When The Shy Girl Speaks Up

Shy girl regularly comes in with her friend - my coworker and I are pretty chummy with them so we are chatting all night, letting them try some of the new cocktails/shots our bar is trialling.

We give them one particular shot and the friend says she doesn't like it too much and asks if its the kind of drink my girlfriend likes (I was single), shy girl picks up her shot, downs it and says "yes, it is!", then immediately runs out of the building in shyness.

We've been dating almost 6 months now.

3. "I'll have a water"

Bar tended in college. Guy walked up to a girl at the bar, goes "Hi my name is Ben*, and I'm going to buy you drinks until you find me attractive." Girl smiled and laughed and he asked what she would like to drink. She looked him over (he was already very attractive), turned to me and said "In that case, I'll have a water." He definitely got it that night.

4. The Unspoken Pick-Up

Bartender here. Best pick up I've ever seen was when a group of 3 dudes college aged were at the bar on my end. they started talking about this girl on the other side who is clearly the hottest girl in the bar. One of them jokingly said to another If you can get her number without saying a word to her I'll buy you drinks the rest of the night. The kid who was dared waved me down asked for a pen and napkin he walked over and within 10 min came back over girl in hand asking his buddy who bet him for 2 patron shots. I asked him what he did and he showed me the napkin with her number. He played hangman on the napkin and spelled out "can I have your number?" And it actually worked. He and his girl were drinking heavily and for free the rest of the night. He also walked out with her so I hope he scored.

5. The Ice-Capades

Not a good pickup line but a good pickup line story:

There's a classic which is putting an ice cube on the bar, smashing it with your first and saying "that's the ice broken, want to get a drink?"

Well an awkward friend of mine decided to try it, smashed the ice and managed to ricochet a piece of it into his own eye before being able to say the line, shouted a profanity and staggered off. The girl was pretty confused.

6. This One Ended With A Pupper!

I met my current girlfriend while working behind a bar. She got way too drunk so the next time she came up to ordered a drink i gave her a pint of water and told her she had enough.

Her response? "Well if you're not going to give me a drink at least give me your number."

We have a dog now.

7. Hand Holding WIn

Bartender/server here. Buzzed gentleman extends hand to slightly more buzzed woman and asks," will you hold this while I step outside?" They come back after sharing a cigarette. Pay the tab, take a cab together to wherever

8. Roses

Not a pick up line, but the smoothest thing I've seen from behind the mahogany. This guy was hitting on this girl at the end of the bar. She asked him, "you gonna bring me some roses?" and this man took two straws, a napkin, and a lighter and I shit you not made a rose with it. You bet your ass she left with him. Kudos, sir.

9. One Upping

I had a group of guys who were all hitting on me but were very funny and not annoying about it (a true rarity) when they paid one left a few extra bucks after already having tipped me, on a napkin with his number saying "from the cute one" then I noticed the one of the other guys left a $20 tip with his number and a note saying "from the cuter and smarter one" it cracked me up. The only time I considered reaching out to a customer because I wanted to say thanks for the laugh!

10. Quesadillas Always Work

Way late to the party but heard this one while closing down a couple weeks back.

"Come on, lets go back to my place, I'll make you a quesadilla."

This girl had been swatting guys away like flies all night but that one worked out.

11. Pocket Square Sales Boom In 3...2...1...

Not exactly a pickup line... but really clever/cool way a girl let me know she was interested.

I noticed her on the opposite side of the bar and we smiled at each other. I was newly single, she was with a date and obviously bored. Still... she was with a date, and I'm not gonna interrupt and be that kind of douchebag. After a few minutes, I walked around to her side of the bar to head to the bathroom. She stopped me and said "here, your pocket square is messed up." She fumbled with it a sec, said "all good" and I moved on to the restroom.

I got home later and took my blazer off, noticed something was off w/ the pocket square. She had stealth-stashed a napkin with her name and number. I texted that night and we went out later that week.

11/10 was impressed with the smooth.

12. Using Your Own Advice Against You

I work at a bar in Long Beach NY (male)

A female customer was giving me advice on how to hit on my bartender co worker (female) who is a very close friend of mine. She kept feeding me "adorable" things to say to my friend because she thought we looked cute together. I thanked her and took one step toward my friend then turned back to her and repeated it all back. She took the bait and it landed me back at her place.

13. She Set Him Up, He Shot His Shot. Teamwork.

Not a bartender but hooked up with one once. It was closing time and she said, "if you don't work here or banging the staff, time to leave!" I leaned over and said, "I guess I'm staying." With the confidence only a recently divorced man could have.

It worked, oddly enough

14. Win A Bet, Pay For Drinks

At a bar with a few mates and there's a gorgeous girl at the bar. I exclaim my like for her, before my best friend says I would never talk to her. I disagree, and bets me £30 that I wont talk to her and get her number. We handshake on it and I approach her.

Nothing particularly special happens, introductions and all and she seems relatively interested but I didn't want to jump to any conclusions. She says to me "I did notice you and your friends were looking at me for a bit" so I reply with "funny story actually, I was telling my friends over there how cute I thought you looked but they thought I wouldn't dare go for a girl who is clearly out of my league or ask for her number. They bet me £30 I wouldn't do it. I'm not saying you should give me your number but how would you like £30 worth of drinks". She gives me a cheeky smile, gives me her number, claim my £30 and drank to our hearts content. We went on a few dates after that.

I'd say that was a win.

15. Cougar On The Prowl

I'm probably too late to the party but I was working at a restaurant and we had a new server in his mid 20s that all the women thought was really attractive. One of his tables is this one top with a woman sitting alone for lunch. In her late 40s-50s but extremely attractive and definitely on the prowl as she's trying to subtly flirt with him the entire time. She left while he went on his break and we were shocked nothing had happened until the breaker server went to clean the table and on top of the receipt was a huge tip and a napkin with her number that said, "You should come join me and my husband sometime."

16. Kiss Me

Was bartending when this happened to a fellow bartender.

Girl "This guy wont stop hitting on me, can you help?"

Bartender: "Sure, what do you need me to do?"

Girl "Kiss me"

By god it worked and fellow bartender spent nearly a week with her before she left.

17. Nerds: A Love Story

I watched a guy get a really cute girl by telling her he is the biggest nerd ever and his favorite thing is Dr. Who, she was also a huge fan. They continued talking about their interests and it turns out that he totally believed in bigfoot, the jersey devil, and mothman. He invited her to go along with him into the woods as he and a group of monster chasers were about to investigate some leads and she was totally with it, they exchanged numbers after i suggested they do so and as far as i know are still out together looking for weird shit and watching Dr. Who

18. Drool

My pal once walked up to a 11/10 and stated

"Hey help me out, you got a rag or a towel? "

"No, why would I have either?"

"Because I'm guessing looking like that you have to wipe the drool off the guy's mouth you are talking to. I like to be prepared."

So out of his league, but still married after 15 years

19. Confidence Is Key, We Guess?

*I bar tended in uni, and overheard this exchange: *

M: Hi there beautiful, my name's Nick, what's yours?

F: I'm Sarah, Nick, but I'm not going to sleep with you.

M: Pfff, go get your coat.

She grabbed her jacket and left with him.

20. Oven Mitt

Many moons ago a guy snuck behind into the back storage, found an oven mitt, came back out, and proceeded to ask a girl "Do you have a hot ass? Cuz if so... I can handle it!" How she actually fell for that one, I'll never know.

H/T: Reddit