Bartender cleverly slips a note to save woman from a stranger 'aggressively hitting on' her

Editor's note: This article was originally published on June 21, 2021. It has since been updated.

A Florida bartender is being widely praised online after a woman shared how his keen observation and quick thinking saved her and her friend from being harassed by an aggressive stranger. The grateful customer named Trinity Allie took to Twitter to commend the St. Petersburg drink-slinger, Max Gutierrez, and reveal how he used a clever trick to check in on them discreetly when he sensed trouble. Posting a picture of Gutierrez holding out a small clipboard to her, Allie tweeted: "This man was harassing me and my friend and the bartender passed this note to me acting like it was my receipt! Legit the type of bartender everyone needs."

Gutierrez, who had picked up "weird vibes" from the guy who was incessantly hitting on the girls, handed Allie a note that looked like a receipt but actually contained instructions on what to do if she wished to have the man removed. The note read: "If this guy is bothering you, put your ponytail on your other shoulder, and I will have him removed. He's giving me the creeps." In a follow-up tweet, Allie revealed how the Hawaiian shirt-wearing barkeep ultimately kicked the man out of the bar with a much-needed reality check about his behavior towards women.

"He ended up having to literally yell at the guy he said 'you need to get [the f**k] away from these girls who clearly are not interested' [and] the dude said 'that was a little aggressive' and he said 'well [you are] aggressively hitting on them [and] you need to leave,'" she tweeted. Allie also explained in another tweet that the photograph of Gutierrez holding the clipboard was taken after the other guy left "just to show my appreciation." The story of how Gutierrez — who some Twitter users recognized as the bartender from No Vacancy, St. Petersburg — racked up over 208k likes and 44.5k retweets.

It also eventually made its way to Reddit, where it caught the attention of Gutierrez himself. Responding to questioning the authenticity of the story, he confirmed that Allie made him pose for the photo after the man left. He also replied to a query about whether bartenders get training "on these types of tricks to silently communicate with patrons" or whether it is something they pick up from their peers/mentors. "It's something you just pick up from mentor bartenders," he revealed.

"Eventually you become pretty good at reading people, body language, etc. This guy was giving off very weird vibes for quite a while, kept an eye on him, try to give him a chance, try to let the girls tell him no and leave it at that, but he didn't take no for an answer and kept pestering them so eventually I kind of yelled at him and made him leave lol. I honestly don't like yelling at customers or embarrassing people, but I find it's one of the best ways to handle creeps," Gutierrez added. "Calling them out in front of people is usually enough to get them to turn tail and walk away. I just don't need my guests feeling uncomfortable."

Four days after Allie shared the incident on Twitter, Gutierrez tweeted a "fun update" about the man. "The guy I kicked out Sunday night came back to the bar JUST NOW for a beer, told him I wouldn't serve him," he wrote. Well done, Max. Thank you for always looking out for your customers' safety and driving a positive change in pub culture as this story is sure to inspire fellow bartenders to do the same.