Bartender refused to give her number to a married father of four — what he did for the next 30 minutes left her enraged
For some married people, a wedding ring isn't enough to stop them from pursuing someone outside their relationship. Bartender Elizabeth Thorne recalled an encounter with a married customer who had already spoken about his wife and four children before asking for her phone number. She turned him down immediately, but his actions over the next 30 minutes left her shocked and frustrated. Thorne spoke about the incident in a video posted on Instagram under the handle @elizabeththorne__, on May 18, 2026, where she described exactly what happened during her shift.
Thorne explained that two men came into the bar, and she spoke with them just as she would with any customer. They had a friendly conversation about their children, and she even mentioned her own daughter. After about an hour, one of the men said he was leaving, and she assumed they would both head out together. Instead, the other man stayed behind and asked for her phone number. He then spent the next 30 minutes waiting for her to change her mind and asking again for her number. After multiple refusals, he still told her, "I am waiting on you to give me your phone number."
Confused, Thorne pointed out that he was married, to which he bluntly replied, "Yeah." When she questioned why he was asking for her number despite having a wife, he responded, "I just think you are really pretty and we can hang out some time, maybe this can be a thing." Thorne immediately told him, "You are disrespecting your wife, and you are disrespecting me." She said his behavior was even more surprising because he had already spoken about his four children and was wearing his wedding ring throughout the conversation.
Thorne told him he would "keep waiting" because there was no chance she would give him her phone number. She expressed how having to repeat herself made the interaction increasingly uncomfortable. Looking back on the incident, Thorne said it left her disappointed with the way some customers behave toward service workers. A clear no should always be accepted without repeated pressure or persuasion. She ended by saying, "My faith in humanity just gets lower and lower every single time at work." She also said it was not okay for married men to flirt with bartenders and believed the customer likely went home to his wife as if nothing had happened, even though he had been trying to pursue someone else during the evening.
Individuals can forget to respect basic boundaries, even when they are already in a committed relationship. In another similar incident, a woman named Remi shared how she was enjoying a solo outing when a married man kept insisting on getting her phone number despite her clear refusal. He told her he was married and only wanted friendship. She then set a condition that she would agree only if he paid for everything she ordered that day, which made him quickly stand up and walk away without further discussion. "I won't stop asking these men for money or pay the bills if that is what would let them leave me alone," she expressed.
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