Clemson Students Allegedly Take Advantage Of A Drunk Bro Who Left His Credit Card Tab Open At A Bar, Rack Up A $7913 Tab

On Sunday night, the following e-mail hit our BroBible editorial tip-line:

Hi, my name is Jake Stewart and I am a 21 year old college student. This past Friday night I went out with some friends to the bar and besides my better judgement, had too many drinks. I mistakenly left my tab open all night and when I went back to the bar the next morning to retreive my card, I was shocked to see a $7,966 charge to my tab. It upsets me that an entire bar would take advantage of an open tab and not one person was willing to pay their own drinks. I’m also surprised that nobody stepped up and pointed out that this was wrong and, in fact, stealing. Over the course of the night, I personally spent $53 on my own drinks. Taking responsibility for that, I am hoping for $7913, to help pay for the bar tab but any kind of good will would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance.
-Jake

The scenario Jake claims — key word — to have happened to him sounds like a nightmare situation, especially for anyone who likes to hit the bars every now and then. It’s one thing to leave your credit card open at the bar and your close buddies order a few extra drinks on it. It’s something far more nefarious — if not straight up criminal — when an entire bar orders drinks on the tab, putting a college student a couple grand in the hole to his credit card company.

Disputing such a massive charge with the credit card company probably isn’t going to go over very well, especially when so much alcohol and bad decision-making was involved. So how’s Jake going to pay the bill?

He’s asking students to throw him a couple bucks for the open bar he paid for via a Go Fund Me crowdfunding campaign, which pinpoints his location at Clemson. Now he’s hoping that the people who drank on his tab while he was passed out (a. feel bad for being pricks and (b. are willing to pay up.

UPDATE 2:24PM: Looks “Jake” took the Crowdfunding page on GoFundMe down. The move implies that Jake here was full of B.S. 

I had a few questions about his night out, so I contact Jake via e-mail. I also asked him for a receipt so we know this is all true and not just a BSer taking advantage of a crowdfunding site with a “poor me, I was drunk!” sob story. The story hardly passes the bullshit sniff test, though since (A. he didn’t name the bar it happened at and (B. he hasn’t sent a receipt yet. Here’s what he says happened resulting in that $7,966 bar tab:

Do you have any idea what happened? What were you doing that day before you went out?

It was just a regular Friday out with the boys and out I just happened to black out. I remember heading out early but it was a crowded bar and I totally forgot to grab my card. Before the night out we had pre-gamed real hard at my buddy’s house.

How did word get out that your tab was open to other people?

I bought one drink for this girl at one point earlier in the night. Rumor has it that she was the one that spread the word. Of course she has denied it profusely since. It was only me and two other friends and they didn’t realize it was happening until they heard about it at around 3AM.

Why did the bartenders keep letting people order drinks on your tab?

It was a super crowded bar and my only guess is that some douchelord claimed it as his own tab and let it happen.

How much did you tip? Did the bar add a tip on for you?

There was no tip added since I explained what happen and they completely understood that I didn’t need any more money taken from me.

Did you file a police report?

No. Of course that was my initial reaction but after talking to my older brother he had gone through the same thing on a much smaller scale (around 400 dollars) and he said it was annoying as hell and an extremely long process dealing with his credit card company. I honestly decided to use GoFundMe just to see what would happen. I’ve donated to a few other causes on the site and I thought it would be an easier, quicker, and painless way to get my money back.

Has anyone offered to help you pay around the campus community?

Not yet, the buzz has gone around but of course its more of a funny joke to other college students. I aim to get the word out to those out of college who would actually have the money to donate.

What do you guys think? Scam? B.S.? Legit? Anyone at the bar with him that can verify?

Again, note that I also asked to see a copy of the receipt from the bar. I’ll update if/when he sends it. In the meantime, not sure it’s worth supporting this guy’s crowdfunding campaign yet.

If nothing else, at face value, consider Jake’s story a cautionary tale for why you should ALWAYS close out your bar tab before you leave the bar.