Going To Bars Alone

[Alps]

I turned to answer and realized the person who'd asked the question was the then-mayor of DC, Marion Barry.

Newly learned benefit: Going alone to a bar can get you hooked up with some sweet crack.

But I'm going to Charlotte, not Toronto!

Sure you are, and are you sure a lot of good bars are in Charlotte?

(Say that 10 times fast - Sure, sure, sure-LOTT).

I pronounce it "syore" so there's no issue.

I went to a local dive bar last night (in my small town in NC). I ended up talking to a local who just wanted to point out all the girls in the bar that he slept with.

It was an..........interesting experience.

The most likely result of talking to another single person at a bar is weird stories. I met a former football player who was almost on the Giants.

[Pete from Boston]

Going to a bar alone and keeping occupied just requires a smartphone.  Kids today have no idea how easy they have it.

That said, if you're looking for human contact of any sort, it mostly requires you to be outgoing.  You have to be comfortable initiating and maintaining conversation with strangers in a non-creepy way.  Sometimes the bartender is the first piece in this puzzle, but other times you might just politely butt into some strangers' conversation (this is a bar, after all, not a doctor's office).  "I'm sorry, did you just say you met Marion Barry at a bar?  Holy crap!" or something of the like. 

Pick the right bar.  Sports bars per se may or may not be a good place to go, but I think of "sports bar" as being enormous with too many TVs and bad overdoses of indoor neon.  Read through reviews on sites like Yelp (GPS is your friend, and "nearby bars" one of the first choices on their app) and find places noted for being friendly and easygoing.  I head for a local hole-in-the-wall when in your position, and just start saying to the bartender, "What's there to do around here?"  People love to chime in when there's a chance to impress their opinions on you.

And sit at or near the corner of a bar when possible.  Facilitates line-of-sight conversation. 

Really, though, it all just comes down to being comfortable in your skin and putting yourself out there.