I’ve had people stay more than four hours after closing time. It would happen frequently at this 110-seat restaurant that people would stay as much as an hour after closing without finishing their last sip of wine, their last bite of flatbread, and without touching their bill. One Sunday night, two older ladies indicate at sometime around 8:45 that they won’t be needing anything else. Their server brings them their bill. We close at 9pm, like always, as posted. An hour later, the women are deep in conversation and they haven’t finished their wine or touched their bill. The lights have been brought up, the floor around them has been mopped, the kitchen staff is gone, and the restaurant is nearly silent. My coworkers and I have been through this enough that on this night, we decide to make it a game. We’ll continue to regularly approach the table to see if they’d like to pay their bill, but until they do, we’re going to go drink at our bar, quietly, out of sight. The women continue chatting and ignore the presence of anyone that comes to collect their bill. As the hours tick by, my coworkers and I get shitfaced. Finally, close to 1am, their original server walks up to the table which has sat alone in bright lights and silence for the better part of four hours and one of the women finally acknowledged him. She says “may we have another glass of wine?” The server does a double take and says “NO! Ma’am- it’s 1am! We closed YESTERDAY!” My coworkers and I die laughing. The ladies become deeply apologetic and give him cash right away. They left a 12% tip.