A bear walks into a bar, and the bartender says, "You know you're not welcome here."
So the bear responds, "Oh, I'm sorry. Is it because I'm a bear?"
"No," said the bartender. "It has nothing to do with that. Last time you were here you ran up a $300 tab, tried to pay in pine cones, and got so piss drunk you could barely stand."
Incredulous, the bear asked, "Oh, I could bearly stand? Are you trying to make a bear joke out of this?" To which the bartender replied, "What? No, I-" But the bear interrupted, "What's next? You're gonna say you don't want to be the bearer of bad news, but I'm an alcoholic?"
And the bartender was like, "Yeah.. I mean, that's kind of what I was getting to, but I wasn't going to make a bear joke out of it! I've been where you are. I've been worse than where you are. I just don't want to see someone suffer the way that I used to."
The bear sniffed, "How could you ever possibly help me?" And the bartender replied, "Well, I could give you my number. If you were ever serious about getting help you could just give me a call."
The bear thought for long while, then finally responded with "Okay. That sounds good."
"One more question, if you don't mind," asked the bartender. "Why the big pause?"
The bear sighed, then responded, "I don't know. I was born with them."