The blackouts definitely get worse. I found that mine were getting worse and would require less alcohol (I mean, it could be that I was in fact drinking MORE alcohol and just not remembering, but I have people to back up that on some of my blackout nights I didn't drink that much and they didn't even realize I was drunk)
As for the bar, a few months ago myself, my husband and my friend could not remember if we'd paid the guy at our local bar, but it turned out we'd paid and left a crazy big tip. Usually you worry that you've forgotten to pay when drunk, when in fact you've probably been your most generous, haha.