It all started Friday night when I went out with some folks from work. We went to a place that would probably be considered a ‘sports’ bar. 
I think we had been there before in some capacity. There was one woman from the office I was happy to see did not show up – I’ll call her “Terry”. I don’t have anything specific against her personally, but every time she has been with us in the past, the woman who reports to me (“Kendra”) replays the whole night for me:
“I heard that John and Joe played pool. I heard that Gina and Tom were talking pretty close. I heard you drank 3 beers” and so on. Some of the reports are prefaced with “Terry told me that…” so I know where it was coming from. No such reports from Friday. Kendra is not a gossip so she doesn’t really ask. When she has that information, though, I think she wants to see my reaction.
The group broke up around 9:30 and, as I was driving home, I realized I had not used the men’s room before I left. For some reason I didn’t get this feeling until I was on the freeway and by then I was hurtin’. I thought for sure I was going to have an accident but just barely made it home.
My niece was in town on Saturday night so me and some other family went out to dinner and then she (my niece) wanted to go dancing somewhere and was looking for a recommendation. There were 3 places I knew, so I made my suggestions.
Bar 1 – This one is a total “meat market” with loud thumping music and girls in short skirts dancing on the bar. They used to allow any woman who wanted to dance on the bar – not anymore. We get in (women are free, I had to pay $6) and get some drinks. In the corner where we were standing was a miniature mechanical bull. We laughed as the people who got on (only women?) were being thrown off. One woman started riding the thing in a fairly short skirt. In no time at all she was leaning sideways, holding on for dear life, and giving everyone a free show as the little bull spun around. I’m not sure it was her intention to do this, but I didn’t have a problem with it.
Bar 2 – Since Bar 1 was only about half-full we decided to go to another place nearby. I was at the back of the line (it was only our party in line) watching ID’s and purses get checked. I showed my ID, got patted down by security and then looked in to see what the crowd was like. It was empty. In this huge bar I would say there were 30 people – if that. I’ve never seen the place so empty. We decided to leave before paying the $10 cover charge.
Bar 3 – This time there was a $5 cover charge for everyone – man, woman or child. (ha ha). There was supposed to be a dance club in the back of this place but when we got there:
a) It had been renamed
b) It was almost totally empty
Couldn’t believe it. I knew I hadn’t been there in a while but was hoping to satisfy my niece’s desire to dance. This place was definitely not it. The ‘older’ set stayed there so we could get some food. The ‘younger’ set went back to Bar 1 so they could dance. While the full blown crowd wasn’t on hand, they could still do some respectable dancing.
So it’s getting nigh on to 1:45 in the a.m. and the ‘older’ set decides to wait for the ‘younger’ set to come out of Bar 1. We can hear inside they’re making announcements that the club is closing for the night (“You don’t have to go home but you can’t stay here”). A few people start to come out and head back to their own zip codes.
As the people are coming out, we can see through the doors that they’ve turned on the “ugly lights”. A great groan is heard from inside the place and people start pouring out the doors. It is the funniest thing to see tipsy and full-on drunk folks trying to walk out of a bar.
Still, we see no sign of my niece and her friend. Could we have missed them? I doubt it.
Okay, the crowd coming out has now slowed to a trickle as it’s almost 2:00 straight up. I walk over to the exit doors and look in (they won’t let me go in to the bar to look around). I spy my niece and her friend holding beers, standing inside like it’s nothing. They each have a thirty-something drunk around their necks who keeps telling them goodbye and hugging on them (my niece is married so it made me feel a little weird with some strange man with his arm around her. She’s a big girl so I didn’t say anything. I’m not sure what her friend’s status is). I made sure I got eye contact with them, pointed at them, pointed out the door, and mouthed the words “Let’s go”. They both got the message.
I walk back over to where everyone else is waiting and I tell them the pair is coming out. A minute later my niece is standing next to me swigging her beer. I tell her “Yo, there are open liquor laws in this state. You need to ditch that beer quick!” There are a couple of policemen across the way from us (who are watching all the drunks exit the bar) and she takes another big swig before throwing the bottle in the trash. “I don’t care” she says. You’ll care when you’re locked up, I’m thinking to myself.
By the time I get home and get into bed it’s around 3:00 a.m. I get up the next morning and I’m feeling pretty good. I stopped drinking fairly early and switched to water – I think that’s what saved me. Either that or the food we ate.
It had rained some time during the time I was sleeping so I didn’t have to mow the lawn (yay!). The Redskins won their football game (double-yay!). So I had the nice relaxing day that I wanted.
Everybody wins.
I think we had been there before in some capacity. There was one woman from the office I was happy to see did not show up – I’ll call her “Terry”. I don’t have anything specific against her personally, but every time she has been with us in the past, the woman who reports to me (“Kendra”) replays the whole night for me:“I heard that John and Joe played pool. I heard that Gina and Tom were talking pretty close. I heard you drank 3 beers” and so on. Some of the reports are prefaced with “Terry told me that…” so I know where it was coming from. No such reports from Friday. Kendra is not a gossip so she doesn’t really ask. When she has that information, though, I think she wants to see my reaction.
The group broke up around 9:30 and, as I was driving home, I realized I had not used the men’s room before I left. For some reason I didn’t get this feeling until I was on the freeway and by then I was hurtin’. I thought for sure I was going to have an accident but just barely made it home.
My niece was in town on Saturday night so me and some other family went out to dinner and then she (my niece) wanted to go dancing somewhere and was looking for a recommendation. There were 3 places I knew, so I made my suggestions.
Bar 1 – This one is a total “meat market” with loud thumping music and girls in short skirts dancing on the bar. They used to allow any woman who wanted to dance on the bar – not anymore. We get in (women are free, I had to pay $6) and get some drinks. In the corner where we were standing was a miniature mechanical bull. We laughed as the people who got on (only women?) were being thrown off. One woman started riding the thing in a fairly short skirt. In no time at all she was leaning sideways, holding on for dear life, and giving everyone a free show as the little bull spun around. I’m not sure it was her intention to do this, but I didn’t have a problem with it.
Bar 2 – Since Bar 1 was only about half-full we decided to go to another place nearby. I was at the back of the line (it was only our party in line) watching ID’s and purses get checked. I showed my ID, got patted down by security and then looked in to see what the crowd was like. It was empty. In this huge bar I would say there were 30 people – if that. I’ve never seen the place so empty. We decided to leave before paying the $10 cover charge.Bar 3 – This time there was a $5 cover charge for everyone – man, woman or child. (ha ha). There was supposed to be a dance club in the back of this place but when we got there:
a) It had been renamed
b) It was almost totally empty
Couldn’t believe it. I knew I hadn’t been there in a while but was hoping to satisfy my niece’s desire to dance. This place was definitely not it. The ‘older’ set stayed there so we could get some food. The ‘younger’ set went back to Bar 1 so they could dance. While the full blown crowd wasn’t on hand, they could still do some respectable dancing.
So it’s getting nigh on to 1:45 in the a.m. and the ‘older’ set decides to wait for the ‘younger’ set to come out of Bar 1. We can hear inside they’re making announcements that the club is closing for the night (“You don’t have to go home but you can’t stay here”). A few people start to come out and head back to their own zip codes.
As the people are coming out, we can see through the doors that they’ve turned on the “ugly lights”. A great groan is heard from inside the place and people start pouring out the doors. It is the funniest thing to see tipsy and full-on drunk folks trying to walk out of a bar.
Still, we see no sign of my niece and her friend. Could we have missed them? I doubt it.Okay, the crowd coming out has now slowed to a trickle as it’s almost 2:00 straight up. I walk over to the exit doors and look in (they won’t let me go in to the bar to look around). I spy my niece and her friend holding beers, standing inside like it’s nothing. They each have a thirty-something drunk around their necks who keeps telling them goodbye and hugging on them (my niece is married so it made me feel a little weird with some strange man with his arm around her. She’s a big girl so I didn’t say anything. I’m not sure what her friend’s status is). I made sure I got eye contact with them, pointed at them, pointed out the door, and mouthed the words “Let’s go”. They both got the message.
I walk back over to where everyone else is waiting and I tell them the pair is coming out. A minute later my niece is standing next to me swigging her beer. I tell her “Yo, there are open liquor laws in this state. You need to ditch that beer quick!” There are a couple of policemen across the way from us (who are watching all the drunks exit the bar) and she takes another big swig before throwing the bottle in the trash. “I don’t care” she says. You’ll care when you’re locked up, I’m thinking to myself.
By the time I get home and get into bed it’s around 3:00 a.m. I get up the next morning and I’m feeling pretty good. I stopped drinking fairly early and switched to water – I think that’s what saved me. Either that or the food we ate.
It had rained some time during the time I was sleeping so I didn’t have to mow the lawn (yay!). The Redskins won their football game (double-yay!). So I had the nice relaxing day that I wanted.
Everybody wins.