Belly Up To The Bar

One of life’s simple pleasures is to belly up to the bar, tell the bartender what your thirsty for and drink in a little ambience, collect your thoughts, escape from the rain,

escape from home, a glass of courage, for all the reasons we go to bars and all the kinds of bars we go to, bars are a wonderful institution.

One of the best parts about being at a bar is that it’s one of the last places left where we get to have face to face conversations with people. A still thriving arena for human social interaction. The three martini lunch, a collective viewing of a big game, meeting point for a blind date, chance encounter, therapy session with the bartender, there are millions of excuses to go for a drink. Bars are an oasis of socialization.

It is because bars are vital to our social survival I thought it would be a good idea to lay out some of the the do’s and don’ts to keep the good cheer going.

Do

-Be polite

-Tip your bartender well

-When out with friends, take turns buying rounds of drinks

-Give a busy bartender a down payment on the night’s tip so they will take good care of you with the unspoken promise of a good tip later.

-put your cell phone on vibrate.

-Give a lady a seat

-Know your limit

-Have your money ready when ordering

-Set up a tab if you are going to be ordering more than one drink.

-Stay home if you’re a belligerent drunk

-The person intent on paying should do the ordering

-When in a group order all your drinks together

Don’ts

-Don’t be rude to the Bartender

-Don’t put your sunglasses on the bar

-Don’t order if you are not the one paying

-Don’t be cheep- eew!

-Don’t leave your drink unattended;unfortunately these days leaving your drink unattended can be dangerous.

-Don’t slurp, or play with your ice. Table manners count here too!

-Don’t bang on the bar; would you do that at your mother’s table.

-Don’t talk on your cell phone at the bar. Take it outside.

-Don’t get offended if you get carded – take it as a compliment darlings.

(it just means that all the alcohol you have been drinking is keeping you remarkably well preserved)

-Don’t beg for a drink after last call, it’s undignified and unfair to the bartender who deserves to go home after a long night of serving you. The bar can lose their license if they serve you after hours.

Don’t be loud, it’s rude.

For decades now, women have been permitted at bars, thanks to our modern standards of socialization, a woman alone at a bar no longer implies she is easy, so relax.

She might be there because she is meeting a friend, needed to get out of her apartment or perhaps she just needs to unwind. So, if you are going to approach a woman at a bar be a gentleman on your best behavior.

I have had a long standing penchant for upscale hotel bars. The decor, the level of service, the elaborate nut mix and soft background noise with the patrons that are themselves mixed nuts, both locally grown and imported, make for interesting people watching and occasionally a verbal exchange between people from different universes as apposed to on line “chat”.

Access to this kind of interaction does not require a computer, reservations or being on the velvet rope’s “list.” Just make yourself presentable, take your wallet and go explore any one of the cities’ wealth of watering holes. Take in another scene, have an expertly mixed cocktail, and open yourself up to the experience at one of the last places in our society where we can just meet and have a chat with some cheer.

Have a happy and safe St. Patrick’s Day. We’re all Irish on the 17th apparently.