My immediate supervisor was in town this week, so I met him for the first time. Usually he works remotely from the other side of the country. When I interned a few years ago, I worked with him for an entire summer without ever actually meeting him face to face. It was super weird to finally put a face to the voice, because he's nothing like I pictured. I once asked a coworker what he looks like and she said, "he has a little bit of old surfer-dude in him," which I now realize is an absolutely abysmal description. For years, I imagined him looking like a slightly older Laird Hamiltion, when in actuality he looks more like a blond Robin Williams from The Bird Cage. The only thing surfer-ish looking about him is that he's tan and has sun-bleached hair. I recalibrated quickly, but it was really discombobulating at first to have such a mismatch between reality and my fabricated mental image.
As part of my routine, I usually go out for dinner or a happy hour once a week or so. Lately, I've been meeting my friend R for drinks. R is an early-40s gay man who is great at giving you the impression that his entire life is on the precipice of disaster. Part of this is hyperbole (maybe paranoia is a better description), but part of it is that he really is always struggling with something (usually money and friendships). It's like he just doesn't know how to live a normal happy life. Still, he's a good guy, and I almost always enjoy his company, even if he says things like "welcome back to the Uptight Capital of the Dysfunctional Empire" and frequently references sitcoms that were before my time like All in the Family, Maude, and The Jeffersons.
I witnessed a funny incident between him and a female bartender at a local bar. The bartender was young and attractive and not very good at customer service. She had that attitude that many young and attractive bartenders have where they aren't outright rude, but they make you feel like you're server and they're the customer, and you should be going out of your way to be nice to them, instead of vice-versa. Straight dudes put up with it for obvious reasons, other woman put up with it because they usually have a bit of be-deferential-to-the-popular-girls instilled in them, but gay dudes have no reason to put up with it. In fact, in the wild, the only natural enemy of the young good-looking chick with an attitude problem, is the gay man.
Anyway, things came to a head between R and this bartender when R attempted to order a succession of happy hour dishes, all of which were no longer available. After about the fifth pass through "we aren't serving that", the bartender pointed to her electronic order box dealie, and said, "I can't serve you anything with an 'X' through it," to which R replied, "fine, I'll just have a glass of Chianti, unless that has an 'X' through that too." Now, R says that this line was joke, but I was sitting right there, and it didn't come off as a joke. Although, it didn't come off particularly snidely either. The bartender easily could've (and should've) just walked away, but she's used to having her ass kissed, so instead she acted as if R had just violated one of her civil rights, so an argument broke out, and things got contentious, and eventually I'm sitting there listening to R plead his case to the manager and a massive bouncer.
To R's credit, he persuaded the manager that it was at most 50% his fault (which I agree with), and we didn't get kicked out (but we left anyway). Also, he was very apologetic to me after the fact, but I didn't care. In fact, I felt kinda bad because during the incident I kept telling him to stop and to let it go, just trying to deescalate the situation, but in doing so I sort of undercut him, because then the bartender thought I was taking her side, which I wasn't. It's just that I would've handled things differently. I would've just kept quiet, paid my bill, given her a shitty tip, and left without giving things a second thought. But, that's not really R's way.
In other news, I'm very tired today, because S and I went to a house party last night, and stayed up late (3am-ish) dancing. Most of the people there were in there 30s, but there were a few 25-year olds mingling around. The difference between 34 and 25 doesn't seem very large to me, but when you're 25, I think you look at 34-years olds as being old. S and I were chatting with this single girl in her mid-20s for a while, and then later as we crossed paths she said to me, "You guys are so awesome! You're my role models! 34 years old and still coming to house parties! When I'm married, I'm going to go clubbing with my husband!" To which I responded, "Well, you'd have to get a husband first." She feigned being shocked, but laughed. It was more funny than mean, I swear. Also, let it be noted, we were there way later than she was.
RT sounds like an odd person. I wonder if I know him.
ReplyDeleteOh, and the bartendress sounds like (to quote the late Victor Kiam) "a classic bitch."
ReplyDeleteShe kinda was.
ReplyDelete