I have not hung out in a bar since I moved here from Alaska

where I virtually lived in one when I was not working.

There are a couple of reasons for this, the original one being culture shock. I noticed that things Stateside that would not even make an Alaskan bartender raise an eyebrow sent one straight to the phone to dial 911.

That was a bad sign and I immediately realized we were playing by a new set of rules. The second thing I saw is that the local ginmills were just plain watering holes. Little good could come out of them other than a loss in cash reserves from overpriced drinks.

The bars in Alaska were a lot different as they were not only frequented by practically everyone but served as message centers, employment agencies and a lot of other things.

If I wandered in and someone needed something I'd hear, "Hey, Pic! You busy?" That usually meant a job opportunity of some sort. It was astonishing how much work I could drum up simply by walking into Tony's.

Sometimes the bartender would see me and say something like, "Hey, Pic. Call Ted and Alice." Or maybe, "Sue is looking for you."

One time I said to a bartender, "I wanna get out of town for a while." The bartender said, "Let me work on that one."

Sure enough, a couple of days later I was on a boat headed for Dutch Harbor where I spent a good part of a season fishing for black cod and halibut and did OK financially.

Then there was the social aspect. You'd meet people you wanted to see, some you didn't want to see and a cutaway of the entire town. I'd sit down next to the mayor one day and a hooker the next while I got my intelligence reports.

Incidentally sitting next to either of these people was a pretty safe bet because they both knew how to behave themselves which was a plus.

Needless to say, people drank there and sometimes in copious amounts but they were not only watering holes but social/financial centers, also.

Sometimes on Sunday mornings I'd grab a paper and a cup of joe and park myself in a corner somewhere and just read and enjoy the ambience of the smoky place while I read about the goings-ons in the Lower 48. 

Of course there were times I'd idle a night away because the place didn't close until 0500 and reopened at 0800.

Still, after the culture shock I simply avoided Stateside bars.

 

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY