Amateur Night

Ahhh, Thanksgiving Eve! The night before the great feast has become a time to pause after traveling near and far, a time to catch up with relatives or reconnect with friends you haven't seen since high school, a time to prepare for the day of sloth and gluttony that awaits on the other side of the night. For many, it's a time to go the bar and get hammered.

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving is known as the busiest night in the bar industry. Everyone goes out. Especially people who don't ever patronize any kind of watering hole ever. Amateurs don't know how to behave, they don't know how to properly order a drink, and they certainly have no clue how to effectively compensate their bartenders and servers with adequate gratuity. But they sure do act like drinking in the bar is their job!

This night is actually the kickoff to what I call "Amateur Season." It's the time between Thanksgiving and New Year's, inclusive of both, when hordes of people who wouldn't set foot in a bar at any other time of year, can be spotted in bars everywhere soaking up their share of the Holiday Spirit. Maybe it's the annual Office Party that brings them in, maybe they are meeting acquaintances or family at a central location. Or maybe they just have a hankering for a Bailey's on the rocks and don't know where a liquor store is.

I missed this year's Thanksgiving Eve festivities. I didn't find myself on either side of the bar. The particular establishment of my employ has in recent years somehow avoided these teeming masses, for good or ill. Plus I'm not presently working Wednesdays as a matter of course. And I didn't even venture out to knock back a few. I decided that I would rather stay home, go over my recipes and the write out a schedule so as to have the entire Thanksgiving meal perfectly prepared and timed to commence at 3pm sharp (finally by the fourth draft, I had it down).

The other reason I stayed home was because I had gone to the liquor store for some wine and also picked up a bottle of authentic Pennsylvania Dutch Egg Nog with rum, brandy and whisky already added. That was a ruse. If you see this product, don't buy it. I prefer to mix my own drinks, thank you. I don't doubt that there was booze in there, it just wasn't nearly enough.

So I have no Amateur stories from that evening. But there are surely some forthcoming, due to all of the holiday office parties I will be working in the next four weeks. Maybe I'll do a Thanksgiving post. Maybe I won't. Hope you all have a wonderful day!
Cheers!

TerriTheBartender

Terri's Tip of the Day: Don't ever go out the night before Thanksgiving. If you must socialize, host a cocktail party at your house. Or just invite yourself over to someone else's.