How I adore the “BLUE ONLY” second floor of the bar. The usual suspects arrive early and the wisecracks, beatings, and car bombs begin! (Wisecracks, beatings, car bombs, OH MY!) Although we’re all severely hung over (I don’t drink, ever.) and in pain over the early start, I secretly adore this part of the day. It’s like a playground. The boys tease the girls about our less than respectable decisions the night before, we retaliate by throwing punches (very ladylike, I know), followed by Oscar yelling choice expletives and putting Brittany and me in a double headlock. So much love. We swap stories, joke around, and get those regular customers intoxicated with beer and happiness.
Then it’s GAME TIME. “Ohhh ohhhh ohhh LET’S GO STATE!” The norms: hot wing sauce stains on my shorts, beer on my shoes, a few bruises, a couple of love taps, and a drunken rendition of “Scotty Doesn’t Know” at half time. Cheers for Joe Pa, boos for Ohio State, and at some point an empty beer pitcher is used for: “dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun P dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun S dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun U“
These days pulled me out of my funk and changed my life forever. Just about every “Saturday night was the greatest night of my life” experience started at Rhino with these people and ventured on from there. They reminded me that there are fabulously, wonderful, caring, and funny people in DC who love me. The Crew: Brittany, Oscar, Misty, Porter, JC, George & more / The Amazing Regulars: you know who you are, made it absolutely impossible for me to ever be unhappy and I love them for that. They don’t even know the impact that they had on me this fall but I think that makes it even better.
As immature and silly as this job can be, I’ve actually managed to grow more mature. I have confidence. I can set a rude customer straight, I can sell our products, I know how to build relationships, and I can walk into any chaotic, restaurant environment and know that I can handle it. Without Saturday mornings, I never would have been able to take the bull by the horns and bartend last weekend.
