The Happy Hour Chronicles: Hour Two The Re-Houring

Hey folks! Dr. Alan Coholic here again, but feel free to call me Al! I am back at my local watering hole gearing up for another rousing round of field work.  It's nearing 1 pm on this Friday afternoon. My only concern is that we may get some rain moving through here which could pose as a problem since I am doing my observations from the patio.  A silver lining though, is that I get the added bonus of observing people's behavior if the weather conditions do turn south.  Weather will definitely be something I will be keeping an eye on this afternoon.

When I arrived there were only a single couple on the patio having a round of beers.  They were both in their late 20's or early 30's.  Both in casual dress and having a quiet but animated conversation.  I am unsure of their relationship based on their body language.  They aren't close together but they are very relaxed in their postures and appear to be very comfortable together. I will try to come back to them if I can note anything interesting as they continue their afternoon.

Shortly after I sat down a large group came out to the patio.  Six men and one woman, all in their late 20's and all dressed casual. Gender aside they were a very diverse group of ethnic back grounds.  This leads me to surmise they are some sort of study group, probably grad students that are out to enjoy cheap drinks on a Friday afternoon.  They are extremely relaxed with each other, their postures is very comfortable. Most of them are slouched back in their chairs and laughing openly.  All but two of them ordered beer.  The two beer holdouts both ordered mixed drinks, gin and tonic I am going to assume since a slice of lime was included.  This group looks settled in for a long hull, apparently they are not worried about the storm clouds.

Two women in their mid 20's pull up to a table about 20 minutes after I sit down. They sit on the other side of the patio and there is a tree partially obscuring my view so it will be hard to keep up with them.  But they both ordered beer and sit very close to each other so it is safe to assume they are close friends.  Even though they are sitting close together they are having an animated conversation.

About 40 minutes into my observations two more women come out to the patio and also take a their own table.  Both are in their mid 20's like the last two women that came out.  They are dressed casual like everyone else this afternoon but one of them is carrying a large bag that says, "Happy Birthday!" I am going to take a stab and guess they are two friends that are having a birthday drink.  Sure enough they both order beer an proceed to have a very animated conversation, lots of laughing and smiling.  They are also sitting close together.

As I wrap this post up I am struck by a commonality that I never expected to see, especially among groups of people in their 20's and 30's. I did not see a single phone during my entire observation.  This further to leads me to believe all of these groups are indeed very close.  
Other than the very interesting observations about the phones the other common trends included:

• Just about everyone ordered beer, not shocking though since it was happy hour.
• Everyone was very relaxed and animated in their conversations.  Again I believe all were close friends.
• The threat of a rain storm did nothing to douse these group's sunny dispositions. Though it never actually rained so I can't be completely sure about this.
• And as expected as the more the groups drank the louder and more animated they became.  

That's all I have this week folks! I am starting to see some interesting common trends already! Check back next week for more! 

Your friendly neighborhood drinking buddy,

-Al