The Happy Hour Chronicles: Hour One, Attack of the......something ominous

Dr. Alan Coholic here, but please just call me Al.  For the next twelve weeks I will be reporting from a bar/restaurant that always seems to have quite the mix of patrons.  So let's get started.

First off I was interested in how the weather may have an effect on the other patrons at this establishment since the the patio, where I was sitting, is a popular place for the patrons to enjoy.  I was interested to see if the rain we had in the morning and the afternoon overcast would discourage any of the patrons.  But that never seemed the case. They time of my visit was roughly 1 pm.

When I first arrived there were there tables occupied with two people each.  Table one sat two women. The first woman was probably in her mid thirties in business attire,Jessica we will call her, and the second woman was in her mid twenties and dressed casual, let's call her Jackie.  They both had already finished their meals it appeared and were having a quiet conversation.  Jessica was drinking iced tea and Sara was having water.  Though their conversation was subdue they were both very relaxed and had smiles on their faces. I am going to assume they were just friends or maybe coworkers whether than relatives because the split the check when it came time to pay.

The next table that was already sitting when I arrived appeared to be a middle aged couple. Husband and wife I presume.  The husband, Jim, was dressed more casually than his wife, Jennifer.  They both were having lunch and drinking iced tea. Since their proximity was close to me I overheard Jim mention that he preferred lime to lemon in his tea.  I don't feel like that is indicative of anything, but I felt like it was something to take note of.  After they finish their meal they continue their quiet conversation while finishing their tea.  But after a few minutes of conversation Jennifer starts browsing her phone, Jim then pulls out his own phone and starts to brows as well.  Jim paid their tab and they left together.

The third table sat two middle aged men, both in their late forties I presume and both dressed casually.  Both men were drinking glasses of beer. There seemed to be very little conversation at their table, but they seemed very relaxed none the less. For the sake of my notes I will call them Jack, James. I will get back to these two a little bit later in my notes.

While is was enjoying my own beer and taking notes a couple in about their thirties sat down. The man Jimmy, was in casual attire. The woman, Julia, was in more of a business casual outfit.  Both ordered a round of beer while they looked over the menu.  They were quiet but were very relaxed and smiled often.

Two women, a mother and daughter I ascertained, and a man, the younger woman's boyfriend, got a table not far from me. They were all dressed casual.  The mother, Joy, ordered a glass of white wine, the daughter, Jordan, and the boyfriend, Jose, ordered a half blue moon half cider drink.  I took a personal note of my own to try that later, for science of course.  All three of them were very animated and their conversation was easily heard by everyone on the patio.  Anytime the conversation did slow down they would turn to their phones.  Finding something on a social media site would give them another topic to converse about.

Going back to the table with the two middle aged men,Jack and James, a young woman in her mid twenties, Jasmine, dressed business casual seemed to know James from somewhere.  She came up to their table and had an animated conversation while she appeared to be waiting for someone else.  And as I had suspected, after five minutes or so a man in his mid twenties, Jorge, came into the conversation and then he and Jasmine found their own table and ordered a round of beer.

My time was drawing to an end so as I was waiting for my own tab I jotted down a few consistences I had noted from my visit.

• Beer was the predominate drink.  Everyone that showed up after about 1:15 or so that sat down ordered a beer with the exception of Joy who ordered a white wine.  I am not sure if this was due more to happy hour, or because it was a Friday afternoon.
• Everyone seemed very relaxed and in a general good mood.  Again this can probably be contributed to it being Friday and happy hour.
• Phones weren't as predominate as I had suspected that they might be.  While each table pulled out a phone at least once, they were not the main focus of any of the patrons.

That's all I have this week folks, check back next time and see what I have for ya!

-Al