the bar

Yesterday I worked at the bar. It was my second shift. I closed with the owner. He’s a Swedish guy that looks like he’s in his mid 30s but I think reach 40 a few years ago. He owns the bar with his wife, who’s a black chick from jersey. They are both down to earth and kind people. I like working there already.

The walls are brick and on them hang pictures that were taken by a friend of one of the owners. They are mostly well-crafted, artistic black and whites of famous musicians. I think the guy who took them is a big magazine photographer or something. Some of them I'm sure I’ve seen before. I don’t remember where though.

Its mostly just locals that come in, and a lot of them are regulars. So in the three or so nights that I’ve worked there I've gotten pretty good at recognizing them. They all know each other too, and share secrets and gossip and argue and make up. The bartenders, us, we don’t get too involved but we know. We know when they break up, we know when they hook up, we know when they are cheating and when they’re being cheated on, we know when they lost their job or had to fire someone, we know when they’ve come into money and how it came about, we know when they need a drink, we know when they need to be cut off. They mostly drink beer and wine.

Others come in too. Just to hang out a few hours in someplace cozy and quiet and not so well lit. At times they become regulars, but mostly they just come and go and every one ask who they were and what their deal was.

Its sort of like that TV show "Cheers", except its not only white people. We even have a “Norm” type character, his name is Jose and he’s Puerto Rican. The neighborhood itself is ok, but it’s not the best. Across the street is mostly just supply and demand, hoods on the block, but everyone respects the bar. As a matter of fact, they protect it, and if anything strange is going down, they make sure it stays down the block. Its very old school and loyal.

I’m not sure where this is all going; I’m still doing work for the company every day. I’m sure soon though, I'll have a lot of stories to write.