1st off, I'm old. I say that more and more since I've become a mom and have grown up. Basically, that's what it boils down to though....we've grown up. I'm not actually "old" per say, we just have different priorities and views than we used to.
We went out for dinner last night to a really nice restaurant and had a great time, the food was excellent, it's quite pricey (but we had a gift certificate so it eased that fact). My husband and I sat there and enjoyed the quiet, the atmosphere and the food. Then we left and went to a friends Birthday Party at Buddy N' Pal's in Winfield. I was super excited to see all of our friends and just have some drinks and fun!
We walked in and the 1st thing my husband noticed was of course the stale smoke smell. We both went to the bathroom 1st and I was so shocked at how dingy, stinky and just overall "unkept" the entrance and bathrooms were. (Yes, I know this is where most of you are thinking, "um, hey idiot YOU walked into a bar") But we used to hang out there ALL the time, it was nice, it was busy & it was always clean!
Fast forward through the fun hugs, catching up and excitement of seeing everyone and go straight to the fact that our waitress was an IMMEDIATE B*&^h. She "forgot" to bring change for 3 of the guys and one of the girls and it had to be asked for each time.....and we're not talking like $2 in change......like $16! Convenient? eh? She "forgot" to bring my drink 2x, and a couple other girls' drinks even more. She looked to be approx 23-25 or so. Major attitude.
So then, there is a guy (obviously drunk) making an idiot of himself on the dancefloor whiile 3 of my girlfriends are dancing....Now this is where it ges a bit fuzzy for me. Not because I was drunk (b/c I definitely wasn't), but because I was talking to someone at the table and wasn't really paying attention to the dancefloor much. All of a sudden there was a group....you know the one....a bunch of guys pacing and preparing....and then WHAM, a giant fight broke out and this poor kid that was with our group (although we don't really know him well, he was harmless and definitely NOT a fighter) got buried in the bottom....so the testosterone went flying. Now this isn't the first bar fight I've ever seen, so I'm waiting for intereference from the bouncers and management.....waiting, waiting, waiting.....it never happened. Most of our group of guys were involved in pulling apart and getting socked in the faces in the meantime....Now up until now dear hubby had stayed back and at this point he jumped forward a bit and helped start just pulling people back and away. I mean if no one else was going to do it, who was going to help the people underneath? So I walked around the back and up to the bar and asked the 2 (maybe 23 year old girls) who by the way are standing there watching it WHERE THE HELL IS THE MANAGEMENT? BOUNCERS?
The reply I got was "oh, they're in the fight somewhere" and then they giggled. YES, THEY F'N GIGGLED. I was livid. THAT WOULD HAVE NEVER HAPPENED AT BUDDY'S IN CP. ....period. So after deciding that we were going to leave, and the guy had been let back into the bar, not once, but twice to be antagonizing and start it all over again. I still had yet to see anyone besides the bar back who I'm now wondering if he was the only man working there. Now I forgot to mention that the whole bar was not even full, maybe 1/2 the tables were taken, if that. The dance floor was empty until my friends started dancing.
So we've gathered everyone together and are ready to leave and then the police show up, flashing lights, sirens, etc.....maybe 25 minutes after the incident. YES, 25 minutes......and in walks flipping Andy Griffith......I'm not being mean, but really? You're going to send a 60 year old police officer to a BAR FIGHT? Now to be fair about 5 minutes later 3 more cops show up and they are all younger. They decide to start doing interviews?!!!! Luckily it didn't involve hubby or myself so we just sat around and talked but they called our friends in one by one to the office and apparently questioned the situation.....
I come back from the bathroom and hubby says "we've been asked to leave". I laughed out loud.....now I'm not saying that some of the guys shouldn't have stepped back or walked away but really? They're asking us (a group of 20) to leave when we are the main source of their income for the night & the main problem has already left? Well ok then, I mean we were leaving anyways, but the whole thing was SO POORLY HANDLED. Meanwhile a girlfriend has called a friend who is a County officer and explained the situation to him....all shall remain nameless, but he dropped whatever it was he was doing or patroling or whatever and proceeded to not only give her husband and her a ride to Hebron but to allow all of us to follow him to ensure we got there safely. I'm completely grateful to this unknown officer b/c let's face it, 5 cars driving to Hebron when they had been drinking at a birthday party with intent to stay there until 3am and it's only 11pm = drivers who shouldn't be driving.
So some will read this and think, this is dumb, some will think WE'RE dumb for even being there. But I am so disappointed at the whole situation, how it was handled, how it happened, and the fact that my friends Birthday Party was ruined. So back to the fact that we're old. We don't like that stuf, it was ridiculous. And I'm so glad that neither Ron nor myself chose to drink too much (for like the 3rd time in my life, lol) either one of us would have been safe to drive home by ourselves had it been needed. I've done one giant drunken night/hungover morning with these 2 boys to take care of and said I'd never do it again. It's so not worth it when they need us.
Maybe more happened, maybe a bit different than I know or realize. - But that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
