PMS, Matchmaking, and a Motorcycle Helmet

I agreed to come in today with some reservation. I've grown fond of this whole minimal committment to the bar thing, and two days seemed like so much. However, it was difficult to turn down the extra moolah, especially with my plan to take a mini-vacation in May (gotta start saving, right?). Fortunately, my campus schedule today worked out to allow me to leave early and thus get some down time between campus and the bar. Thank Paul for that.

When I got to the bar, there was one table, a couple folks sitting at the bar, and Dave. By four thirty, people were starting to wander in. By five thirty I was running my butt off because every one of the tables in the place were occupied and there was only me to tend to them. The second server came in at six and I tossed her two tables right away, and by seven-ish, I had caught up enough to catch my breath. Then, we hit eight, Dave went home, and I was mostly done for the rest of the night. There's a nice feeling, on those nights, when I've been doing the mad dash and making money, and then the rest of the night I can sit back, be picky about which tables I want, and more or less just hang out for the rest of my shift. Not bad for an extra shift.

I think I've mentioned before that I'm glad to have some male coworkers in the mix, and tonight was a good example of why. I don't know if it had to do with being leap year, or what, but there was entirely too much girl B.S. in the air. Here's the short version:
Coworker 1 got mad that extra shifts were given to coworker 2, who has less seniority. Thus, 1 ignored 2's drink orders and got all snippy. Coworker 2 got upset, then things got busy and she got stressed, and it was all this emotional thing. Ugh. For crying out loud, why must there be so much drama? Meanwhile, Skunk was trying to ignore it, and I was trying to avoid telling the pissy girlies to just get the hell over it already. I substituted for hanging out more in the front with K.C., his girlfriend Kitty, and her gal pal Billy.
Me: Thank goodness for you and Skunk, at least I know there are two people here who aren't PMSing.
K.C. Tell me about it.

So, skip back to earlier: A guy walks in, carrying a motorcycle helmet. He wanders around the bar for a bit, cell phone to his ear, looking lost. He finally sits down, but he doesn't want to order yet, because he's supposed to be meeting people and doesn't know where they are, etc. etc. After a bit, I check back on him. Still nada. Meanwhile, he's put his motorcycle helmet on the table beside him, effectively claiming two of our larger tables for himself.

Eventually, his friends arrive. They hang out for a few hours, being annoying.
Them: Do you have a menu?
Me: Yeah, the appetizer menu is on your table, and I'll got get a couple of dinner menus for you.
Gal: Oh, that's okay, we'll just have some appetizers.
(a few minutes later)
Me: What've you decided on?
Them: Um, can we get a couple of dinner menus?
(a bit later)
Me: What've you decided on?
Them: We'll get some nachos (i.e. an appetizer).
(later, we're short on menus, so I pick them up from the table. Later yet...)
Them: Oh, can we see some dinner menus?
(a bit later)
Me: What would you like?
Them: Actually, we're not going to get anything.

Luckily, when they paid up on their $115 tab, they actually left me $25. Very cool. Strange group though. Motorcyle guy's helmet eventually disappeared to parts unknown, kinda makes me wonder what happened to it.

Around nine-ish, two gals come in a join one of my tables. They stand at the table without sitting down. I waited for them to get settled, but they continued standing (I don't get this at all, and it tends to be a peeve of mine). Finally, I relented and walked over.
Me: Hi guys, what can I get you?
Better-than-Ali-girl: A cranberry vodka for me.
Me: Sure. What kind of vodka would you like?
BAG: Oh, whatever. What's your house?
Me: Seagrams.
BAG: Nuh uh. Seagrams isn't vodka. It's whiskey.
Me: They have vodka as well.
BAG: No, Seagrams is just whiskey.
Me: We also have Absolut, Stoli, Kettle One...
BAG: I want Absolut.
Me: Alright.
I rang up the order, and briefly considered having Skunk hand me the bottle of Seagrams vodka so I could walk it over to the table and plunk it down right in front of the gal with a defiant "See? Told ya." In the interest of customer relations, I didn't. I just brought the drinks.
BAG: How much?
Me: $4.50 please.
BAG: What? (mutters to friend, something about how that's too much, which I hear 'cause I'm standing right there, but don't acknowledge 'cause I'm not as rude as she is).
BAG pulls out a five and hands it to me. I get to keep the change. Lucky me.

Since it was slow, I got to know Kitty a bit and I rather like her. Billy's also pretty cool. She made it to a happy buzzed place and became very chatty. About midnight, I headed over to the front table. K.C. and Kitty were out front smoking, so I leaned over to tell Billy I was going to switch over their tab to the other server (only $20, and they'd been a real laid back table, so I didn't mind giving my coworker the tip). She started talking about Kitty and K.C. and since I was in no hurry, we chatted a bit about how they were a good couple. Then, she changes the subject. What follows is the abbreviated version.
Billy: You know, I really like [regular]. He's gorgeous guy. You should go out with him.
Me: I don't know about that. I like him well enough, but he's not quite my type.
Billy: Just try it. You could have fun with him.
Me: You and I have practically just met and already you're trying to set me up?
Billy: You should do it. You two would make a good couple.
Me: I'll keep you posted.

And, on that note, I transferred the tab, closed my bank, and cleared out. The money was worth it tonight.