Give me a Drink

"Give me a Drink"

On an out of town business trip, after a meeting
in the afternoon and the obligatory dinner that
evening with the client, I went to my hotel room,
watched some late-night TV and turned in at
about midnight. After tossing and turning for over
an hour I decided to give it up for a time and go
down to the hotel bar for a drink.

At that time of night - it was now close to 1:30 - the
bar was almost deserted. As I slid onto a barstool
I noticed a lonely looking guy at the end of the bar
just sitting, without a drink in front of him, just looking
down at his hands.

When the bartender roused himself, came over and
asked, "what'll you have?" I replied, "Let me have a
bourbon old fashion, and see what the guy at the
end of the bar is drinking."

When the drinks came, the man at the end of the bar
raised his glass in a gesture of thanks and all was
silent for a time. When I finished my drink I called to
the bartender for another, adding, "But this time,
leave out the fruit."

The other guy stiffened, visibly angry, and shouted,
"Screw you mister, I didn't want the first drink!"
Received on Mon Feb 2 12:33:40 2004