2.0: 21 for Day 12

I had considered putting “buy a bachelorette party shots” or “buy a 21-year-old their first drink” on the list but if the purpose of the list is to better the people around me, would these things be contributing to the cause or simply to their delinquency. The purpose of the list is to get me going everyday. To give each day a purpose and to try and improve my self and others.

There are no rules to the challenge and the list is far from complete, so items can be added as the year goes on, however I don’t want to add items to the list to suit my day’s needs.

Day 12 was a productive day. I woke up at 7:45am, participated in the Yazoo Barely a 4K run with my roommate, and had breakfast with some really terrific people before heading to work. On my commute to work I found myself feeling guilty; while the day was productive and, in fact, had very much purpose, I didn’t actually check anything off the list. Had I let the list down?

I decided that I hadn’t. I had a good day. It was both physically and socially satisfying. Maybe it was okay that it wasn’t an item on the list.

I worked monotonously through my shift at work; smile, greet table, take order, place order, smile, run food, fill water, pre-bus, smile, offer dessert which is inevitably denied, drop check, take payment, smile. For whatever reason this particular shift was frustrating. The people around me weren’t pulling their weight or my customers were pushing my buttons, it just wasn’t smooth. At the end of the night, I was ready to call it. Time of death: right this moment. No mourning, no grief counseling, just leave the night behind! However, I had one final group seat themselves in my section; three girls and a boy. It was a Saturday so they were unusually underdressed for a night on the town. I offered them food menus and they declined. I offered them drinks and they all responded with a server’s favorite responses:

“Water.”

“Water.”

“Diet Coke with grenadine, please?”

The fourth guest paused before she spoke, “I’m going to be 21 in 20 minutes…”

Smile. Wince. Cringe. “Well, then we’ll have to wait 20 minutes to place that order.”

She said, “I know, but I don’t know what I want.”

Wince. Cringe.

“I mean, I just don’t know what I like when it comes to alcohol.”

Oh! Oh wow. I had forgotten what it must be like to only know the frat boys’ refrigerator; Natty Ice and Taaka Vodka. I’m not so far removed from this first time experience that I can afford to be cynical about it. I decide to grab our Specialty Drink Menu and talk her through it.

Realizing that even if she had an alcoholic beverage before that day, her education on what she was drinking may not expand beyond lessons from the Most Interesting Man in the world about Skinny Girl Marga-everythings and Puff Daddy’s Ciroq. I decided it was my duty and I pulled up a chair. I quickly turned from jaded about my last several hours of work to excited about the next quarter of an hour. I recommended my favorite drink on the menu, the Tuscan Margarita, and explained what each liquor would taste like. She scanned the menu a moment or two more and went with my recommendation.

I asked for her I.D. She politely obliged and I rang in the order. A swelling feeling of excitement washed over me. How fun to still have milestones! What a thrill to sit down with your friends to enjoy something for the first time – well, for the first time without fear of being caught.

I remember my first legal beer at a bar where I had shown my real I.D. My roommate at the time, Brent Politico, took me out at midnight to a bar on our college’s “strip” of bars called Charlie Peppers. I think I just ordered a Coors Light or something equally as mundane and unimaginative. Brent bought it. We sat on the railing of their outside balcony and listened to live music. I remember panning through the crowd of summer-time boozers and thinking, “I belong here. I’m allowed.” It was like an exclusive club and I had just earned lifetime membership.

Suddenly, I was glad this girl sat in my section and that I was the one who got to bestow the honor of her first membership drink upon her.

I served her the Tuscan Margarita. She sipped it. Her eyes widened. I imagine she didn’t know alcohol could taste so good. As she sat and talked with her friends and slowly enjoyed her drink, I cleaned and wrapped up my night. When I went back to check on them, they didn’t want anything else. I told her I had taken care of her tab. She was so sweet and grateful, as were her friends.

As we were exchanging our final niceties, I realized one of the girls was wearing a sorority shirt, my sorority’s shirt! “I’m an Angel!” I exclaimed. The Twenty-One-Year-Old squealed, “So, not only did you serve me my first drink, but you’re also my sister!?”

“I guess so,” I responded a little dumbfounded.

When I returned to clean the table, they had left me five dollars on the table. What sweet, baby, Angel sisters! 

Day 7: Skype with Kelia
Day 8: Buy something for someone who needs it and won't spend the money for them self
Day 9: Get a fun new hair cut/color
Day 10: Do something you don't want to
Day 11: Organize ALL bills and loose ends
Day 12: Buy a 21 year old their first drink