Bar Scenes

One thing that I should mention for clarity is what 'type' of bar scenes these were. Anyone coming from the background that I came from (that would be university/ college educated, career job, family focussed, etc.) don't generally hang out at bars much once they've graduated and started their careers. They are career and family focussed. They usually meet a like-minded person, date her for a stretch, get married and continue to build on the marriage and career. That's what path I was on for the first several years of my adult life.

When these people go to the bar, it's usually just to have a few drinks with a friend or friends and 'catch up'. Or maybe the wife or girlfriend is out of town, and you want to get drunk with the 'buddies'. You don't generally go there to meet new people or to hook up with anyone. Unless you decide to go to a stripper bar (which of course is different), the bars are generally nice, fairly upscale, and cater to this type of client. You basically go to these bars and sit and talk to whomever you went there to meet up with (and generally nobody else). They are not a 'sociable' bar. These are not the type of bars that I am referring to in my blog.

Of course there's also the dance bars, student/ young person bars. We all know them. They are the bars where the general age is 18 to 24 years old. Most people are students, or are at least not into their 'careers' or 'adult lives' yet. Of course these are just bars to mix and mingle and dance and party and do all the 'young adult' stuff. Obviously, these are not the type of bars that I am referring to in my blog either.

The bars that I'm referring to are the local area pubs. The 'sociable' bars. These are the bars where everyone just drops in. They often just drop in by themselves and everyone talks to everyone else sitting around the bar. For the most part, the patrons at these types of bars are quite a bit different than the bars I've mentioned above. For one, the patrons generally hang out at these bars on a regular, perhaps even daily basis. Many of their 'friends' are generally people that they've met hanging out at these bars. Most of these 'bar friends' they've never even seen outside of the bar. A lot of these patrons go to the bar to grab a few drinks and chat after work before preceding on with their lives. But a large part of the patronage is there to simply socialize and get drunk. It's a lifestyle.

Most of the patrons are single. Many or more like most of these patrons are not career or family focussed. In fact, a lot of them don't work at all, or at least don't work regularly. A lot of them are also the cooks, bartenders, and waiters that work in the area as well. They hang out here 'after work' which could be at any hour for those types of jobs. I've found that many of them tend to be the 'independent contractors' that work as painters, carpenters, remodelers, or labourers. Often these jobs don't require you to necessily be there from 9 to 5, or don't require you to work set days or hours. Any 'career professionals' that hang out at these bars are generally in the same boat that I was in. Displaced and in some sort of 'holding pattern' or 'f#cked up state of mind' due to whatever caused them to be displaced in the first place (lost job, failed marriage, new in town, whatever). You do get quite the variety, but for the most part everyone is there to meet people and socialize. It's at these bars, you have every different perspective, anything can happen, and everything is 'fair game'. These are the types of bars that I was hanging out at.