Biting the Butt

Posted on January 23, 2006 11 Comments

I’ve been writing a lot about “serious” financial topics, like goal setting and reimbursement payments, etc. Thought you might like to hear a funny story, Budgeting Babe style, about a recent night out…

Some special nights are spent dining on extravagant food in hipster joints, dressed to the nines, while other nights, like a recent one of mine, are spent at a cozy bar on the South Side eating pizza and hanging out with plumbers who happen to know your uncle.

My friend and I decided to go skip the pretensiousness of the Lincoln Park/Near North Side neighborhoods and hang out in the Loop – let’s just say we didn’t want to change out of our work clothes and into an outfit that screams “I’ve got cash.” (Oh, yes, you do detect a bit of snark.) Since our favorite Loop bar, Govnor’s, is currently closed indefinitely, we decided on a small place near the El on S. Wabash, called “The Wabash Tap.” We’d heard the bar was nice and knew it was cheaper than the Houlihan’s, Bennigan’s and Hyatt Big Bar that are within walking distance from our office. Plus, my friend’s boyfriend lives steps away from The Wabash Tap.

The bar itself was great – it reminded me of a place I frequented in college. The crowd was friendly and the service was adept. We were a bit disappointed with the food – a $10 pizza was just a Jack’s Frozen Pizza that you can find for $6 at your grocer’s, and the nachos only involved cheese and jalapenos (we were expecting sour cream and ground beef). Still, since we split everything between us, $10 for dinner is not a bad price.

After we ordered our first beers and chatted a bit, mayhem began to ensue. From a group of guys on the other side of the bar, a very drunk lad approached our table. We joked around with him for a few minutes – he was a plumber from the South Side having a few drinks with his crew after work. They came to The Wabash Tap often. It turned out that he and I grew up in neighboring areas of the city. Even stranger, his entire group worked with my uncle (plumber/construction worker extraordinare)! So I went over to their group and introduced myself, and we all had a good laugh. My uncle’s foreman bought everyone a round of drinks. I thanked them and sauntered back to my table.

Shortly thereafter, the drunk plumber showed up again. This time he wanted to know where I went to high school, and what my ACT score was. “Well,” I said, “I don’t give that information to just anyone!” I mean, really, I took that test 10 years ago…and I’ve NEVER been asked my score in a bar. Thankfully, he got off that topic… and on to a weirder one entirely!

“You know what?” he began, “My friends originally bet me somethin’ about coming over here.”

What’s the bet, we wanted to know?

“Well, you’re the prettiest girls in here, and all. So my friends bet me… (prolonged pause)…this is really weird, you sure you want to know?”

“Um. We only said $100. He was playin’ you girls!”

The moral of the story? When you’re short on cash, and a strange plumber approaches promising cash to take a big ol’ bite out of your butt, he’s probably not giving you any money.

Keep your eyes out for these tricksters, ladies, I’m sure they’re everywhere. Let’s keep earning our cash the honest way!

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