Day 43 - Rain, Rain, Go Away

I wanted to make sure tonight was well worth showing up for work. I had decided to play the responsible card and not go with friends to 6-Flags today and actually go to work...since the stadium job is currently my only source of income. So I told myself that I wanted to be sure tonight was well worth showing up for.

Then the rain came...and never left...well, not until around 8 did it clear up, only to start to sprinkle an hour later for most of the remainder of the game.

With an hour and 35 minute rain delay, we had to stop selling beer at 10. This didn't make many people happy...which I'll get to in a bit.

I had only sold 4 beers before the game started....4! oh, well that's not bad right? well, when I was working for a solid hour and 35 minutes before the game started...yeah...that's bad. You'd think people would just drink away during a rain delay...not tonight...everyone was off to a slow start. I was wondering if being responsible was a mistake for the day and 6-Flags would have been the best option....Finally people started drinking as soon as the first pitch was thrown. It was like a switch that was turned on in them. Baseball game started = time to drink brewskies.

The rain delay caused for plenty of people to crowd the Redbird Club. They were craving for this game to start...and as soon as the teams took the field, the Redbird club looked like a ghost town.

Stories...oh the stories:

-Manny was once again booed. When his name was announced, as he came to the plate, even as he fielded a ball hit into right field...no love for Manny. This actually kind of saddened me. Not that I'm a Manny fan, but for the little kids that showed up that were Manny fans. I saw numerous kids who were decked out in their Manny attire and were there to see their hero play ball. To bad their hero cheated...and most of them (the small children in Manny attire) don't understand that yet...and all they knew was that their hero wasn't welcome in Busch Stadium.

-After the game had started, I started walking the steps through the sections. I was walking down the steps of one section and before I even took the first step, I heard someone next to me ask for a Bud Light. I turn to my right and there is sitting a young guy on the end of the row and with him were two young girls next to him and a guy who might have been 21 next to the girls. I turn around and ask for his ID. He looked like he was already having a rough life and me asking for his ID is what sent him over the edge. He started to cuss and complain about me carding him. He never said it to my face, but as he was digging through his wallet, he would say how it was bullsh*t that I was carding him and how it was going to be f*cking ridiculous to be carded every time he wanted a beer. I read the expressions on the girls' face sitting next to him and they seemed to already be irritated by their friend's attitude. He hands me his ID, and the guy just turned 21 a few months ago. I guess when you turn 21, everyone simply knows you're 21 and you shouldn't have to be carded ever again....FALSE! I handed him his ID back and started to get his beer for him and told him it would be $7.75. He then fumbled through his wallet and started cussing some more about being carded.

At this point, I was already pissed at this kid and now he was sending me over the edge. I had already planned out in my head how I was going to be sure I spread the word to other beer men to keep their eye out for this kid and card him every damn time...or simply cut him off, since we do reserve the right to refuse a sale to anyone.

Anyways...back to this dumb ass sitting here fumbling with his dollar bills. He had to ask the girl next to him for a dollar in quarters cause he only had $6.75 on him. She fished out quarters for him...clearly he wasn't a big tipper...and I didn't expect it from the moment I saw him. He took the beer and handed it down to his friend sitting a few seats down from him. I said, "wait, I didn't know it was for him, I need to see an ID first." The kid buying the beer started to cuss some more about beer men ID'ing him and his friends. The guy who he bought the beer for said, "dude, chill, he is just doing his job." That's when this kid looked up at me as I was getting the other guy's ID and said, "wait, honestly, who do you think looks older?" I looked at his friend who had a much older look about himself and a half-beard growing...and then I looked back at the punk who had the baby-face going for him...and I said, "your friend does." That just pissed him off more...His friend was older. He was 22. So I gave him the beer and his buddy was still pissed and cussing and moaning about me ID'ing him. I just looked at him and told him, "I'm just doing my job. We ID everyone who appears to be 31 1/2 and under. You won't be able to go anywhere else in this stadium and not get ID'd." I then told him thank you for the sale and walked away.

As I made my way back up to the top of the steps of that section a few minutes later, he just glared at me the whole time I walked past him. He looked like he was having fun...like as if he thought he was amazing and had a much older look/appearance about himself...I would love to have that moment relived tonight, because I would have been a much more of a smart ass back to this guy. As the night progressed, I passed by him 2 more times going into that section and every time I would walk up the steps, I'd glance over that way to see if anyone wanted a beer and he'd be there glaring right back at me as if I just ruined his life forever.

-At 9:45, I started to announce 'last call'. Several people didn't like this. Since the game was still in the middle of the 5th, most people were expecting beer sales to continue through to the bottom of the 7th. I had one guy look very confused and almost sad as if he was going to cry and asked why we were ending so early. I explained how we are only allowed to sell till 10 because of the liquor license at Busch Stadium. I won't lie, the guy looked like he was ready to cry. Another group of guys we wanting to know what happened if there was another rain delay and the game lasted till 1 or 2 a.m. I told them that no matter what, we were done at 10. These guys weren't happy. They wanted to know who made those rules and why would we stop selling to beer-thirsty people? I explained it to them, but I think they had already drank a few too many to comprehend anything that was going on.


Totals thus far:
73 Bags of Cracker Jacks
80 Bottles of Water
171 Bags of Peanuts
2427 Bottles of Beer