CHILI-ING TIME AT THE BAR

My friend and I are sitting in the bar in a booth at Chilis.  It's a Monday night, not a particularly busy evening, for sure, so we have time to hog the table and yak.  As we do so, we start to notice the people dotting the bar itself.

On our side of the wrap-around bar sit three men.  They are not together, at least not physically.  One guy in a suit sits three stools from a guy in business casual who is four stools away from another business casual guy.

This is not the unusual part.

We notice that each of the men wears dress socks -- the loose, semi-polyester knit calf socks with interesting designs.  Suit Guy has dark socks with little decorations interspersed throughout the material.  Business Casual #1 is wearing hideous tan socks with some kind of red and yellow diamonds running up the outside like misaligned fishnet stockings.  Business Casual #2 is wearing dark socks, possibly blue, which a striped design.  This anomaly of work socks should render them a group, but that's still not the weird part.

The bizarre thing about these three gentlemen is that each one is decadently sipping a glass of red wine.

Seriously.  Wine.  At Chilis.  At the bar.  Alone.  Each one alone as alone can possibly be when sitting mere feet from one's bar-stooled doppelgangers.

Chilis has an extensive bar list, from beer selections to alcohol.  Granted they do not make coconut margaritas, but still they have a good stock of hard liquor and quite a few taps of beer (not to mention the bottled back-up list).  This isn't the place where wine would be first on my list of things to order, and not because I'm a snob. Sweetie, I am one of the least wine-snobbish people you will ever meet.  Shit, I'll drink wine out of a box, for chrissakes.  But this -- This is awkward.  Three guys, all wearing slightly saggy office-style socks, all sitting a few seats apart, all sipping red wine.

Alone.

Is it a conspiracy?  Some kind of signal?  Some secret CIA-style sting?  Are they part of a dating ring, waiting for the women and using each other as back-up in case they need to bail before introductions?  "I'll be the guy drinking the red wine at the bar.  Pretend you know me and I'll get you out clean."

Whatever it may be -- predetermined or coincidence -- we find it wildly entertaining and giggle-worthy, which, of course, means another successful dinner out.  Thank you, Chilis, and thank you, gentlemen.  Cheers!