Is Drinking a Crime?
I was sitting in a bar in Atlanta airport yesterday afternoon. (I am in the U.S. for a couple of weeks to take care of a few things before school, but will be headed back to Bulgaria again afterward.) Well, it was actually the bar part of T.G.I. Friday’s. And it was packed. As soon as a seat freed up, somebody would immediately take it. The reason it was packed was that it was TINY. I don’t know about you… but to me this says a lot. It says, “We don’t want to have too many people drinking, so we limit the space in which it can be done.” (There was no other bar around in the terminal in which I had to wait for my connecting flight.) I know this it not true of all bars, but I feel that the general attitude towards drinking in the U.S. is somewhat…hypocritical, because everyone drinks and wants to drink, yet if you see someone drinking in the park, for example, you most certainly will frown at them… if not call the police.
As I sipped on my beer, the setting almost made me feel like I was committing a crime. It definitely did not lift my spirits as I thought it would when I first headed over to grab a beer. SIGH. Guess this is what I will have to get used to again. This and the whole “Can I see your I.D.?” thing. I don’t know…does it depress any of you? (of those of you who live or have lived in the U.S.)
13 comments:
ahh, the good ole ATL..I call it a people flusher. As you probably know it's the biggest in the world in terms of people traffic.
But to address your question..I stopped being depressed about that long time ago. Now I just laugh.
But I can see you getting depressed trying to get a beer in a hellhole, such as the TGIFriday (can the name be more inane?) bar at ATL, accompanied by midwesterners waiting for their connection to Florida...let's not forget America is a puritan country after all, yet it likes blood so much...
Well, maybe it's time for you to start getting flattered when they ask for your ID...I think you had posted before about how every cab driver in Sofia thinks you are 19 :))
Yeah, I guess :) I mean, I know I will get used to it again. After a while, I won't even pay any attention for sure. That's how it was before I left the States. But on some level I believe that first impressions are often the most accurate (and truthful, if I can put it that way).
As far as ATL goes... I actually like the airport much more than the ridiculous IAD (Washington-Dulles) with its people movers that look like something out of Star Wars. Don't know if you've flown through there and know what I am talking about. Funnily enough, officially they are known as "mobile lounges"... yeah, right, as if there is anything lounge-like about them?!?! :)
Interesting observation. Had not really noticed that US airport bars are relatively small. Is this a method of social control or is it a matter of economics? It would not surprise me much if it was the former.
Are the ID requests due to puritanism or due to our legal system (sue! sue!)? I think the latter.
I do think that a strain of puritanism plays a part in attitudes about drinking in the US: the annoying, left over Blue laws about buying booze on Sundays; the reflexive disapproval many people have for someone having a beer with lunch. Lucky for me that I'm part Irish: I just blame my ancestors.
sonyphone
I prefer DCA, cause it's 10 minutes from where I live, but needless to say I frequently need to travel through IAD too...and that was a good call on the Star Wars comparison...episode 5 maybe? except they had legs there...the mobile lounges are funny beasts.
Technically, though, you will agree that you can even lounge if they aren't too crowded. :)
sonyphone,
let alone wine with lunch...then you are being ostracized. ;)
sonyphone: Well, I think if the decision for airport bars' size were based on economics they would make them much much bigger. After all, at least from what I have seen at airports in the U.S., lots and lots of people want to grab a drink between flights (& on flights too). So there is plenty of money to be made there in my eyes.
concerned: Agreed that DCA is much more convenient all-around. So I guess you are just around the corner from me somewhere since I am currently in DC :). (And, yes, I did arrive through IAD, but actually didn't have to use the "mobile lounge"... I could just walk to the main terminal; a much much better experience :) )
I get flattered when I get ID'd now although it happens rarely these days. And eventhough I have lived in Canada for longer then I have lived in Bulgaria, I still have a hard time getting used to the strict liquor laws here. The only province that has slightly looser understanding of alcohol is Quebec where one can have a beer in the park as long at it is accompanied by a sandwich. I always loved that bylaw when I lived in Montréal.
On another note, I caught myself saying to a friend here the other day: I better get my drinking quota up when I visit Sofia this summer.
Sorry, but I think you are reading too much into this. I think it is much more about the restaurant itself. TGIFridays is one of those "family" restaurants. Ergo, not big on the drinking since that isn't really child-friendly.
If on the other hand you go to your average lobster and drinks establishment at the Boston airport, the bar will be the biggest area there. And Mass has plenty of blue laws.
H.
i was having a beer at the Noho brewery the other day (dont ask me how i got there and back in 6 days) and i remembered how they wouldnt serve us long island ice tea during graduation because the recipe contains too much alcohol..
also, i got a first-time experience hearing my name on final call at JFK (my 20 min flight from Hartford had a 2 hour delay, flightstats.com showing that it has been on time 12% of the time since the route was established) after a had to run from one terminal to another basically through the parking lots, they subjected me to a "random" security screen, not at all based on my bulgarian passport, and delayed my bag by a day...i didnt really have time to desire a beer at the airport..i think i dont like flying...
miss biliana: haha, I didn't know about the beer and sandwich exception to the rule. gotta hand it to the francophones: nice loophole!
H.: Hmmm, you could be right about the establishment part...hadn't really thought of it that way. But still I just can't help but notice how few airport bars there are to begin with (at least at the airports I have traveled through here; haven't really been to Logan since I turned 21). Anyhow, I didn't want to dwell on the airport bar part too much... true or false, the observation just got me thinking again about the whole attitude towards alcohol in the U.S., which you would have to agree just seems to be so much more convoluted and controversial than anywhere in Europe.
kalina: I had totally forgotten about the long island iced tea experience. Now when I think about it... what were those people thinking? Oh, and remember how when we finally did get our vodka&cranberry's they were so watered down, we were confused about whether we hadn't just ordered cranberry juice? :D I feel like sometimes unless you know the bar you are in as a place that does not water down drinks, it's better to just go with wine or beer (non-Bud, Miller lite, etc. type, of course).
re: the final call experience... must have been somewhat traumatic. did the people at the gate look at you in a disapproving way when you finally appeared? seriously, these days it seems like you have to be at the airport 3 hours in advance in order not to have to rush and be stressed out. I had to go through quite a few security loops myself on the way here.
well, the nice part about the final call was that a guy took me out of the security check line and let me go through before everyone else, and i didnt have to take my shoes off..they can't be looking at me disapprovingly when it's their plane that got me delayed in the first place..i haven't been that frustrated flying in a really long time, you do have to be at the airport 3 hours in advance, in order to wait for another 2 hour-delay, and, doing the math, if you have booked a connection with less than 3 hours layover: you are screwed. It so happened that i was on 8 flights in the past month, within Europe and oversea, 6 of them had more than 90 min delays, 2 of them where on the 20 min flight route JFK-BDL. paddling up and down the Connecticut River would have taken less :). Im opting for Queen Mary next time.
Apropos ID, i have to admit that this time i didnt get carded anywhere..which has to be upsettingly unflattering, but very relaxing.
Re: airport bars - see I have always noticed how MUCH people seem to drink at airports/on airplanes and have a very clear memory of rather large group of 40-somethings getting quite sloshed in a bar at the gate in Boston, so I guess that's what my memories are based on
Re: attitude towards drinking - sure, definitely different. But I think I have been noticing over the past couple years that while the US is much more restrictive with the drinking, Germany (e.g.) has plenty of other restrictive laws that bug me just as much. I think the whole drinking issue is the one that is always touted as the best proof for how backwards and "stick-up-the-ass-y" America supposedly is. But then I think of all the über-control-freak laws in Germany (many of which I never had cause to notice as a JYAer) - like the national conception of quiet hours between 1-3pm, riding your bike on the right side, not mowing your lawn on Sunday. I mean I feel as though I have to have a bad conscience for cleaning the apartment on a Sunday because it might disturb people, but since the stores aren't open on Sundays, Saturday has to be the shopping day, which only leaves Sunday for cleaning....
Anyway, I think my point is that the US is weird with the drinking but lax with other things and in Europe vice versa, so in the end it must be a zero-sum game.
I have however noticed that I am always more critical of where I am currently living, since those are the "difficulties" that effect me more daily.
H.
I agree. Every place has its "downsides" if we can call them that. Bulgaria is no different.
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