Holy Rollers! Maybe if not for long holiday hours, you’d have the full staff to get fixes as readily made as the instant hot spot food, and have even quicker hot dogs and their fixings to go with your feasting — and accompany the ham.
— The Freedom station had a late-night difficulty, as the front hot dog roller machine was out of order. That left only the back one operating. I quipped that the workers, who I should add fixed the problem in short order, could make up the difference by cutting the hot dogs in half and roasting part on each machine. Or, wait a minute, I’ve got that trickery backwards. (Then a staffer said she didn’t have the beef so much on her mind, as she’d worked many days in a row, as getting home for the holidays). My reversal was unlike when Kozy Korner next door opened with their bar at 11 a.m. on Christmas Day, then went on to close, with the kitchen shuttered all day. But don’t fret, there was a sloppy Joe special all day. But my idea was that for that fact of full hours, you’d get seriously less sandwiches, as they’d be spread out over 15 hours. Or is that the way that works?
— Many places that are primarily grill and bars had lesser hours on Christmas Day, or none at all, but as far as Starr’s Bar, which is primarily a tavern although by all accounts having great and unique food, is most notable for taking the day off on the 25th so workers could have Christmas with their families. First in line for the non-Grinch award.
— Bartender Sue at the Village Inn was working the late shift on Christmas Day, and was sporting a holiday outfit that was part Mrs. Santa dress and stocking cap, part ugly sweater and part German deirndle.
— Then there was worn a huge head topper, ala The Cat In The Hat, that was almost as wide as it was tall. Also, an associate was giving those cartoon antlers a workout, worn while putting in her time through virtually all of the Christmas holiday. Finally, with a day off almost a half-month providing service, would she be social with this opportunity? Rather, she said she’d get away from people entirely and curl up in bed with her PJs and watch Netflix. Two others who also worked the entirety of the holiday’s shifts, say they also have just been making the best of it.
— The holidays would be celebrated by one North Hudson woman by spending more than a day at relatives there, then trekking to another spot nearby in The Valley, then relaxing at Starr’s Bar in a talkative way late on Dec. 23. And where to go on the next two days? Iowa. Without Slipknot. She has my sympathies.
— This has got to be an ultimate Christmas present, for a bartender studying to further her art career, and from her grandfather no less, not her parents. And only in this day would such a gift be so prized. What is it? Tuition money!
— Should some of them be called lefty? Especially since the Vikings just lost to Chicago — now again called, and rightly so, Da Bears — and now are out of the playoff picture. To the point, there was a video rendition of one of Favre’s past Minnesota days, in which I saw it in a mirror and he was throwing left-handed! That’s how you pack it in. Along those lines, I ran into an old fan of the Vikes who said he had a bad feeling that his team was going to lose by about a touchdown. Close, or so he said. And despite all that, he still sported his purple Viking stocking cap late on the night before New Year’s Eve.
— There was one last rendition of that sweater song by Weezer right before New Year’s. It was said from one server to another, Ah, did you play this? Well, uh. That was at Buffalo Wild Wings, where earlier there were a lot more people in the place, and at time unlike near to closing, more patrons than staff. One of those patrons, from a time before, was squeezed in next to the bar rail, and had to position each of his butt cheeks on a separate but adjacent stool.
— Then it was, as befits the holiday season, the Badgers in a bowl bonanza. Maybe not. The luster might not have been there. This was the Pinstripe Bowl, and the sponsoring corporation, (there always seems to be one of them), was … ah … The Yankees? It was duly noted that this game could have been a rare bowl blowout, if not for mistakes by both teams that included a few interceptions and a pair of missed field goals by UW. Alas, the big mammal-mascot-crew prevailed quite easily toward the end.