Whuddup: March 2008

So I had another long night out last night. Hung out with some co-
workers and one of their relatives. We hit a bunch of places. They
eventually went home and I continued the party elsewhere. So end of
the night happens and I decide to go to my usual late night spot,
Clarke's.

I get sat a couple booths in and I peruse the menu. I decide on a
grilled cheese sandwich. Yeah, not more normal late night snack of a
patty melt or french toast. I just really wanted a grilled cheese
sandwich. I also got hot chocolate as usual.

I eat in peace listening to techno music on my iPhone and surfing the
'net. I'm starting to fade too. I had woken up 24 hours ago. I
worked, came home, ate dinner, chilled, then went out bar hopping. I
was tired. I asked my server for my check and he promptly brought
it. I put my $10 on the table and was chilling.

Now this guy walks in the door. I see he's got his stack of Street
Wise newspapers that these guys sell and he just walks by. He didn't
wait to be sat. I don't really think anything of it. A couple
minutes later he comes stumbling (literally) by my table and falls
onto it.

Now me being the nice guy that I am I ask him if he's alright. He
just mumbles something and then makes a move to take the money on the
table. He runs out the door and I run after him yelling some choice
words at him. One of the last things I say is something like, "it's
only $10."

I walk back inside and of course the whole place is looking at me. My
server comes up to me and asks if I'm OK and if he took anything from
me. As I get to my table I see my $10 on the floor!

I bust out laughing. This guy really needs to work on his technique.
He can't even figure out how to steal money! I give the server the
money and start heading out. I look around to see if the bum is still
hanging around since he realized his screw up. Nope. I just see my
server outside smoking.

I start laughing again. I tell my server I was so hoping to see this
guy around so I could harrass him about how he couldn't perform a
simple task. I start walking to the Red Line which is maybe 50 feet
away. I then think to myself, "I gotta blog about this." And I come
up with the title.

You see, typically when I go to Clarke's at 5 in the morning I'm dead
tired, but hungry. And I'm usually fighting sleep while I'm there
since there's really no activity going on like being at a nightclub.
I then almost always hail a cab as I don't want to wait 20-30 minutes
for the train, then possibly passing out and waking up 2-3 stops after
my stop. THEN waiting another 20-30 minutes for another train.

Well, last night (this morning) the adrenaline had gotten me so awake
that I was more than happy to take the train home. That cab ride is
around $15 with tip. The train ride itself is free since I pay a
monthiy CTA fee for unlimited rides.

So thank you Mr. Street Wise selling guy for keeping me $15 richer.

Sent from my iPhone