GLASS HALF FULL

Martini Ever wonder what your bartender is thinking as the evening unfurls by the taps? It's all a bit more wistful than you might suspect, and clear fodder for storytelling, if this new series of dispatches from Deborah Stoll in LA Weekly is anything to go by:

This is the story of a couple of regulars. They love this bar. They come in for a couple after work, before going home, on a steady basis. They come here as a coda to their day before the rest of their night, which they will spend together, just the two of them, in each other's arms. You serve them and get to know them, in this way, becoming a part of their intimacy, "friends" of a sort -- no numbers are exchanged and you never hang out outside the confines -- were you to run into each other, say, at Trader Joe's, it would take a while for their eyes to focus and figure out where they know you from. Yours is a special kind of friendship -- like a vacation romance, it exists in a bubble devoid of minutia; you will never know each other so well that you will fight. You will never tire of one another's quirks. There is always just enough time for a funny story, a glimpse into the highjinks of your life, admiration for the outfit, and a tip.

Our bartenders are watching us. They care. And they know when we've fallen out of love.

Picture credit: Christopher Schall (via Flickr)