Date:  Tue, 3 Oct 1995 07:54:39 EST

From:  Beth Lee Simon <simon[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]CVAX.IPFW.INDIANA.EDU>

Subject: Re: Terminology of unexcused absences/ and bar time.



As a (n inept but at The Mill, no one, including Keith Dempster, the

owner/boss, cared) waitress in a bar/restaurant in Iowa City, IA,

everyone used/knew bar time.



Bar time had two senses: the time that the bar ran on, which was ten

minutes earlier than real time

and

the time that the bar stopped serving liquor, which at that time, was

2:00 a.m.

The bartender called "Last call," at 1:50, bar time. At 2:00 a.m., the

bartender called "Time, folks." Because 2 a.m. bar time was 1:50 real time,

everyone had ten minutes to knock back whatever there was and collect

the glasses, etc., before 2 a.m. real time, the last moment when one

could be drinking legally in a bar.



And "bar time" was in use in Des Moines, IA, as well, although I can

only provide personal experience for the second sense. One summer, I

worked at the International House of Pancakes, which was open until

2 a.m. on Saturday night (i.e. Sunday morning). In Iowa, one could not

buy liquor on Sunday, and in Iowa, bars closed at 1 a.m. (real time) on

Saturday night. And while people might have a drink, as it were, or two,

on Friday nights, Saturdays were when they came in blotto because Sunday

was dry.

So we, the waitresses of the International House of Pancakes, and, I suspect,

we, the waitresses of anyplace were one wore a uniform and the patrons thought

a dollar bill was a big deal, knew the phrase "bar time" quite well,

because when the men came in and starting puking in their way to the booth,

we'd say, "Must be bar time."



(forgive the were for where, etc. i can't edit on this)

beth simon

Oh, for the character-building of working one's way through college