Oregon Tavern Age: New Duds

The female OTA bartender ripped the retail tags off the OTA man’s red and black flannel shirt and tan slacks and said, “These motherfuckers aren’t going back to Walmart!”

Her profane exclamation enriched one of the more poignant moments I’ve ever observed in all my years of OTA adventuring. I’ll never forget it.

A few minutes earlier, the OTA man, a regular in my local Empire OTA joint, had slipped out the side door for a smoke. I didn’t know the man, but had often seen him wandering the main drag in Empire on foot, sometimes sloshed or searching for cigarettes on the sidewalk. He may or may not be homeless, or homeless full time (there is such a thing as part-time homelessness) but he was certainly pleasant enough to me in the joint, always saying hello and asking how my day was going.

After his departure, the bartender launched into a story with regular at the bar about the man and his new duds.

The story went like this:

The previous afternoon, the man had entered the joint and smelled so bad of piss and body odor that he practically cleared the room. The bartender had a discreet, kind, yet stern message for him. He reeked and needed to clean up if he wanted to remain a customer. The man didn’t say anything in response and walked out.

Now he was sporting new clothes and obviously showered and spruced up (cologne!).

Alas, he had forgotten to remove the tags, but the bartender had taken care of that.

When the man returned from his smoke break, everyone started complimenting his appearance. The bartender even bought him his signature drink: a Rolling Rock poured into a cup of black coffee.

This all occurred ten feet away from me and I could almost feel the radiance of the moment. I felt honored to observe and chronicle it for my readers, no matter how few people that may be at this point in my writing career.

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