4 ms·

I love dive bars. All of my training is focused around persuading a machine to do what I want. I get pedantic. I think this is rooted in the computer not doing

by jfoutz 5y ago

I love dive bars. All of my training is focused around persuading a machine to do what I want. I get pedantic. I think this is rooted in the computer not doing what I want all day, and me, little by little finding the correct path. Lawyers and combat veterans are the absolute best to interact with. Lawyers will give you 6000 reasons why that blue car is actually red. Sometimes they get lucky, and strike upon a workable solution. Combat veterans believe what they believe for a reason, someone might die. They've really _really_ thought it through. Lawyers and combat veterans don't get mad. They really want to either win or communicate the point, respectively- unless you're a complete asshole, don't do that. Being an asshole will get you kicked out, or your ass kicked. Drunken dive bar patrons genuinely want to help improve your understanding of the world. They're bored. They're literally killing time. Grad students and post docs are kinda shitty. I enjoy hearing people be passionate about things, but they have a zealotry that can be hard to take. there's a deep commitment there that gives zero space for beliefs that disagree with their own, especially when drunk. But you can learn a lot of high level perspective. Sports fans and enthusiasts are beyond my bar skills. They require an encyclopedic knowledge of whatever they're into. it's hard (for me) to keep a conversation rolling. Machinists are pretty cool, they've become assembly programmers worried about crashing heads. I get of easy, I just rerun my program. They trashed a 5k piece of steel, and possibly damaged a very expensive machine. There are lots of folks in dive bars. Most of them are willing to shoot the breeze. It can be a very mind expanding experience. On the other hand, at a dive bar, you're probably interacting with the alcoholic version of X. That also applies to you. You'll find people that are more open and willing to talk and argue about whatever in a consequence free (unless you're an asshole) environment. But you also need to think hard about your level of consumption. It's probably not great. Dive bars are a funny thing. they're a social space I haven't found replicated anywhere else.

chrisseaton 5y ago
> they're a social space I haven't found replicated anywhere else Sounds a lot like many pubs.
- koolba 5y ago
  A dive bar is literally a pub.
  - chrisseaton 5y ago
    You get one or more bars in a pub, but a bar is not a pub.
    - umanwizard 5y ago
      In American English “bar” is the name of the establishment, not just the piece of furniture inside.
    - jfoutz 5y ago
      Oh my. We can all tell the parent poster is trying to connect an idea from English to American. I appreciate that you're fussy and pedantic, because I work with computers. your observation is crisp in English, but irrelevant in American. apologies for the downvotes. I didn't do it, but I understand the root. And hopefully you do too, after my snide commentary.
    - dreamcompiler 5y ago
      Likewise a jigsaw is not a puzzle; it's a type of saw. But we'll cut ;-) you some slack for the poor terminology if you'll let us name a drinking establishment for a piece of furniture.
- BoxOfRain 5y ago
  What I feel a lot of people who've not experienced them don't get about your average British pub is that it's basically a communal living room. You're not just there for the pints (although they're very important too). Fun story, when I was an intern there was a pub just outside the industrial estate where the office was situated. This pub was frequented so regularly by the company that one of the developers actually had access to the till. On hot days we'd walk right past the queue, pull our own pints, pay for them, and be out in the beer garden long before everyone else!
glitchc 5y ago
Interesting take. I don't talk to most people and most people don't talk to me at a bar. What stuck out for me are the myriad warnings about not being an asshole. What is an asshole in this context?
- jfoutz 5y ago
  Imposition is number 1. You don't talk to people. People assume you don't want to be talked to. Sometimes dive bars are just for seeking oblivion. Picking fights would be #2. Getting mad when losing - you've chosen to interact in a friendly way, but getting pissed off when you're wrong, that's just not fair. You lose the fight, you own up to it. Also, dive bars over serve, almost as a rule, in spite of the post. Getting drunk and hitting on women or men to excess, I dunno. hard to explain. If you're polite, you can get absurdly drunk. Don't inflict your drunken-ness on others. --edit-- I realize after a moment #1 is confusing, especially for non Americans. it's always ok to introduce yourself. if you get a grunt in response, it's a lack of interest. in the south, you might get a warm welcome, because that's just hospitable. There's a bit of reading involved. If people try to engage you in conversation, asking you questions is a good example, you're welcome to participate. A dive is generally older men drinking away their pensions. But it's diverse, lots of ages, genders and income levels. You just sorta have to read the audience. Feel free to stick around for perhaps 5 minutes and listen, but if you're ignored, you're probably not welcome. An American would be loud and pushy and "be an asshole"
  - mrj 5y ago
    This is good advice! I like to ask something like "how's your day going?" as a greeting. If you get more than a "good, you?", then this person wants to talk. You've made a friend for the evening.
JohnWhigham 5y ago
Dive bars are the best. They're the last parts on the fringes of society that's accessible to all, but where anything can still happen. You never know who will show up, where they'll be from, what may be going on in the bathroom stalls when you walk in, what drugs may be offered in the bathroom, what drugs will be getting consumed in the bathroom. Sadly they're slowly disappearing as real estate prices soar and and most of America's cities/towns slowly homogenize into a never-ending strip mall.
- jrkatz 5y ago
  Yeah, it turns out all the "An X and a Y walked into a bar" jokes are based in reality. Many years ago, my friends and I had a night in our favorite dive. That bar draws college kids, Brazilian immigrants, alcoholic townies, yuppies, punks - everyone. It was packed: there was nowhere to sit and hardly anywhere to stand. When we started pushing through to the open space in back, a literal giant of a man who had a booth to himself invited us to sit with him because he liked my tattoos. As the night wore on we discovered 1. the giant man had a peg leg; 2. he was a proud neonazi (and didn't realize we were Jews and Cubans); 3. he could chug a pitcher of Gansett in a few seconds. He even sold one of us some adderall. I saw the same man a few weeks later at that bar, cheerfully asking a group of Indian grad students shooting pool where they were from, with some level of suggestion they should be sure to return when they finished their degrees. We weren't going to be friends, and I'm sure he's found his way back to jail by now (and that he deserved it), but it was a night I'll not forget soon. None of that happens at Applebees.
  - JohnWhigham 5y ago
    Gansett Ahhh, now I miss New England. They don't distribute Gannies in TX.
    - tclancy 5y ago
      Howdy Neighbors!
      - 5y ago
kingTug 5y ago
Anyone else hear Piano Man while reading this comment?
mr-wendel 5y ago
> Sports fans and enthusiasts are beyond my bar skills I'll heartily second that! I'd rather plop down next to a guy who can't stop talking about his favorite video game. At least they're sure to be talking about something they actually do and there is none of that ridiculous "we" talk. And they aren't fooled for a moment that it's all just a game they're obsessed with.

by jfoutz 5y ago

chrisseaton 5y ago

> they're a social space I haven't found replicated anywhere else Sounds a lot like many pubs.

koolba 5y ago
A dive bar is literally a pub.
- chrisseaton 5y ago
  You get one or more bars in a pub, but a bar is not a pub.
  - umanwizard 5y ago
    In American English “bar” is the name of the establishment, not just the piece of furniture inside.
  - jfoutz 5y ago
    Oh my. We can all tell the parent poster is trying to connect an idea from English to American. I appreciate that you're fussy and pedantic, because I work with computers. your observation is crisp in English, but irrelevant in American. apologies for the downvotes. I didn't do it, but I understand the root. And hopefully you do too, after my snide commentary.
  - dreamcompiler 5y ago
    Likewise a jigsaw is not a puzzle; it's a type of saw. But we'll cut ;-) you some slack for the poor terminology if you'll let us name a drinking establishment for a piece of furniture.
BoxOfRain 5y ago
What I feel a lot of people who've not experienced them don't get about your average British pub is that it's basically a communal living room. You're not just there for the pints (although they're very important too). Fun story, when I was an intern there was a pub just outside the industrial estate where the office was situated. This pub was frequented so regularly by the company that one of the developers actually had access to the till. On hot days we'd walk right past the queue, pull our own pints, pay for them, and be out in the beer garden long before everyone else!

glitchc 5y ago

Interesting take. I don't talk to most people and most people don't talk to me at a bar. What stuck out for me are the myriad warnings about not being an asshole. What is an asshole in this context?

jfoutz 5y ago
Imposition is number 1. You don't talk to people. People assume you don't want to be talked to. Sometimes dive bars are just for seeking oblivion. Picking fights would be #2. Getting mad when losing - you've chosen to interact in a friendly way, but getting pissed off when you're wrong, that's just not fair. You lose the fight, you own up to it. Also, dive bars over serve, almost as a rule, in spite of the post. Getting drunk and hitting on women or men to excess, I dunno. hard to explain. If you're polite, you can get absurdly drunk. Don't inflict your drunken-ness on others. --edit-- I realize after a moment #1 is confusing, especially for non Americans. it's always ok to introduce yourself. if you get a grunt in response, it's a lack of interest. in the south, you might get a warm welcome, because that's just hospitable. There's a bit of reading involved. If people try to engage you in conversation, asking you questions is a good example, you're welcome to participate. A dive is generally older men drinking away their pensions. But it's diverse, lots of ages, genders and income levels. You just sorta have to read the audience. Feel free to stick around for perhaps 5 minutes and listen, but if you're ignored, you're probably not welcome. An American would be loud and pushy and "be an asshole"
- mrj 5y ago
  This is good advice! I like to ask something like "how's your day going?" as a greeting. If you get more than a "good, you?", then this person wants to talk. You've made a friend for the evening.

JohnWhigham 5y ago

Dive bars are the best. They're the last parts on the fringes of society that's accessible to all, but where anything can still happen. You never know who will show up, where they'll be from, what may be going on in the bathroom stalls when you walk in, what drugs may be offered in the bathroom, what drugs will be getting consumed in the bathroom. Sadly they're slowly disappearing as real estate prices soar and and most of America's cities/towns slowly homogenize into a never-ending strip mall.

jrkatz 5y ago
Yeah, it turns out all the "An X and a Y walked into a bar" jokes are based in reality. Many years ago, my friends and I had a night in our favorite dive. That bar draws college kids, Brazilian immigrants, alcoholic townies, yuppies, punks - everyone. It was packed: there was nowhere to sit and hardly anywhere to stand. When we started pushing through to the open space in back, a literal giant of a man who had a booth to himself invited us to sit with him because he liked my tattoos. As the night wore on we discovered 1. the giant man had a peg leg; 2. he was a proud neonazi (and didn't realize we were Jews and Cubans); 3. he could chug a pitcher of Gansett in a few seconds. He even sold one of us some adderall. I saw the same man a few weeks later at that bar, cheerfully asking a group of Indian grad students shooting pool where they were from, with some level of suggestion they should be sure to return when they finished their degrees. We weren't going to be friends, and I'm sure he's found his way back to jail by now (and that he deserved it), but it was a night I'll not forget soon. None of that happens at Applebees.
- JohnWhigham 5y ago
  Gansett Ahhh, now I miss New England. They don't distribute Gannies in TX.
  - tclancy 5y ago
    Howdy Neighbors!
    - 5y ago

kingTug 5y ago

Anyone else hear Piano Man while reading this comment?

mr-wendel 5y ago

> Sports fans and enthusiasts are beyond my bar skills I'll heartily second that! I'd rather plop down next to a guy who can't stop talking about his favorite video game. At least they're sure to be talking about something they actually do and there is none of that ridiculous "we" talk. And they aren't fooled for a moment that it's all just a game they're obsessed with.