A Barmaid's Story

Hello Friends,

Because so many of you enjoyed reading about my bartending days, and asking to read more about my days as a barmaid, I decided to start the New Year off with a story about some of the other barmaids that I worked with. Now for those who never read the first story, you really need to go read it, so you will know what I'm talking about. Its title is Bartending, Redneck Style, it was posted 9/5/08. I really do wish I could say things that would be very interesting to you, but I cannot risk offending some of you or the ladies I will be talking about. Any of you who have worked in a bar will know what I mean. Some of the more colorful stories would be off the wall. LOL...

First I wanted to let you all know I did find a picture of Alice. Alice is the lady on my left in the picture below. And since Debra is one of the Barmaids I'm going to introduce to you and is also in this picture, we will start with her first.

Debra!!! (She's the gal on my right.)


Debra,Debra, Debra! AKA: Raby Baby, that is what she goes by in the known world. She is rude, crude, and sociably unacceptable, can drink any man I know under the table... LOL. But you cannot have a bar without a Debra in it. Did I mention loud to boot. When you walked into Clydes, its the first loud voice you hear. The party has begun. She started working a few weeks after I did. She was only 18, where I was in my 30's. She was tall and lean and very pretty. Debra and I are still the best of friends. Like sisters. She worked mainly at night so that she could go to college during the day. I admire her, because she got pregnant, went to school, worked at nite, had her beautiful baby Brooke, still worked and still went to school. That takes strength and courage. How hard that was for an 18 yr old. Not many in this day can do that. Most would live off welfare. I'll tell you about a fight she got into one nite. This woman was pestering her. she asked this person to leave her alone, but she just wouldn't, next thing I knew they were tangled up like spiders on the pool table.You see this other person was also tall and lean. I laughed so hard, it was the funniest thing to watch. It only lasted a few seconds. Rocky, our 6 foot 5 bouncer broke it up. We never saw the persterer again. Anyway Debra has her degree in deaf edcucation. She still is rude, crude and sociably unexcepable. But I sure do love her.

WENDY!!!

Everyone knows its Wendy. Beautiful, very beautiful. The men came in droves to see her. A wonderful barmaid. Can keep a party going in any way shape or form.Witty and so much energy. I knew she was going places. I knew she was going to climb the social ladder real fast. And she did. But like me she loved Clydes. She always came back to work there. I told her one day, Wendy you always have reminded me of somebody but I could not put my finger on who. One day when it was cold, I wore my brother's old military sweetshirt, that had COLEMAN on the back of it. She asked me, why are you wearing a shirt with Coleman on the back? I told her it was my maiden name. She said to me...Thats my maiden name, I said ...Well, I'm from New Orleans. She said, I'm from N.O. I said... I have an Aunt Ethel, She said... I have an Aunt Ethel. I said...,I have an Uncle Dean, She said... I have an Uncle Dean. We started talking and come to find out, Wendy is my second cousin. Small world, no wonder she looked familiar. She is the spitting image of my Aunt Ethel.

Wendy is a big Real Estate broker and is married to a man who owns a very large business on the Gulf Coast. She lives in a mansion on the water. I myself would never live by the ocean, considering what Katrina did, but what ever floats your boat. Lets pray for no more Katrina's.

Cheryl!!!

Before I start on Cheryl. None of these pictures do anyone of these ladies justice. Alot of my pictures were destroyed during Katrina. Cheryl is very dark complexed. Everyone thinks she is Native American, but she is a Samoan from Hawaii. Very beautiful, very bright. Real young with 4 children.Works real hard for those children. But because she is so soft hearted and believes everything, said to her, she was an easy mark for some. We are like sisters too. I worried about her the most. Men try and take advantage of her. I try to keep my eye on her, but I could not be there all the time. She really was one of the best barmaids. She truelly loved working the bar, we all did. She's had many jobs, even went to school to me a mortician, she even went to school to do people's taxes. Now she reads meters, and she still bartends sometimes at our local VFW. She's doing well and I wish I could see her more offen, but now she is a Grandmother and she visits her children who live in North Carolina. I forgot, she also worked in the Indian Casino. They thought she was a Cherokee, When they found out that she wasn't they kept her on anyway. She was good at her accounting job. And who could tell. God love her.

All of us are grandmothers now. After all we all started working together about the same time. There are a few more of us who worked steady at Clydes, but I could not write and tell you about all of them. For the most part, barmaids came and went we had many. Some lasted a year, some a few months and alot one nite or a day. It takes a lot to be a barmaid, especially a redneck one. Its mentally taxing , trying to read the many different moods of customers. The ladies I was just talking about are the very best and we stayed till the doors closed down. Clydes was not just a bar, it was our place.

I want to thank you for reading this story and hope it wasn't to boring. Now I want to add an award and a tag. Hugs and kisses, Marie Antionette

Every one, I recieved the Faerie Steps Blog award from Denise of http://couturedepapier.blogspot.com/I was thrilled to get this.I am supposed to tag 7 lovely people, but I also was tagged by the lovely Kris from http://vintagewindow.blogspot.com/.Both tags were to state facts about me, so here goes:

1.I hate to drive,but can't seem to get away from it.I have to go places after all.
2.Love going to the movies. I know i can wait for the DVD to come out,but its nothing like watching a movie on the big screen.
3.I love making CD's for people.I love sharing music of the 50's and 60's.
4.I hate roller coaster rides.They terrify me.
5.I'm terrifyed of heights also,so that means no ferris wheels either.
6.I love cotton candy and pepperment ice creams.,but you can only get them during the holiday season, how cruel is that I tell you.
7.I love to read any historical romance novels.Thats why i never get anything done sometimes. I read for hours at a time. Mary Balogh is my favorite author.I love the Regency period books the best, Go figure that, LOL...

Well thats about it.i'm not going to pass these tags around, because Its hard on me to do so, but I do love playing them. So if any of you ladies would love to pick these tags up and play, please do. Thank you all - Marie