I dare you to:
a pickle juice shot with a coffee chaser.
"It would be interesting to write a book about all the interesting people who come up here." Says Dan. He used to be regular on the 2nd and 3rd shift. He actually still is. The only difference is I don't work those shifts anymore.
Across the nation little old men sit at the counters in coffee shops and talk about cars and football and the old days. "Back when this coffee shop was a Steak and Shake."
The guys who have worked there since high school and never went to college lurk behind the counter. The old men fight about what happened in 1969. And one of those guys behind the counter over stuffs the napkin holders when no one is around, so when the old men slam their fists down on the counter in the middle of an argument napkins shoot across the room. And the guy behind the counter can get a good chuckle.
When the young twenty somethings file in around 9:30 and the shift is fixing to change, the old men leave. And the process starts all over again with younger more radical versions of them.
The guy behind the counter re-stuffs the napkin holders and waits for another victim.
Sometimes he fills his coffee cup with whiskey from the liquor store next door. And drinks all night long.
They pass the night along taking cigarette breaks with the regulars and talking about radical ideas. A mid thirty used to be school teacher who's had his heart broken past repair predicts another civil war. A very confused young man relays his women troubles and agrees that it's coming. They debate political views. The young confused boy fancies himself as Maoist and the ex-school teacher is a stern conservative.
Until the drunks come in and order massive amounts of food. Around 5:30 everyone leaves and morning shift takes over at 6.
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