As a side note: I am currently on my second Hoegaarden. I friggin' love this place.
I've been on the lookout for new hangouts and this is as good as any. With the swell of bar-goers at Trad'r Sam's, I am forced to go elsewhere but have been pleased with results.
Where else can I go that the bartender pauses the music ("Humpty Dance") to have an informal poll: Is a pissing contest about distance or endurance?
Answer -- according to bar-goers -- is distance.
I've been recently having a love/hate relationship with San Francisco, having problems with the pretentiousness of us and yet loving how we are low-key, all at the same time. It's only when I am at local dives that I question how I will ever be able to leave (graduate school? new job?) and the prospect of leaving seems impossible.
The hatred of San Francisco, however, is actually stemming from a few different places. Not to point fingers (cough*Marina*cough) but I was recently at a bar, sitting at a stool. At my own admittance, the bar was quite full and I was lucky enough to snag a seat. That was when another patron decided that I wasn't using enough of the stool and decided to share it with me.
Yes. He sat on the back portion of my stool while I sat at the bar. What. the. fuck.
Despite hip negotiations wherein I tried to reclaim my seat, once he realized that I wanted (all of) my seat back, he had the audacity to sigh (loudly) and act indignant at losing the back half of my stool.
Don't even make me mention the asshole who ran through a red light in Union Square and almost hit my friend's daughter (in baby carriage). Upon confrontation with him -- where "Why don't you watch where you're going?" was yelled into his open window -- he flipped off me, my friend, and my friend's daughter. Classy.
The asshole-ishness has seemed to transformed onto the web as well, typifying San Franciscans as self-righteous commenters. Writing for a website has become daunting: the SF commenters are brutal. Myself and others from SF have been writing articles about the SF scene and are constantly bombarded with rude messages: "Are you even FROM San Francisco?" to "Haven't you ever heard of _______? Obviously you haven't." Snide jabs to make you question why you love this city and its inhabitants so much.
No city is perfect, but I hate to have such a negative stigma creep in. This is one of the few weekends where I've been able to realize a more purified San Francisco experience (bridge and tunnel dwellers have been limited as the bridge and tunnel have been temporarily put out of commission) and it hasn't been bad. Is the horrific attitude I'm coming across from our neighboring cities? As a native east bay'er, I'm loathe to think so.
Right now, I'm trying to go out as much as I can this weekend so I can experience this city at its least crowded, in its full glory and at its best. I don't want to believe in a city where we've been typified by our "smug" and our ability to enjoy our own farts (ref: South Park) but we've somehow earned it. I'm embarrassed. This isn't us. Yet, I can't help but smirk as an outsider and an insider. Shit. What are we going to do with ourselves?
*I've felt the purpose and reason for this post ebb and wane. Four hoegaardens in. Let's just say I'm distracted. I'm sure I'll be flamed through messaging by tomorrow. cheers.
1 comment:
Don't let assholes make you do too much navel gazing. That story about the seat at the bar is too funny. That kind of behavior (see sense of entitlement) is just beyond my comprehension.
Maybe that's it. I think people here have an accelerated sense of entitlement. Somehow they deserve things more than others. They are more demanding and less tolerant because they act like everything belongs to them.
I don't know. Keep a stool warm for me at the 540 club, k?
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