Mucho Dinero!

I've never been much of a tequila drinker. The Margarita is far from my favorite drink and other than a Long Island Iced Tea, which I do like, I can't think of another drink that includes tequila. So, a few months ago, when a good friend offered me a shot of Patron Silver one night, my immediate response was, "thanks, but no thanks." But she insisted and since I was already a bit "loose" from my preferred vodka, I said, "what the hell!" Smoothest, best tasting shot of liquor I've ever downed! And I don't do shots often.

Okay. Fast forward to this afternoon. I'm sitting in a room and hear a story that I just have to share. You won't get any names, I must "protect the innocent" as the saying goes. But this is good.

This guy goes on a buisness trip and ends up in the hotel bar after a long day of meetings. He opens up a tab and orders a shot of Patron. Followed by another. And, another. Other colleagues join him at the bar. He buys drinks for them. They're all having a great time. About four more shots later, one of his colleagues asks the guy in reference to the tequila, "do you know how much money you're spending?" "Twenty-eight dollars a shot," the colleague continues. Mucho dinero! The guy's eyes bug. He had downed at least seven shots which would come to $196 just for his drinks.

For those of you who don't know, Patron certainly is not cheap. Even I had no idea how much the stuff costs until I went looking for it at the liquor store. I was ready to get some on the spot until I saw the prices. A fifth costs about $45! The big bottle, 1.75 litres, is roughly $80. That wasn't in the budget that day so the Patron stayed on the shelf.

Back to the story. Fearful that he's about to put something in the range of a house note on his credit card, the guy says he sheepishly goes to the bartender and asks to see his tab. In addition to his own drinks, he'd been taking care of others so he was expecting to possibly see a one followed by a few zeros on the bill. The bartender looks at the guy and says, "oh, a gentleman named Steve came by and took care of everybody's tabs." To that, the guy says, "whew!" I say...

Oh, Good Evening!