Rodney M Bliss

A Teetotaler’s Guide To All The Best Bars

I don’t drink. Partly it’s a religious conviction, partly it’s a the fact that I come from a family with addicting tendencies. It’s not that I’ve never had a drink. It’s just that I haven’t had a drink since I was 11 years old. (Don’t judge. It was a different time.)

So, why was I checking the wine list for restaurants in Richmond?

How about that retro diner by the hotel?

Nope. Doesn’t sell alcohol.

Carolina Ale House?

Let me check the web. . . yeah that might work.

Dinner is important to a team. It’s not just food. It’s a chance to reconnect, and strengthen bonds. It’s a chance to learn about your team members. And one of the things I had learned about my team members was that they liked to drink. That sentence makes it sound like they are getting drunk over dinner. Or, maybe that’s just because I don’t come from a culture of drinking.

In any case, it’s not anyone getting drunk. It’s a glass of wine with dinner. It’s a bottle of beer with pasta. As I said, I come from an addictive personality. I tend to obsess. I’m concerend I’d end up overdrinking. But, not my friends.

I checked the catered containers containing our recently arrived lunch. The lunches this week had been amazing. Multiple ways of fixing chicken. Today was chicken breast, in a cream sause with cheese and peppers. Mashed potatoes and a beautiful cucumber pepper salad. One of our team members has pretty strict dietary requirements.

So, Rodney, anything I can eat?

I think it’s all okay, Doris. Looks delicious.

Doris had her own list of acceptable and unacceptable foods. It wasn’t too outside of normal diets. The biggest issue, eating in the South was pork and BBQ sauce. None of that was on the menu today.

I’m a big fan of Mexican Coca-cola. It’s made with real sugar rather than corn syrup. And it’s served in a glass bottle. I was talking to my boss about it.

Everything tastes better in a glass bottle.

See? That’s why some of us like beer. It’s not really the alcohol. It’s just drinking out of that glass bottle.

I think was more than a little serious.

So, we are going to dinner at the Carolina Ale House. I’ll see if they have Coke in a glass bottle. Some will have beer. And Doris will stay away from the BBQ pork.

Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren. 

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