I was hanging out in Dallas with my buddy Joe Venuto (who is a badass photographer btw) before a flight, and a massive thunderstorm came rolling through Dallas. Joe and I figured we'd get off the street, so we popped into a taco joint for a bite and a margarita. Just as we got to the bar, the power was knocked out and a huge gust of wind smashed the glass out of the front door. The whole series of events scared everyone in the place half to death.

I had been watching the weather per my flight and it said that this particular storm was going to be in and out faster than the babysitter's boyfriend, so I wasn't all that concerned. A busted door is a pain, but in my opinion, thunderstorms are just part of "business as usual" on the plains. So I flagged down the bartender and asked him to hook me up with a margarita.

"Sorry our systems are down because of the power. I can't ring you up" (bartender)

"No worries... this is why I keep cash... I'll just have to tip you a little extra since I don't have change"

"I CAN'T do it..." he responded.

I get kinda cheeky in these situations since there's nothing about throwing tequila, Cointreau, lime, sugar, and ice together that needs electricity... so I made a quick quip:

"(laughing) just use the Don Julio... it's the 'batteries included' tequila"

The guy (unamused) walked to the other side of the bar to watch more rain and lightning. Not one bartender in sight would take cash, and put it into the system in 30min when the power was back. I was even willing to pay extra.

The crazy part to me is that bartenders get paid in tips. They weren't making money the whole time. If I had to guess Dallas was probably loaded with restaurants doing the same thing- basically shut down because of a blip in the electrical grid.

Fortunately for me, the servers were as dumbstruck as the bartender was. They stopped delivering cocktails because they didn't know what to do when the power went out - so I nabbed 2 abandoned margaritas off the drink mat and left a $20.

An interesting tidbit that I learned years ago about the D-Day invasion (WW2)- Hitler slept through most of it. Bombing, Paratroopers, etc all night.

The weather was bad that week (thunderstorms and rain), so the German high command thought it would be smart to get some R&R since the allied forces wouldn't be able to do much. Well turns out a hole opened up in the weather and the allied forces were able to invade. Now you'd figure... So what? How would Hitler being asleep change anything? They had hundreds of thousands of Natzis armed to the teeth ready to fight just sitting there waiting.

The problem was that Hitler had decided to personally dictate strategy... so no general, officer or enlisted man was allowed to make a decision without an explicit order from Hilter on how to handle the situation. Sure the Germans on the beach were allowed to fight, but all the tanks and troops waiting to know where to go and what to do to support the guys on the beach had to sit there till 11 am when Hitler woke up. So the Allied forces went ahead and "grabbed a margarita."

Edits

• This link was shared as a response to the article. It is in the "spirit" of the article:
  • https://courses.csail.mit.edu/6.803/pdf/hubbard1899.pdf