From behind the taps, our bartenders bear witness to a lot of interesting people-watching and arguably the dating scene generates the best shift fodder. Without question, I consider these bits of weekly entertainment just a little kick-back – a morale booster, if you will, during some of those 14 hour shifts.
It’s 2015 and dating comes in all shapes and sizes and, more importantly, levels of competency.
Take Monday night for example — a great night for Pub Quiz, after work drinks with the boss and strategic 1st dates. I am not exactly sure if this is more rookie or a veteran move, but in any case, if your first date involves drinks on a Monday night, your date is not quite ready to show you to the world. This is a two-way street of course, but I feel like its my duty to tell you this dating truth.
Then there are Friday nights and Tinder. Swiping phones & geo-tracking a potential hook up from across the pub. It absolutely happens. It’s very James Bond techy-cool for the dating scene but (IMHO) lacks a bit of Daniel Craig smooth. Yes, I just compared Tinder to James Bond, which is a nice segue to our next topic:
Singles Mixers and Speed Dating – Not exactly a real segue but you need to know that these events are the creme de la creme of the people-watching nights. Don’t get me wrong, I am NOT judging these folks for attending these events …only their dating skills. Take note:
#1 Do not wear sun glasses to a bar at night. Ever.
#2 Do not order the Guinness BBQ Wings. Guys do like to see girls eat real food, but there are plenty of other yummy dishes to choose from at the pub that are simply less messy …unless you want your new fella sucking your face on the very first date of course.
#3 Over-consumption. Just don’t do it. Have 1 or 2 and you’ll be Raj –from the Big Bang Theory – cool. Have 4 or 5 and you’ll leave the singles party just as you arrived.
#4 Do not order a round of shots called ‘slippery nipple’. It is not clever or cute. Save boob jokes for your mates.
#5 Do not creep up behind a girl when she is dancing ...says every girl, right? We all like a bit of craic and things do tend to unfold unexpectedly late night at an Irish Pub. I’m just saying that this is a high-risk move that generally results in girl-groups circling the wagon on the dance floor.
I want to be clear though …Speed Dating events ARE a good laugh & a fun way to meet new people. Case in point:
We host a Speed Dating event annually in Seattle (go here to check out our event on Feb 13) and when our events manager, Stephanie, was going through the sheets to set up matches and exchange their contact info, one girl’s sheet read “Left with #6” and the rest of the sheet was blank. Steph said it best, “high five girl”.
Now here’s an actual segue over to Love Matches. We really do see a lot of honest-to-goodness love matches and it warms our whiskey-loving hearts. So many of our own staff meet their partners here as well.
And, to turn things back on us, you might be surprised to find out that new staff will often bring first and second dates to the pub. Can you imagine? It’s like throwing a sheep into the wolves’ den. It’s an industry, rookie lesson and, to our giddy satisfaction, always learned the hard way.
My point is, people do find love at our pub, which is actually designed to make socializing and dating easy and fun. You can mix with the crowd or find a quiet nook in a corner. Plus, we always keep the lights down low, the music up and the drinks flowing.
One of our regulars in Chicago got engaged just this past Friday and, directly after calling her parents, came straight to the pub to tell Tom, our general manager. Not exaggerating. Check the happy couple out:
And, here’s a photo of a couple who even got married at Fadó :
This happens too. People meet at Fadó and then they come back to celebrate this monumental occasion with us. And we are so grateful. Our customers, the craic, and watching you all find that special someone (night stand) is what makes our place so special to us. It really is cool to know that as you navigate the dating scene; the good, the bad, and even the WTF, you do so with us.
So when you step outside for that smoke break to build up your courage, or call your girlfriend to rescue you from a date gone bad or try to jump in a cab after last call with a girl so obviously trying to run from you — we got your back. There’s always next Saturday night!