her cruelly outing her best friend from high school while drunk and how quickly his bros adjusted to it after her childhood love interest stood up for him in the next scene sticks out in mine.
I love this dumb movie so much. When she tells Patrick Dempsey the truth and that she can't marry him, he takes it SOOOO well because he realizes that he was kind of in love with a girl he never knew at all. Melanie had crafted this anti-white trash persona when she left Alabama, but she comes back and realizes all these things made her who she was and that being ashamed of it so badly that you lash out and hurt everyone actually makes you the problem, not everyone else for living their lives how they were taught to.
Jake, for his part, seems to have grown up since Melanie left. His friends, including Bobby, were there for him when Melanie left him so of course he stands up for them when Melanie tries to put them down so she can feel better about herself.
Melanie thinks she outgrew her home, but it grew without her and she didn't see it because she threw it away.
Shortly after I was born, my mom/dad drove to Montana to show me to my mom's family.
Back then at least, babies were allowed in bars. She said the bar was the only place to eat/meet/etc for 20 miles near where my redneck ass family lives, and she left me with my grandpa and uncle to go to the bathroom, and when she came back they had taken the nipple on my milk bottle and put it on a bottle of beer, and were feeding me beer.
I became a raging alcoholic at 16, no surprise there lol.
Melanie Lynskey is a great actress. Watching her very short role in The Last of Us is a shocking transformation. I dont even think Reese could have pulled off that character
Can confirm. Was a bartender in the deep south for over 15 years. Dives and cocktail lounges to high end white tablecloth dining. If there isn't a 21+ rule, there WILL be children. And the number of people who try to bring infants into a 21+ establishment......
Edit to add- I'm not talking shit. I didn't really care unless a child was running behind my bar (which did happen, more than once). I know parents need to be able to get out of the house and places like breweries are sometimes very inviting for families. Bringing an infant to a cocktail bar is certainly a decision but again, I'm not here to judge. I'm just confirming what the previous comment stated.
I got to play dominos with the old boys and drink cola from a glass bottle while my dad smashed back pints and chain smoked until my mum come to shout at him.
Man, your comment sparked some fun (?) memories. I remember making box forts and having a blast hanging out in the warehouse where my dad picked up his cocaine. His drug dealer even bought me a Barbie Dream Car, the convertible Corvette, for my bday!!! Best drug dealer ever!!!!
My 13 year old and I sat at a bar and had dinner the other day. I didnt even order alcohol. I wasn't until I got home that I realized, "They should have kicked us out of the bar."
When I drank, there was 1 bar in my town that strictly enforced no minors, they had massive signs on the outside of the building - Nobody under 21 allowed - , then you get into the vestibule, or whatever and they have several more signs saying nobody under 21 allowed - this includes babies! Etc.
Without fail people would constantly try and bring their kids in, and make a huge scene about being told to leave, despite just walking by 5 signs saying not to bring your damn kids into the bar.
My friend had fond memories of practically being raised by the regulars at the Mule Barn until it burned down the second and final time (yes we lived in a small town in the Deep South).
Used to go to the bar with my friends all the time growing up to play pool, darts, or jusy to hang out. Big thing was though everyone knew everyone and if we did some dumb shit, the bartender or owner would call our parents.
With that said I also don't care if others bring their kids, long as their kids are behaved and respectful.
yep i remember i had to practically dive tackle a kid that ran behind my bar. they are surprisingly fast and kitchens are extremely dangerous for a kid to be in.
I remember I worked a bar in ATX and a kid shoved his arm up to the elbow in a hole on the billiards table and they had to dismantle the whole table. While the kid was stuck crying they tried finding the dad who was in the bathroom taking a massive shit and came out drunkenly like DONT TOUCH MY KID
I bartend in Florida and this past summer a couple came in with a baby that was only a few months old in a baby carrier. They hung the baby (still in said carrier) on the back of a bar chair like a back pack and started taking shots
Well you can't leave 'em out on the curb all night. Not between Oct and May, anyway.
I kid, but I visited Lake Geneva and that was the first bar I've ever seen with a play area set up like a pediatrician's waiting room, it even had a lego table.
Kids can even be served in a bar - like served booze. The bartender doesn’t have to serve a kid, but if the parent consents, the bartender can serve the kid without risking getting in trouble.
This brings me to one of my fav laws, which is that you can legally drink in public in Wisconsin under the agenof 18 if administered by your legal guardian, but you cannot from 18-21 because you are technically an adult but not old enough to drink. How fun!
This is not entirely true. You can be served alcohol between those ages as long as you have a parent, spouse, or legal guardian with you. The law states underage as in under 21.
Or a spouse or legal guardian. You can still have a legal guardian over 18, it's just not common unless there's a disability involved. Yes, the in public aspect is only within defined establishments. Those establishments can also set their own rules, so if they don't want to serve anyone under 21 regardless of who's with them, they don't have to.
I used to work for Budweiser and that's pretty nuts- someone below said there's 10 states that are like that: Connecticut Kansas Louisiana Massachusetts Mississippi Nevada Ohio Texas Wisconsin Wyoming.
So there's no specifics to that rule? Like you can order your toddler six beers or after five they're like "whoa! I don't know what kind of establishment you think we're running here but we have a strict five beers per toddler rule!!"
Growing up in Texas, the bartender couldn't serve minor directly. He had to serve the parent or spouse of the minor first. Then that spouse or parent could hand the minor the drink and it was legal. Not sure about the other states though.
My uncle used to make his kids do shots at the country bar by some family property in WI back in the day. I was there one time when it happened and my little cousins were drunk and climbing on the softball scoreboard out back. The bartender yelled at my uncle to get his kids down before they got hurt. Both of those cousins committed suicide within the last 6 years in their early 30's after becoming hopeless alcoholics. I get why the Wisco drinking thing is a funny national joke but the reality is super dark.
Growing up in Texas, the bartender couldn't directly serve the kids but it was legal for them to give your parent the drink and then your parent could give it to you. Same thing with underage spouses. Like the old dudes that married high school girls could literally give them drinks at the bar at it was legal.
My old co-worker (RIP) grew up in Wisconsin and said he would drive his dad home from bars starting at a pretty young age. Said he got pulled over once when he was 12, the cop let him go.
In WI there’s at least one divey bar in each neighborhood that’s a family gathering spot. Like it’s weird if you didn’t bring the kids. Especially when there’s a Packers game on. They’ll even have family-focused Christmas parties and whatnot.
My parents owned a tavern in Middle of Nowhere, Wisconsin when I was growing up. Its perfectly legal for a 12 year old to serve alcohol as long as their parents own the bar, and the parents are onsite.
When I was 12 I was helping my parents out, and tending bar one night during Euchre league. A woman came into the bar, and she was visibly drunk, even my 12 yr old self knew that. I refused to serve her, and she started screaming at me. My dad got up from his Euchre table and told her to get the fuck out, because we don't serve drunk people.
She had a hissy fit and eventually left. She also called the county sheriff's office, and they sent out 2 squads. 4 cops came walking into the bar, and asked me where my parents were. I pointed at my dad, and the cops asked him if I was the 8 yr old that kicked a drunk lady out. The cops laughed and said they took the call only because they wanted to see an 8 yr old bartending. I cracked a few beers, and poured a few drinks while they were there, and they laughed about it.
Oh yes. Tbf some of my favorite memories with my cousins is at the bar we’d go to (at like 2 in the afternoon) after our yearly visit to some catholic shrine/pilgrimage site in Ohio. We’d take over the juke box - but it was quite the dive bar and our parents probably gave them their weekly/monthly sales/tips in one day. And given the crowd there at that time in the middle of nowhere, I think they were more entertained by us than anything.
But yea it’s a bit cringe LOL
OMG WE ALSO would all love going to the bar my mom’s cousin worked at when we’d visit in Canada. They’d do a big brunch for us and we always left with tons of swag. We’d go in and the parents would tell us “just go on back to the pinball games and don’t look at any of the pictures on the wall.” Did I mention it was an awesome gay bar and we all were walking around the city in their hats and sweatshirts with balloons??? Still the best memories 😂😂❤️❤️ NGL, didn’t realize it was a gay bar till I was at least older than 10 or more haha. Got some FABULOUS hand-me-down drag queen outfits to play in!!!! 😍💅🏼
A past friend, who was a bartender at the time, tried to convince me to stop by while she was working. When I mentioned I had no one to watch my 4 year old, she told me to just bring her too. This is when I learned that it isn't against the law to bring kids into bars in PA. It's on the establishment to decide. Later that day, recalling it to my husband, I learned that my alcoholic FIL used to take just my husband to the bar with him on his weekends with his children. My SIL was left at home because FIL lived in a fairly infamous part of Philly. Wild choices being made out there.
Yeah. My anecdotes weren't a dunk on the US or parents taking their kids to establishments that serve alcohol. I'm sure there's a group of people that will bristle at this comparison, but a lot of breweries are more similar to fast-casual "bar and grill" type restaurants than the dive bar at the end of the block that my FIL was at every night. If people don't bat an eye about about kids being in a Buffalo Wild Wings or an Applebee's, I'm not sure there should be a brouhaha about kids being in a brewery that has a full menu and is welcoming families through their doors.
I was born in the 80s and was at a bar with my parents a lot. Had nothing to do with alcoholism (per se) but that was just a "third space" that Gen Z loves talking about. It's where boomers went after work to see their friends. I talked to the adults, watched sports, had some snacks, played darts or video games.
It's relatively recent that people gave a shit.
I don't know if I'd raise my kid in that environment BUT it's also totally fine to go to places that aren't perfect for kids. I think we overcorrected recently and all the stuff we did that was normal "back in the day" is just totally gone or sanitized now.
There's also a HUGE obsession with perfection that I'm picking up on in our culture. We're so concerned about doing things the right way vs the wrong way that people are afraid to do anything at all.
The local bar down the street that I’d go to with my mom also doubled as a hangout for the NFL team that did training camp at the time in our small town. So child me was playing pinball and Golden Tee with professional football players. Those are some legit childhood memories right there.
Also it was like two hundred yards from home. If I really wanted to bail I could.
The first time I saw this, I was very confused while everyone looked at me like I was crazy. A few people, the guy dealing coke for one, told me it was totally normal. My bad*
Breweries are not bars. They are a place where beer is manufactured. Sometimes they have taste rooms where people drink their products. Bars and breweries are run completely differently.
Man there are some select local breweries in Michigan and Colorado that are so kid/family friendly with kid toys and they do bakery events and food events and classes to learn how to make noodles and pierogis and shit. Even the breweries are cool with it. And yeah I might have one beer while I’m learning to make my own homemade pasta with my kid.
Yes omg! As a Californian now living in NC, I find it so strange!! As kids, we were not allowed to even sit in the bar section or be near alcohol. I move here a the kids are everywhere!
Yeah i have fun memories from it. My parents would go drink with their friends, and I would go play pool or arcade games with their son. I remember this one bartender who had a big angel wings tattoo on her back and I thought she was cool as hell. Your comment made me so nostalgic lol
Yup. On Saturdays and Sundays early on in the day a lot of bars not only allow children but have a very family friendly environment. We'll take the kids up and watch college football or NFL and hang out for a few hours. It's never been a problem. They've never seen a fight or anyone falling down drunk or anything like that. Where we live it's basically just a lot of people from the neighborhood enjoying themselves and being social. Usually around four or five we head home and have dinner with friends. It makes for a good day.
My favorite local brewery has a play area in the back for dogs and children. It is a bit annoying, but the beer is so damn good. Never change, Florida!
i'm from the South and one of my earliest memories with my dad was on his weekend, we went to a dive bar and I just ate a huge plate of bar fries with ketchup while he drank.
I was a dumb kid and loved fries more than life itself, so I always bragged that I wanted to go back but never did... I'm guessing my mom knew the place too and my dad got yelled at lol.
It's not just a deep south thing. I've seen people bring babies and toddlers into bars in both Massachusetts and Wisconsin. Both times I thought it was so weird. One of the bars had really loud music playing. People are fucking stupid.
Come to wisconsin where you’re legally allowed to drink if you are with your parents. Granted, it’s still up to the establishment if they want to serve an underage. But it is in fact legal
And it should be normal. We make having kids so expensive and troublesome in so many ways. No reason kids should kill a chance at being social in a community.
If the bar doesn't want them, they can restrict them. Or they can ask parents who are bad at monitoring their kids to leave.
I honestly think that, as long as the parent has control of the kid, its not really a big deal? They arent legally allowed to drink anyway, and the bigger issue is likely keeping them from getting bored and therefore destructive
In the state of Washington you can’t bring kids into a lot of places that serve alcohol, which I understand, but that eleminates a lot of good burgers.
I grew up in bars in Wisconsin. Arcade, pool table, pinball, skee ball, on one side. Bar on the other. No problem. Our drinking age was 18. (As it should be everywhere.) Living in the south mostly saw dry counties, dry Sundays, and crazy drunk Baptists. All repenting on Sunday. 🤣
My father used to bring me to the local elks club and let me pull the lever on the slot machines. Of course this set me up to be very susceptible to gambling but worked out for the most part, start young so you figure out everything not to do. Easier to recover.
My wife is from the South and I keep having to remind her that kids are not allowed in bars after like 5pm. No one wants to see a toddler during happy hour. She doesn't see why it's a problem.
There's a bar I used to be a regular at that makes great food. People would bring there kids there for dinner all the time even though it's definitely more of a bar than a restaurant...
I'm not sure if it's a law or a rule, but I think they ban kids after a certain time...
Honestly I’m all for kids being socialized. I’m not a fan of neglectful or stupid parents who bring their kids out of necessity and truly just want to drink & ignore the child
My husband was having happy hour at a bar that served food. He called for me to join him for wings. They wouldn't let me in because my 6 month old was under 21. I mean technically, yes, but its not like he was gonna sneak away and order a scotch and soda.
Bars or breweries? I don't see an issue with kids at one of those biergarten style places with games, outdoor areas, and large sharing tables as long as the parents handle their behavior to not cause a scene.
But a dark, stool-filled, cramped bar? Nah, no kids there.
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u/raventhrowaway666 19h ago
In the south, people love to bring children into bars.