For those of you who don't know, a New York moment is one of three things:
1. running into someone on the street whom you either haven't seen in 8 years and didn't know was in New York
2. something involving celebrities and/or getting the royal treatment
3. an utterly disgusting incident, the vast majority of which occur in the subway
Triple Quadruple bonus points for being able to combine any of these elements.
Now I've witnessed oral sex between two homeless people. I've served chicken to Doctor Ruth, had champagne at a film premiere at the Ziegfeld and run into a friend from college who was just in town to see 2 plays and killing time before grabbing the Megabus back to Baltimore. I've see Mark Cuban at a college bar in Murray Hill, run into an ex-boyfriend's roommate on the Metro North after a kid's Halloween party in Milford Connecticut, felt the cool sprinkle of a man's urine as he peed off the subway mezzanine, 8 feet above my head. I've had my share of New York moments. This one is my favorite.
I was waiting tables at O'Flaherty's Irish Pub on restaurant row in Hell's Kitchen. It was fall which meant that it was nice enough to have the patio open, but only until 10. There was a strict "Patio closes at 10" policy which was a-ok by me because it shrunk my already unwieldy section of 15 tables. However, I had to be the enforcer of this rule. Shutting the patio down and keeping it closed, that was a little tricky.
One night, the cast of Translations came in. Eve Best, Colm Meany (most famous for Star Trek: Next Generation) and others shot right for the patio which was just about to be closed. I informed them of this and they asked that they have their first drink outside. When I relayed their orders to Nelson, the senior bartender (and when I say senior, I mean it. At 73, he was like an angry Leslie Nielsen) he told me they had to come inside. Once reported to Mr. Meany, he snarled then charged inside to convince Nelson otherwise.
I served the first round outside and about 10 minutes later went back out to reseat the group. Again there was grumbling! Come on, yo. This is me, asking you to do something pretty painless, after granting you extra time outside...just have your drink at the GD bar! I was markedly meeker in those days and I granted them another couple minutes while I cleared some glasses. Feeling rather mistreated I schlepped inside only to recieve more harsh words from Nelson. (This was before the days of FML! "Good grief" was all I had at my disposal.)
As I headed out again, I walked past a man building up the courage to go talk to the esteemed actor on the patio. Good grief! I need to get them out of there and now I had an additional obstacle, an adoring fan, no less! The man just beat me to Meany, and said nervously; "Sorry to interrupt. I just had to tell you I think you're fantastic, so talented! I loved you in Chicago."
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| Colm Meany Star of Star Trek: Next Generation |
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| John C. Reilly star of Chicago |
The patio cleared out shortly after.
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