Monday, May 15, 2006

You know what really grinds my gears?

Alcohol stores that close before the state mandated "end of sale" time. Friday night, we had a bunch of good friends over, and we had three big bottles of wine. Well, that wasn't enough. After going through these three bottles, the women-folk wanted more (the guys had switched to beer at that point). So, they asked us to go out and pick up more wine. One guy was sick and didn't drink, so of course, he drove. Well, it's 9:53 PM. Seven minutes exactly to drive the one mile to the liquor store, make our selections, and pay.

We are in the parking lot by 9:56, and the lights are still on in the store (which is HUGE and has a Dunkin' Donuts, btw). Anywho, we get out of the car, and see these two guys sitting in a car near the door...I didn't really think anything of it, but as we got closer, one of them spoke to us:

Him: "Hey, if you're looking to go in, they're closed."

Me: What? It's only 9:56...Aren't they supposed to close at 10?

Yeah, that's what the law says, but they're closed...I don't know why...

Well, that sucks, now doesn't it...

Yeah, ain't that some shit?

Man, did I laugh my ass off at that last comment by the other guy!

Anyway, there was another liquor store (albeit much smaller and crappier) that was on the way back to my apartment, and only like 100 yards from my street. We got there at 10:01...Of course, they were closed.

I don't understand why the store needed to close 5 minutes early...I mean, I don't understand the law that says you can't buy alcohol after 10 PM either, but that I can deal with, since a bunch of idiots in Trenton just made up some arbitrary time to stop the sale of alcohol. But for a store to close 5 minutes before its supposed to, especially with me in the parking lot, ready and willing to drop some cash on a nice Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc (never French, of course), well, that just totally sucks the big one!