I Met This Guy in a Bar...

"Hey Joe, hook me up with a shot, will ya?"

Joe looked over the counter to find Bill, a fellow employee and longtime customer, settling in at the bar. He hesitated before grabbing the bottle of Jack Daniels. "Are you off duty?" he asked.

Bill frowned, annoyed that Joe would bother to ask. He didn't mind drinking on the job, but he drew the line at lying to bartenders. He'd pissed off a few that way and they had long memories. "No, I'm still on duty, but it's the holiday season. Just give me a shot. I'm not going to get trashed, I just need to take the edge off. These holiday travelers are driving me insane!"

Joe could sympathize. The bar was packed with people waiting for flights and due to delays the atmosphere was a bit grim. Everyone wanted to be home for the holidays, not sitting in an airport bar. He poured the drink for Bill and then went to help another customer who was waving her cash around her head like she was trying to place a bet and time was running out. He sighed, it was going to be a long night.

After appeasing the woman, he looked down to find a dwarf standing patiently at the counter. He was having trouble getting up onto the barstool and Joe wondered how long he had been standing there. "Hey Buddy, you need a hand?" he asked.

"No, I can manage. I was just waiting for that psycho bitch to move out of the way. I don't mind a little female ass in my face, but that one coulda smothered all seven dwarves at once!"

Joe gave an uncomfortable laugh. He hated jokes. They were minefields of racism, sexism and all the -isms out there; just waiting to explode on an unsuspecting bartender. Nothing lowers a tip faster than an offended customer.

"So what can I get for you?" Joe asked.

"Give me a long island ice tea," his diminutive customer answered.

Joe nodded, then cringed as he saw Bill moving down the counter to sit next to his newest customer. Bill wasn't known for his tact and Joe often had to intervene in a conversation to steer it out of dangerous waters. He didn't have time for this tonight.

While Joe mixed drinks, he tried to listen to the conversation, but other customers kept him busy. After thirty minutes of filling multiple orders, he walked back down the counter and asked how they were doing.

Bill answered, "Oh, we're good. Chester was just telling me about his gig as an elf. What a great job! The chicks apparently try real hard to get on Santa's nice list and they'll do some naughty things to get there!"

Bill and Chester laughed, making it clear that there was more to the story than they were saying, but Joe didn't want to know the details. The smug look on Chester's face spoke volumes.

Trying to change the subject, Joe asked, "So what brings you out to the airport, Chester? Are you going home to visit family?"

Chester smiled, "No, we're doing a dry run for deliveries tonight. Santa retired the reindeer last year and purchased a fleet of jets. He's contracted out the international deliveries, mostly to China since the wages were lower. I didn't think you could pay lower than reindeer feed, but apparently you can." With that he tossed back the rest of his drink and hopped down off the chair. "I better get back out there before Santa notices I'm missing or next year the elves could be on the chopping block."

Joe and Bill watched him walk out of the bar. "Do you think he was for real?" Bill asked.

Joe laughed, "Well if he was, you just landed on the naughty list for drinking on the job!"

A customer waved Joe over and the chaos of filling multiple orders resumed. When Joe had a minute, he looked to find Bill's chair empty. He was relieved that Bill didn't order another drink and put him in a bind. He didn't want to be responsible for a pilot crashing a plane on Christmas Eve. He was thankful that Chester had come along to distract Bill or he'd surely have ordered another. When the night was over and Joe was cleaning the bar, he found a package sitting under the counter. There was no name or any other identification on the gift. He knew he should report it to security, but figured it had been sitting there for a while and nothing exploded so he was willing to risk opening it.

He pulled off the green ribbon, and peeled back the glossy red paper to find an angel tree topper. There was a note inside that read:

Angels come in all shapes and sizes and appear when you need them most.
Enjoy your holiday season,

Chester

Joe turned off the lights and locked the door, smiling at the angel sitting on top of the bottle of Jack Daniels.


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