Memreeeez...

You can blame Og for this trip down Amnesia Lane™... He put up a post about marking time by the car he was driving, which is something I do as well.

Which, naturally, got me to reflecting on past cars, and marking time by them, and one particular incident that stands out in my memory...

The infamous "TGIFriday's Bar Fight".

Let me set the scene. It's Labor Day. We've just gotten back from a long weekend at a buddy's cottage in Maine, and we're having dinner out as a group. There's seven of us - three couples and one guy whose wife couldn't make it. We wind up at TGIFriday's (although for the life of me I can't remember why, other than Hilltop was too busy).

The Patriots are playing Monday Night Football. And it's "Long Island Iced Tea" night. Yeah, this is gonna be epic...

So we're enjoying our dinner at the front of the restaurant, when a ruckus starts at the back of the bar. We're a good ways off, and all we can hear is some random obscenities. Apparently there are two distinct groups, and something was said about one of the females in Group 2 by one of the males in Group 1. This did not sit well with the males in Group 2. Then all holy hell breaks loose. Someone throws a punch. Someone else throws a punch back. There's pushing. There's a full-blown bar fight going on...

Now, by this time TGIFriday's employees are coming out of the woodwork. They manage to get the fight somewhat contained, and the groups start to disperse. We're watching with increasing interest, as the fight has left the bar area and spilled into the second tier dining room. Things look like they're under control, when...

As alcohol-fueled assholes are wont to do, someone HAD to get the last word in. More words are exchanged. More shoving ensues. Punches are thrown. TGIFridays employees are orbiting the core group of combatants attempting to guide them outside.

And then... the fight spilled down the last flight of stairs. Directly into our group. We're near the entrance, and they were trying to divert the group out the front door, when everything explodes again. Only this time they're literally on top of us.

Now, bear in mind a couple of things here. At the time, I'm 6' tall, 250 pounds, mostly muscle. And I'm one of the smaller guys in our group. There's four guys in our group, me, P, D, and J. D and his wife are pinned behind the table with P's wife. J is at the head of the table, and I'm at the end with Mrs. G. next to me. P is sitting on my right. His nickname is "Dooder", short for "do-gooder" - now, don't get the wrong impression, he's not a "won't someone please think of the children" type do-gooder, but the Boy Scout, help-the-old-lady-across-the-street do-gooder.

He gets in the middle of the fracas. There's two guys in the fight that won't stop, and P is literally between the two of them with his hands on each guy's chest forcing them apart. He's concentrating on Guy 1, who had been getting the short end of the stick in the fight. I've got both eyes on Guy 2, because he's about to start something with my best friend.

Side note: I'm kinda funny in that I'll take a load of shit to my own person without getting worked up, but if you mess with my friends, look out.

So right now I'm giving Guy 2 the hairy eyeball and I'm tensed like a coiled spring just waiting for a reason to pound this dude into pudding. P starts focusing on Guy 1, backing him away, when Guy 2 starts bringing his arm back as if to throw a punch. D later confided to me that he honestly thought he was going to have to bail me out of jail at that moment, because apparently the look that crossed my face was not a shiny-happy-fun look...

I weighed my options at this point:

1. Cream the guy before he hits P. This spares P the hit, but puts me in an awkward position legally.

2. Wait for him to hit P, then cream him. This gives a valid argument for defense, but means P has to actually, you know, get hit.

3. Improvise.

I chose #3 - as Guy 2's arm came all the way back, I grabbed him by the forearm with my left hand and pulled him back half a step. With every bit of menace I could muster, I glared at him and said, "Think twice. The life you save may be your own".

This gave enough time for P to hustle Guy 1 out the door and break the momentum of the fight. Plus the local gendarmes started showing up...

The manager, assistance manager, and half the staff came over to both apologize and thank us. The meal was comp'd (natch).

And I had a cool story to tell around the water cooler at work the next day.

[Co-worker] So, how was your long weekend?

[Me] Pretty good. Went up to the cabin. Got into a bar fight at TGIFriday's.

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That is all...