Love's a Brewin...

Almost every night of the week you can walk up and down Court Street and be guaranteed to find students happily and drunkenly stumbling out of the bars at all hours of the night (although most people do wait until last call). Thursday is the unofficial start of the weekend here at OU and before the sun has set, you can bet there are already hundreds of students imbibing spirits at various bars in pursuit of a good time. What is this “good-time” you ask? While I may not know the exact answer to that question, or what it is that drives each individual to pursue it, I did some research and engaged in careful observation and I think I might be on to something…

I got the chance to sit down and chat with Bruce Reede, an OU graduate and bartender of six years at Jackie O’s, to talk about the dating scene at the pub, and some of the methods used to pick up potential love interests.

Reede describes the overall mood of Jackie O’s as being laid back and non judgmental, which in many ways sets it apart from many other bars on Court Street. From what I noticed, the flirtation at the bar seemed to be a lot more subtle than at some other bars uptown (I won’t be naming names). Reede says the same but claims there are of course, exceptions to the rule.

“We do get people here that frequent other bars and their main intention is just getting laid,” Reede said. There go those “other bars” again...

I then asked Reede how often single people come to the bar alone looking to connect with someone.

“People generally don’t come to the bar alone, and if they do, which is usually during the day, they’re probably not coming for the same thing.”

At night it’s usually a different story, and Reede says that when single people do come to the bar they’re probably coming in with friends, but not surprisingly many of them arrive with the goal of finding someone to take home.

“Every single night there’s a handful of single people, male or female, that are looking to get laid one way or another,” said Reede. “You can tell when people are flirting together.”

Although this scene is not at all uncommon, Reede says there are a few bar goers that try to establish genuine connections with one another that might not immediately lead to the bedroom. By merely observing body language Reede says he gets a pretty good hold of what’s going on.

“You notice the difference of a conversation between two people that are trying to see if they’re compatible or not, and two people that are just ready to get drunk,” Reede said.

As far as who is more aggressive in terms of seeking out potential partners, Reede said “Males might be more persistent when it comes to rejection,” and that buying drinks to break the ice or to get mouths open, so to speak, is one way to pick people up.

Reede admits (and I agree) that sometimes buying drinks for people may be more tricky than you might think.

“I think it’s probably the best way to jumpstart a conversation, but you have to be persistent as the buyer to continue that conversation. I mean everyone’s going to be receptive to a drink, but not everyone’s going to be receptive to your conversation.”

I asked Reede what he felt were the best ways to approach someone at a bar and he said “Basic things like ‘What’s your name?’ ‘How are you doing tonight?’ Certain things that may appear to be non aggressive and non intrusive”

Reede himself claims to be more of a traditionalist, and to my surprise, actually used to term court to describe the beginning stages of getting to know a girl.

“You talk to a girl, you ask her out,” Reede said. “There’s a certain way of going about things before you get to bed, that’s about the most intimate you can be with a person, there should be some sort of communication and knowledge about the other person.”

While Reede might have a different and more traditional approach to dating, it appears that other students and bar-goers are in search of that “good-time” I mentioned earlier. Maybe it’s not that they aren’t interested in taking the time to get to know someone before they take them home, maybe it’s just that the bars aren’t the right place to do it. Either way, let the good times roll…

*Photo taken from Jackie O's MySpace page