Well this was in Wisconsin… me and and all my sisters went to the bar… it’s called Jacobi’s now. What was it called then?

Informant 2 (her husband, Howard, age 84)- Hiawatha.

Right so the Hiawatha, then. And so my sister, Janet, and my sister, Rita, went to the bar.

The boys, Howard and Dennis, were out fishing. So we decided to go down to the Hiawatha a drink.

Well, the boys came back and we’d already come back from the bar and they felt bad for leaving us all alone in the cabin all night while they were out having fun and fishing. And they decided to be nice and take us to get a drink and we said sure… we’d already gone but we didn’t say anything.

But when we got back to the Hiawatha, the bartender (laughing), the bartender says, “Are you girls here AGAIN?!”

context: 

The informants, Grandma, and with a little help with name recognition from Papa, told me this story over the phone, but it was certainly not the first time I’d heard it. Typically, Papa tells it once or twice a summer when our whole family returns to those cabins in Wisconsin whenever we go to that bar/restaurant, now called Jacobi’s. They both find it really funny and don’t try to hide it.

thoughts:

I think this story has been told and retold because it is sort of out of character for Grandma to hide the truth or bend it from Papa and the fact that the bartender blew her cover makes it even better. Both of them have told it on multiple occasions and knowing them, I’m sure they’ve told it to a number of waiters and bartenders upon returning to that establishment. They’re very friendly in that way.