undef00 notices the beauty of the waitress

[michellemfry]

Michelle enjoyed the company of the bartender, the engaging coversation, but the Pub had other patrons, and the pace of the Pub quickened over the next hour or two.

Her friend harmonygirl had entered the Pub after a long day in court. She couldn't wait to hear the details of the case, but she knew better that harmonygirl could only disclose so much. Confidentiality rules had also muzzled the Med Tech on more than a few occasions. What becomes in the lab as fact is hightly contentious information in the wrong hands.

The girls preferred the bartender to the waitress, and that annoyed the waitress because the women tipped so much better. Professional courtesy, and the memories of service jobs taken to get them through college remained a part of their psyche today.

The night would pass by in the company of friends, minimal intoxication, and ended with a mutual agreement that this night had been pleasant.

The girls left alone, made their way to their vehicles and made plans to meet there again next week. Michelle glanced at the bartender one last time as she left.

"Good night, ladies," he added as they prepared to brave the cold outside.
A wink from Michelle and the evening was over.

"Good night, Robert."

[harmonygirl]

harmonygirl came back to the pub the next night, and spots her friend Michelle. After ordering a tequila shot (never one to be squeamish-she learned with the best of them!) and a pint, she began to talk about understanding infinity on an emotional level. She described how when she was little she would lie on a hill in the park close to her house and look up at the clear blue sky and know that it turns black at some point. harmonygirl would try to see the black (she was what some call "an original child") and understood in her heart that the sky does go on forever. She wondered that some people had never understood the world was in perpetual sunrise....

[michellemfry]

David and Michelle join Antonio and Guille for a Moderator's Meeting in the Pub.

The bartender brings a round of drinks to the group of puzzled moderators. They were wondering how far to go in their moderation duties. Michelle wonders now just what exactly did she say on her application. She couldn't remember her wedding vows either, but she knew what forsaking all others meant.

She had read the notes left by Robert about caring for forums, but it was harder than it looked. People like to respond and that meant something to Michelle. Some one-liners are works of brevity and content and should stand on their own. Others read like novels and could use some breaking up just to give the eyes a break.

Antonio, Michelle, and David were not young anymore, but still not old yet.
They were not set in their ways and still enjoyed a challenge. Guille, the youngest, was brash and cared for his forums with more guts, less worrying about what Robert might think.

Michelle and David loved the team effort, wanted to relieve Robert of some of his time wasters, and yet were unsure of how to proceed. Michelle would love to just clean up the spelling errors and aesthetically work on the posts.
She noticed the same errors over and over with the same members, meaning it was just their typing style.

Michelle wondered who might be added to the team to fill in for vacancies still unfilled. Robert had nurtured the site from the beginning and it was time to delegate a little. Maybe a doctor would join, maybe a young woman like Guille's age. The teen-ager is often not heard in discussions and they are the future. Their enthusiasm should be encouraged with inclusion, not exclusion.

Besides, kids just take to computers as if they were meant to do this. Less caution, more productivity.

"Bartender, would you remind me what said in my application. I can at least remain faithful to that. I must have had a plan that you liked, or you wouldn't have hired me."

"You were hired?," Antonio asks.

"You know what I mean, Antonio." Michelle viewed it as any other job application. There were no wages, just a place on the team. Being challenged kept her feeling connected to the world.

"It feels like we have a boss, doesn't it." Michelle added.
There is advertising and membership fees. Members might actually start deciding to invest in the thing and send in the fee. It was reasonable, $25.00 to join and you could be invisible in the forums. A little known fact was that the forum was alive with activity that traced your moves. To be invisible was worth $25.00 alone.

"Robert, what would you do with capital for your website." David asked.

A look came over his face, a little smile, and...

Robert shook away the sleepiness and thought about the capital and what he would like to do with it.

It would only be to the benefit of themselves if everyone participated. It was time to see Robert reap the recognition he so deserved. Michelle got out her credit card, even though she knew she could ask for a membership for free.

"Let's just say I'm curious to see what becomes of this. I've made bets with worse odds than this one." Again, stack the universe in your favor. The words her father had left her with. Alone, it's the price of a night out at another bar, or dinner for two. Together, the members had a chance to change things. It was already their playground, and Robert spoiled them all endlessly.

Michelle realized what she could do as a moderator. Move the masses like an advertiser would. Soft sell, not to spread bull, but to interest the member in a true adventure, cyberspace style. Robert was a Computer Programmer by trade, but he was an architect of space, this space. Imagine what a little capital might do for our fun level.

She knew Robert would never take the money and run. He would continue to spoil us in the manner we have become accustomed to. Need an Action Plan for Robert, one he will like.

"David, I have an idea," Michelle wanted the groups attention. The waitress came near and she was losing the men completely. Robert hired the cutest girls he could find. It was an investment, not a choice.

"Well, guys", she had lost their attention completely with the waitress bending over to clean up some broken glass.

"Oh, well, I can wait." Michelle returned to her free drink. Really, the man just spoils you rotten around here. It's worth it to be invisible. She needed that.

She had been stalked before. But that was another story, for another chapter, and another night in the Pub. Several things had changed that night, yeah, maybe alot of things had changed that night. She wished that regret would not enter into her mentor's mind. His little project in the hands of others, and now their money calling the shots. He wasn't sure he was ready to sit so high above the crowd. He was the bartender after all, and this was the Many Worlds Pub.