Lil' Rascals

When I was in college I used to go to a corner liquor store almost every day called Lil' Rascals.  They eventually changed their name to N&H Liquor, but to me, they were always the Lil' Rascals.  The store was in a strip mall right next door to a video store called Video Fox that loved to break street date, so I could get my copy of GHOST WORLD three whole days before everyone else.

I went in enough, and the Arabian dudes who ran the place carded me enough, that eventually they memorized my birthday, which is 10/10/80.  For some reason this date cracked them up.  It might be just the sheer amount of zeroes in it, I'm not sure.  Maybe the repetition of the 10s.  I don't know.  All I know is, they loved it.

So, every time I came in, they'd yell in acknowledgment like so:

"Hey, man!!  10/10/80 my friend!!"

And other similar variations.

Sometimes, one of the Lil' Rascals would be hanging out in Video Fox much to my surprise and would ambush me.

I approach the counter:

LIL RASCAL:  10/10/80 man!! Heyyy!

ME:  Oh, hi.

LIL RASCAL: (to dude working at video store)  Hey, man.  This guy's birthday is 10/10/80.

(Dude working at video store shows no interest)

LIL RASCAL:  (continued, to me)  Isn't that right my friend?  Hey!!!

ME:  Yes, that's right.

In my college days I had two things I looked for in a beer and they were as follows:

1.) The beer had to have the word "ice" in the name

2.) The beer had to be in stock

If there were multiple beers with the word "ice" in the name in stock, I'd move on to number 3.

3.) Whichever one was cheapest.

Despite this consistent bias in my purchases, the Lil' Rascals would constantly offer me specials.

(I walk into Lil' Rascals and head straight for the Ice beers.)

LIL' RASCAL:  Hey!  10/10/80, man!  Mike's Hard Lemonade!  6 for $5.00, my friend.

ME:  Thanks.

(I go straight for the Beast Ice.)

LIL' RASCAL:  No, no, my friend!

(Moves from behind counter and heads toward cooler, pointing to display of Mike's Hard Lemonade.)

ME:  Oh, I'll stick with the usual.

LIL' RASCAL:  6 for $5.00!  10/10/80!!

They were also very interested in whether or not it was time for finals, whether I was partying, and whether I was on vacation.  They'd ask if it was time for finals while I was on vacation, and whether it was time for vacation when I was in the middle of studying for finals.  Their party questions were always appropriately timed since, if I was in Lil' Rascals, it meant it was time to party.

There was an overweight, middle-aged Lil' Rascal, and a slightly younger, skinny Lil' Rascal with a mustache.  If they would have been Italian, that would have been Mario and Luigi.

I miss the Lil' Rascals.  In Portland you get far too many white people working in convenience stores with no enthusiasm who love to talk on the phone when they're supposed to be helping you.  They're either too young or too old.  To be fair, since I've moved to my new neighborhood, I'm surrounded by some slightly more caring (and less white) convenience store proprietors, but I've never met any as fascinated with my birthday as the Lil' Rascals were.

I was back in my college town about a year and a half ago for the first time since graduating and it didn't even occur to me to stop into the former Lil' Rascals establishment.  Now that I think about it, I wish I would have.  I wonder if those guys are still there.  Maybe some kid with my same birthday enrolled the year after I graduated and started frequenting the liquor store, his driver's license continuing to blow the Lil' Rascals' minds.

That would be nice.