The Stage

Late evening in November of 2016

At a popular sports pub in Kamloops, the air is warm inside, compared to the chill of the winter air outdoors. The sounds of chatter and laughter fill the room. Older 90’s rock music plays from the sound system. The pub is dimly lit, with the scent of fried foods and stale beer lingering in the air. The mood is one of excitement; there is a hockey game playing on all the TVs. The floor is mostly hardwood, with a carpeted section. Leather booths line the walls, and a few tables fill the space on the floor.

The Players

The Entire Cast

Approximately four female waitresses and one male bartender, all dressed in uniform black. There are three males and two females sitting at the bar. All the booths are occupied, the tables mostly empty. Largely Caucasian, everyone is casually dressed, and range between 20-50 years old. There are slightly more males than females in the pub.

The Main Characters

Person A: We will call him Jeff. He is ruggedly masculine, mid-to-late 20s, with short dark hair, dark eyes, and is of mixed ethnicity, although I cannot tell what. He has a square jawline, with stubble. He wears a red plaid button up T-shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, faded jeans, and skate shoes. Jeff is quite attractive, with a nice smile full of white teeth. He has a tattooed right arm, what appears to be a full sleeve from what I can see. He wears a large, shiny watch on his left wrist. Although he is sitting, he appears to be tall and in good shape, with broad shoulders. He sits slumped over with his elbows on the table, taking pulls of dark liquid in a rocks glass through a straw, until Person B arrives, at which point he sits up straight and confidently. As time progresses, his posture changes again as he leans across the table to Person B and smiles and laughs frequently.

Person B: We will call her Amanda. Amanda arrives approximately ten minutes after Jeff. She is a Caucasian female, in her early-to-mid 30s, and is polished and clean. She is petite and slim, but with a round face. Her long, dark brown hair is in a braid over her right shoulder. She wears heavy makeup, especially around the eyes, which are light coloured and big. She has a blue flower tucked into her braid at her ear. She is wearing a short black skirt with knee-high leather high-heeled boots, and a long black leather jacket with fur trim around the top and a thick black belt. When she takes her jacket off, she is wearing a tight, low-cut blue long-sleeved top that matches the blue of the flower in her hair. She has no visible tattoos, but wears dangly silver earrings, several rings on each hand, and a thin black necklace with a blue pendant. Her body posture is straight at first, but becomes much more relaxed after several drinks, leaning in and flirting.

Person C: We will call her Summer. She is the female waitress, Caucasian, with blonde hair that is in a ponytail and bright blue eyes with minimal makeup. She is tall and slender, and wears a black shirt, black skirt, and black heels. She has several tattoos, plus a nose ring and tongue ring. Up close I can see she has bad skin, acne scars and several blemishes. As she was my waitress as well, I communicated with her, and found her to have a lovely voice, soft and lilting, but a loud boisterous laugh that seemed to not belong with the rest of her. She wears several rings and earrings, and appears to be approximately 25 years of age, maybe younger. She is bubbly and energetic.

The Plot

Jeff was sitting in a corner booth alone, his attention divided between his phone and the hockey game on the TVs. He scanned the room several times and glanced continually at the entrance. He took several sips of his drink. Amanda approached him as his head was down and tapped him on the shoulder. He looked up, gave her a quite-obvious once-over, then beamed a dazzling smile, nodded, and shook her hand. He did not stand. She appeared visibly relieved, although nervous. She removed her jacket and placed it and her purse in the booth, while Jeff not-so-subtly got an eyeful of her cleavage. Their non-verbal communication made it very apparent that this was a blind date, and I suspect it was a Tinder date. After about three minutes of what could only be small talk, Summer appeared. Amanda barely glanced at her and I could see her mouth “A glass of red wine please”. Although I could not actually hear what they were saying, I could tell what certain conversations were regarding, and make out several more obvious words by lip-reading. Summer, whose back was towards me, must have said something to Amanda (I assume asking what kind of red wine), as Amanda reached for the drink menu, scanned it, pointed at something, then looked at Summer with a pointed stare and arched eyebrow. Summer nodded curtly and exited. This entire exchange was very female-ego stereotypical, and clearly demonstrated a role-making scenario, as well as an innate instinct of competing for attention. Jeff observed the interaction with a slightly amused smirk, his attention shifting back and forth between the two females.

After Summer exited, Jeff and Amanda resumed their conversation. She looked slightly uncomfortable, while he appeared calm and confident. Summer returned and placed a wine glass in front of Amanda, as well as two shots of amber liquid in between the two. Amanda reacted with surprise, and all three laughed, then Summer exited again. Jeff and Amanda, still smiling and laughing, cheers’ed then took their shots.

Throughout the next hour, Summer brought Jeff three more rocks glasses of dark liquid, as well as two more glasses of wine for Amanda, and then two reddish-pink martinis, which I presume to be Cosmopolitans. They did two more shots each. As I observed, their behavioural patterns and body language progressed and became more intimate and even a little sloppy as the alochol lubricated their inhibitions. Summer became insignificant as the other two became more involved in their conversation. Jeff was all white teeth and suggestive smiles as he leaned across the table towards Amanda, whose boundaries clearly became less and less existent the more intoxicated she became. She leaned across the table and touched him lightly several times, at one point giving him a playful shove on his upper pectoral while she giggled. He arched an eyebrow and I assume asked her if she wanted to get out of there, as she nodded and they exited the booth. She headed towards the washrooms and he met Summer at the bar to pay their tab.

Now that Amanda was no longer present, Summer was suddenly all smiles and giggles, and touched Jeff on the arm, which made him literally puff out his chest and smile broadly. She leaned in close and said something near his ear as he was looking down at the debit machine in his hand, and he laughed and shook his head no in response to whatever she had asked him. She smirked and appeared satisfied and even a little smug with his reply. Amanda re-appeared and did not look impressed, and both Jeff and Summer stiffened up immediately, Jeff looking a bit guilty and Summer looking defensive. Jeff took Amanda’s arm, however, and they walked out together.

When Summer came to check on us after the other two had exited, she appeared visibly less enthusiastic and more monotonous. Amanda had defeated her by capturing the prize steer – or at least for now.

The Finale

I spent an hour and a half in a pub in Kamloops mid-November in the evening, observing what was clearly a first date between a male and a female, where I witnessed a first date, as well as a definitive power struggle and fight for dominance between the female patron and the female waitress. I am a female student that was out for dinner and drinks with my significant other, and while I was uncomfortable at first, and scared of being caught staring, I quickly realized that other than Summer, who was our waitress as well as the other couple’s, I might as well have been invisible to the other two. My discomfort made way to amusement and fascination as I watched the play evolve. At times, I was annoyed and exasperated as I watched these two females disregard and dismiss one another. The male was clearly thrilled by their exchanges, which irritated me further.

The sociological behaviours I observed revolved around the social environment, role-playing, role-making, social interaction, emotion management, competing for attention, and asserting power and dominance. Body language, facial expressions, and verbal and non-verbal cues were all obvious as well.

While my analysis is mainly based on speculation and theory, I am confident in my conclusion that the “play” that I observed was actually a primal ritual, and one that has been part of society for ages now.