Our romantic anniversary date at the Eagles in New Port Richey

This past Friday, the 13th of February, was two days after our 54th anniversary, and also one day before Valentine’s day. So, obviously, it should have been another very special and romantic night that we could record in our book of love. But, alas, it was anything but that.

My wife, being quite the romantic, made plans for a dinner. But, given our location in New Port Richey, Florida, there’s just nowhere to go that’s formal and/or dressy, as this city is known as being very full of retired old timers – like us.

We like to dress up a bit, but not too much, since it is quite the chore at our age. I have thinning hair, wrinkles, and extra weight – like most others my age. I cannot talk about my wife, but like most women her age, I assume that she has similar issues. So, it’s quite a chore to make oneself as beautiful or handsome as we’d like – but we try.

We can’t stand Rap music?, or dancing that looks like a sex orgy, and vulgar language, so that limits us to the places that cater to old timers – again, like us. So, the best we could do seemed to be either the Elks or Eagles clubs. Given that we are long-term Eagles members, live in Gulf Harbors, which is very close to our local Eagles, and given that they have dinner dances with a live band every Friday evening, it seemed obvious that it should be the best choice. What a mistake.....

So, our daughter who was visiting us called an made reservations for three. We all showered, shaved, and dressed, hoping for a memorable evening with one of our children, for this special escapade. My wife and daughter spent a lot of time - as they usually do, to impress the guy escorting them (me).

My wife, is a drop-dead, super sexy blonde beauty, that’s somewhat shy but always friendly and smiling. Every day I thank the Lord for allowing me to be by her side - I am so proud of her. This night she dressed totally in black, in what appeared to be designer clothes that made her look like a model. Part of her do, included a black designer “newsboy” hat that made her look just stunning. Her black dress slacks and dressy blouse reminded me again, how lucky I am. She was “Hot”.

Our daughter dressed very classy as well, even though her wardrobe choice was limited, given that she is living out of a suitcase.

I simply donned my new black trousers, along with a classy semi-formal black shirt. No white button downed dress shirts anymore – after all, I am retired. It seemed to match my wife’s clothes, and that made me more proud – we were like twins.

What a wonderful evening we’d have.

We got to the Eagles club around 5:30pm, and found our table, along with four unknown campers. The table was very large, and the other campers sharing our table were very nice, and so we all got along nicely. We grabbed a couple of drinks at the main bar, and got in a couple of romantic dances. The beginning of a nice time.

We paid for, and ordered our dinners, but were somewhat disappointed, as they arrived quite cold. Without hassling anyone, we ate a few bites, and then asked for take-home boxes – we could heat them up at home, we thought. And, we didn’t want to spoil a nice romantic evening.

Our daughter had the band leader announce our 54th anniversary, which surprised us during our third dance, and we suddenly found ourselves in the lime light. Sweet. We finished our dance, and returned to the table. My sweetheart said that she’d go stand in line at the small secondary bar, as I was busy with the cold dinners.

While waiting in line, which was 6-8 orders deep, the part-time barmaid shouted at my wife “You have to remove your hat, or else you must leave the premises”. What? “It is a rule”, the barmaid shouted again. What? What rule? Why is she shouting at my wife? And, why was she embarrassing her in front of all these people? My wife lowered her head, and escaped the chaos, running back to me for support.

I was embarrassed for her, as well. What kind of class act was this, to shout at a patron in a formal setting, telling everyone within earshot that she had violated some obscure, ridiculous rule. How unprofessional. The designer hat that she wore is part of her formal attire. It is not the same as a baseball cap. My wife said to me, “It’s not the hat. That barmaid has been rude to me in the past. I think she dislikes me, for some reason”. My daughter agreed “she was rude to me as well”.

Needless to say, I was very upset, and tried to comfort my wife. But, she was very embarrassed, and said she was leaving. Removing her hat was not an option. Like most people our age, with somewhat less hair than what we had in our 20’s-30’s, making oneself gorgeous involves multiple pins, hooks, straps, and the like, and it takes quite a bit of time.

I decided to ask the President about the embarrassing behavior of the barmaid. I looked him up, and confronted him at table one. I explained what had happened, and asked what could be done. He didn’t even reply to me. He totally ignored me, with a blank stare. What a class act, here at the New Port Richey Eagles Club. I quietly left his table, gathered my wife and daughter, and departed.

My only recourse is to document this experience, and publish it for everyone to review. I doubt that we’ll again frequent this particular Eagles club. Happy Anniversary, Darling....

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To be fair, I must admit that I’ve experienced a similar occurrence years ago, at the Bonita Springs Elks Club.

At that time, my wife was quietly questioned about her hat, and politely asked to remove it. She was informed that it was an Elks rule that hats were not allowed during formal gatherings.

We were about to leave, when the Exalted Ruler apologized to us. I asked him, “What is the purpose of such a rule?”. He replied “It is to insure that formal gatherings remain formal. It is how they keep baseball caps out of formal gatherings.”. To which I replied, “Does my wife’s attire in any way look like she’s going to play baseball? Or, football, or might she be going fishing, or perhaps skiing, or any other sport? It is a designer hat purchased from a high-end designer boutique.”.

He replied, “You’re right. Such a rule actually discourages women from dressing fashionably, and limits their choices.”. He said, that he’d try to have the rule revised.or amended, asked that we’d stay, and even bought us drinks. We had a wonderful time. Now, that’s a class act!

As long time Elks and Eagles members, I now know the real difference between Elks and Eagles.