Advice Part 42- The IDEAL job for single men is....

In the course of my (seemingly unending) singledom, I have made more than a few trips to the liquor store, to purchase some alcoholic beverages with which to drown my proverbial sorrows.

But it was only yesterday that I reached the following monumental conclusion.....

My advice to young players is that if you are a single male, looking to find a partner, first find yourself a job in a liquor store.

How do I know this? Read on.....

Yesterday afternoon, I went to a very civilised garden party in Rozelle. This required a trip to the bottle shop in the morning in order to stock up on appropriate liquid beverages.

As we all know, Sunday morning is not exactly peak alcohol buying time, so when I entered the liquor store, I was the only customer there. I picked up a few bottles of cider, and headed to the counter to pay.

All was going as per usual.

When I produced my wallet, I made some banal conversation with the (not unattractive) guy behind the counter. And when I say banal, I MEAN banal- "Gee, it isn't too busy here today, is it?"

The guy then proceded to (completely and utterly unasked):

• demonstrate the store's new-fangled gas machine, which means it is possible to keep a bottle of red wine open for a month without it going off (!!!)

• describe why some people go red in the face after one glass of wine (apparently it's an allergic reaction to preservatives) (!!!)
• show me every other bottle of cider under the sun, and give me extensive notes on the differences between brands (!!!)
• explain why the "ready to drink" alcopops are stored where they are (so the sales assistant can monitor the underage drinkers coming in to buy them)

• ask me about the party I was going to that afternoon (!!!)

He talked to me for over 30 minutes, and the conversation only ended when some other customers (!!!!!) arrived.

These customers were also single ladies.

But this REALLY got me thinking.....

I know of AT LEAST two other single female friends who have been "interested" in men who work in the local bottle shop. And I wouldn't be opposed to making another visit back to my store to have a further chat with the attractive guy. Although I don't want to go back too soon, in case he thinks I'm an alcoholic who needs to "stock up" on drinks every day or two***.....

But I swear, if you are a single man, looking to meet ladies, you could do A LOT worse than working in a bottle shop....

***NOTE Any hints on what I should do here are WARMLY welcome! Should I go back? And if I do, how can I "casually" find out if he's single (without looking seedy)? Also, do men who work in liquor stores get staff discounts? Advice wanted!