MyOpenBar: giving broke people permission to have a social life

Need a break from your two-buck chuck? An excuse to shower and/or leave your house? Are you as sick of yourself as I am?

Not that TGIF means anything when you’re jobless, but you should still be allowed to celebrate the arrival of the weekend, right?

Unemployment Nights are about having fun on a miniscule budget: enter MyOpenBar. On any given day, this godsend of a website tells you where you might find a drink special, extended happy hour or gallery opening (snooty art = free booze) somewhere in your city.

Tonight in San Francisco, for example, 111 Minna is having a special on Fernet & Czechvar between 4 and 5:30. I’m sure I would be very excited about the prospect if I knew what those drinks were. They sound fancy though, so $3-5 a pop must be a bargain.

Too good to be true? No, but there are a couple of catches. The specials aren’t posted very far in advance, and the website will only be useful to you if you live in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Chicago or Honolulu. In other words, outside of “real America”.

Whatever you do tonight, don’t be like me. Unemployment guilt has turned me into a hermit. But incessantly sitting in a dark corner, hovering over your laptop while listening to Bright Eyes doesn’t do you any good (I’m working through it). Get out of the house from time to time – think of it as a networking opportunity. At least you can tell yourself that to alleviate your guilt. And for once, you can plan a night out with your employed friends without pulling the old “oops I just realized I have no cash, can you spot me this time” move. They’re so sick of that.