I had a real moment of today.
A group of us friends (all co-workers) quit work early and were having a lovely time at the friendly local bar (it has a fantastic outdoor patio and “beach” area.) We were all drinking, laughing, bonding, and then - I’ll call him “Jim” - stiffened up. Quickly and immediately. From laughing and having a good time to stone-faced rage. He flagged down our old friend “Dirk” who works at the bar as a barback and sometimes bouncer.
Jim: “You see that guy? You need to get him the fuck out of here now. He’s wearing gang colors.”
Dirk: “Yeah, we know all about him. He’s dating one of the waitresses. We usually throw guys wearing colors out, but the owner’s been away and the waitress won’t enforce it. Bad news, I know. So far he’s been cool…just pops in, has a few drinks and leaves. I don’t like it, but for now…”
At this point female friend “Gina” pipes in: (her father is a motorcycle enthusiast, she and he are from “the city” proper):
“Get him out of here. Those guys are bad news. Seriously.” And she does not, as a rule, overreact. Ever. She’s from a minority group and hates profiling. And she grew up in a bad part of the city.
…at which point, I’m like WTF?! All I see is friendly people, drinking, talking, having a nice time. I ask, flabbergasted, “WTF are you guys talking about? Who? Where?” They both point at the bar, where a biker-looking guy is drinking a beer and chatting with other patrons. So I make an excuse to walk over, get a look at the guy, and return to our table. Other than looking like a biker, he’s wearing a black tee with a logo (which I looked up on wikipedia once I got home, and which wikipedia claims is still a major biker gang. So I guess my friends knew something?
Are biker gangs still a thing? The grand dramatic finale to this whole thing was that we had a nice time, finished our drinks, paid and left. Said gang-member drank a few beers at the bar and was still there when we left.
I really thought biker gangs were a thing of the 70s, 80s and early 90s. Are they still a thing?