I'll try to keep this short and sweet. I've been working three jobs for a few months now (accumulating extra money because I want to move from the Midwest to the West Coast) and haven't had many opportunities to go out due to both time constraints and from being too tired.

Last night after getting done with all work for the day around 8 pm, I went and played a game in the local softball league, and some teammates decided to go down to a local sports bar for their cheap Thursday drinks, shuffleboard, and the NHL playoffs. I had set a bed time of 11 pm, and being that it was already 10 pm I had a mindset of just hanging out with the guys (and a few girls on the team) for a bit and having some fun before I go recharge for the next day.

We grab a table and within a minute or so this HB7-8 waitress comes up. I couldn't help but feel that I had recognized her from somewhere, and after putting a drink order, bring up her familiarity to my friends. A few agree that she looks familiar but they can't figure it out either, so I decide to take charge when she comes back. I told her that she looked familiar to several of us but we couldn't put our fingers on why. I prodded with a couple questions ("do you happen to know "X" individual?" "Were you at "X" place several weeks ago?", etc) and eventually found out she went to a high school that I commonly competed against when I played tennis, and that school always crushed it. We exchanged a few jokes about it and she got back to work.

My group moved to the shuffleboard table and after awhile she came back inquiring if we needed more potent potables, and I decided to try to add some humor to our previous conversation. My memory is fuzzy but an abridged version would look like:

Me: Hey, I figured out where we recognized you from. You were in that really terrible reality TV show that bombed out because you and the whole cast were such bad actors. Oh, and you were so dumb, that dude that's been following you around all night was the mole! (She was training a new guy on the waitstaff, and we had joked among ourselves how hilarious the situation was, how this guy would follow her around and stay completely stoic the entire time without saying a word)

She laughs and banters back a bit, even though my lines were absurdly cheesy, and we talk a bit, and right before I have to get back into the shuffleboard game:

Her: Well, I have to get back to work, but I get done soon and will probably be hanging out at the bar.

Me: (Looks at watch, its 11:45) Darn, I probably wont be able to stay out that late, I have work early in the morning.

Fucking idiot me, right? She walks away and I immediately realize my mistake. I troubleshoot the situation with a friend quick, finish the shuffleboard game, then go back to the table to finish the drinks and watch the LA Kings make a ridiculous comeback victory. My friends and I discuss her and realize that she is probably friends with some other mutual friends we don't see on a consistent basis.

She comes back one last time and we talk for a minute and ask for our bills. She comes back a few minutes later, and I decided to pull the old faithful, "wait, there's something missing on my bill........your number." She gives me a bit of a reluctant look, but grabs my receipt anyways and starts writing, adding in a "I don't normally do this, but I think we made a bit of a connection so I'll make an exception this time." Being that I really hadn't been practicing and seduction techniques or spending any time on r/seduction in months, I felt that even a reluctant #-close, especially from a waitress, was a small victory.

She walks away, but comes back about 30 seconds later with a smile and says, "You know what, I'm really sorry if I came off bitchy there. I'm just exhausted and normally when that happens to me it's usually preceded by me already being creeped out." I brushed it off and we talked for another 10-15 minutes and then we headed home, also confirming that those mutual friends were the case for why we recognized her.

Not the greatest tale of seduction ever, but I thought I did okay for being out of practice. The problem for me now is having to play the texting game, which even though I want to keep short, I am always bad at. Thanks for reading, if you have any tips/critiques, let them fly my way.

tl:dr Went to sports bar with friends, talked up the waitress, #-closed, looking for texting advice because I legitimately suck at it.