Nightlife: SIN-ful delights

If you work in the restaurant/bar industry, you already know a few things about the perks. Drinks mysteriously disappear from your tab at the bar you frequent after work. Appetizers and shots have a way of appearing in front of you. These treats are common to the trade, but there are also less under-the-table bennies to be had in the form of Service Industry Nights -- a gallant club for all the waiters, waitresses, food runners, busboys, bar backs and bartenders of the world.

For all us members of the club, here's the short list of some of the grandest SIN deals in town. Just remember, if you're heading out to take advantage of these deals, bring your most recent pay stub (or a clock-out chit, if noted) as proof of your status.

At the Melting Pot in downtown Minneapolis, on Mondays from 4-10 p.m., you get 40 percent off food, two-for-one drinks, and half off wine. In terms of bang for your buck, there's nothing better than a belly full of stuff dipped in cheese and a heady dose of liquorhol.

Joe's Garage on Loring Park comes in a close second, giving you 25 percent off your tab on anything you wish to put down your gullet except bottles of wine, on Sundays and Mondays, from 5 p.m. to close.

Is it tied for second, or is it third? I don't know. But on Sundays from 8 p.m. to close at Tavern on the Avenue in St Paul, your first drink is free with a clock-out stub from that day or the day before, plus $3 you-call-its, $3 any pint of beer, and $2 off all sliders.

Grow out your beard and don some flannel before you head to the Bulldog N.E., where $2 PBR tallboys and $4 Jameson or Patron shots are king all day Sunday and Monday.

The Red Stag Supperclub does something a little different with the industry night. Sundays from 3 p.m. to close, they have Arts Industry Night -- and who among us in the service world isn't also some kind of struggling artist? You can bring in a piece if you'd like (no really, they told us they'd really like that) to show off or perform, but for the most part, they don't ask for proof. Just drown your poor-assed sorrows in $3 house wine, $4 domestic taps, $4 rails and $3-$5 select appetizers as you fantasize about getting a show at Midway.

Even flashier, from 10 p.m. to close at Envy on Mondays you can let your hair down, get your dance on and get crazy. Industry people get in free of charge and drink $3 you-call-its all night.

At Burger Moe's in downtown St. Paul, you can score two-for-ones during the regular happy hour (3-6 p.m. and 9 p.m.-1 a.m. daily).

Feel like you deserve a tipple on a Friday after your lunch shift? Try these great anytime deals:

At the Ugly Mug in downtown Minneapolis, it's $3 you-call-its and $5 for top shelf drinks anytime.

Last but not least, at any of the watering holes owned by crown prince of Irish pubbery Kieran Folliard (that's Kieran's Irish Pub, the Local, the Old Pub, the Liffey and Cooper), there's a two-for-one special anytime for any restaurant or bar employee with a clock-out stub showing they've worked three hours or more that day. Even better, this deal can be applied to a nonmatching two-for-one: Get yourself a beer and a shot, or a beer and a cocktail -- anything you want that's $6 or under.