It was quiet morning today at most of the shops and restaurants downtown. Most were taking the time to restart, the calm before the storm.
"Very calm, we're like stay please, stay, let's stay like this for just a little bit," said Brittany Broadus, a bartender at Corner Alley on East 4th Street.
Because when the fans roll in, it's non-stop chaos.
"You just buckle up and just hold on for the ride really," said Kayla Frisco, Manager at Cle Clothing Co. downtown.
Michael Grasso, general manager at Coroner Alley agreed, "everybody downtown who's working is just trying to do their job, remember they're exhausted and tired, they've been working all week."
Restaurant and store workers putting in overtime for the past week in a half, some say it's like déjà vu from the Cavs.
"I mean it's very similar, but it has its differences. I think the time of year makes a difference," said Frisco.
Why you can imagine workers can be a little on the edge.
"It's a hard long day, it's a very stressful day the environment we put these guys in, it's amazing when you have 500, 600 people in a bar as rowdy as they want to be, it's a tough environment to work in," Grasso said.
Adding extra staff to help with the workload at the Cleveland Clothing Company, Frisco said it's exhausting, but she'll take one for the team.
"You get little bouts of crankiness but you can quickly find your way out of it. You just have to look outside and see all of the pride in everyone."
Just across the street at Corner Alley, bartender Brittany Broadus told me some nights it's tough to keep the pep in her step after she's been shutting down the place every night around 2 in the morning, juggling thousands of drink orders.
"I'm tired definitely, (laughs) it's been a long season," she said.
So how do they keep themselves afloat?
"A lot of red bull," Broadus said.
Frisco agreed, "lots of coffee and lots of just trying to laugh through some of the ridiculous things that happen."
No matter how sleepy, or cranky, they all told me, the hype of it all is what keeps them moving forward.
"Adrenaline, adrenaline helps push through it," Frisco said.
Corner Alley, along with many other bars downtown will stay open until the party dies out tonight, so if we bring in the big championship win, workers could be working until 5 or 6 in the morning, then coming back in around 9 am tomorrow.
