On Tuesday, restaurants and bars in Baltimore and Washington (but mostly Washington) tweeted out discounts, special offers and messages of support for furloughed federal workers. See below for some examples.
Among the first restaurants to extend a hand to the furloughed was Range, Bryan Voltaggio's meat-centric restaurant inside Washington's Chevy Chase Pavilion, which offered free cheese pizza to the affected workers.
The Tuesday morning tweet read, "free Govt Cheese Pizza w/ID starting today until it's over."
By Wendesday, the offer had been amended.
Range's follow-up tweet read, "Forgot to mention... members of congress not eligible until you get your s--- together on the Govt. Cheese pizza give away."
Translation: You are not welcome here.
Other furlough specials include:
Midtown BBQ & Brew in Mount Vernon is offering the first drink free to all federal employees with ID.
Nottingham's in Columbia tweeted this message: "The Government may be shut down but we are not.....Come on in for a visit at lunch and if you don't have to work tomorrow stay all night."
Blue Agave in Federal Hill tweeted this message: "We're doing a margarita happy hour all day today! We'll drink while the big guys figure it out! Happy hour at 3, $4 off burritos at 4!"
The Gypsy Queen food trucks tweeted this message: "Can't shut the Gypsy Queens down! Two trucks out to serve you some fast deliciousness. Baltimore at Greene also Charles at Baltimore."