I will start tonight by explaining that the last post last was not indicative of some deep psychosis it was just a vent, we all have them. The truth is that I am passionate about this trade and this pub and the wasted opportunities around the land are a source of much ire but we will leave that for now.
I have concluded tonight that the world is inhabited by Peter Pan characters, by that I mean people who simply refuse to grow up. I have a number of customers who have ‘special conditions’ imposed, generally we are talking about curfews but with a bespoke trigger. When I impose these terms they are well received by people who appear to have every intention of respecting them.
Then we add alcohol and the whole game changes. Suddenly responsible adults turn into six-year olds with a pressing desire to push boundaries. If I say that you need to be done by x o’clock do you really think that I wont notice you stockpiling drinks? or slowing down? I am still an adult, I notice these things.
Everybody pushes when they have had a drink of course but it is more noticeable when there are specific individual cases. At closing time everybody gets a sudden thirst on and will try to procure enough alcohol to sedate an elephant but its less obvious in a pack I guess. The really daft thing in all this is that I try very hard to work with hat I have and I impose conditions as a last resort after much internal debate. To spend this much energy working on a means to accommodate somebody just for them to do their best to smash through the rules is somewhat of a disincentive.
I must also share an episode from another venue perched midway up the cliff. Some tourists arrived at the bar, having come up from the pub at the bottom of the cliff, and noted that the pub at the bottom appeared to be closed. When they enquired as to whether the other venue was actually closed the barmaid leaned in, as if to share a conspiratorial secret, and asked “were the lights on?”. When met with a negative response she confirmed “they are closed then”. Quite why these tourists needed that confirmation of something that they surely knew already is beyond me but the deadpan delivery was priceless.
