Obfuscated Thoughtlessness Inversed

It probably isn't their fault.. that they are so stupid. But it is their fault they aren't unionized with Local 40 anymore.

Kicking a dozen regular clients of the former establishment out for something the staff told us to do. Come on. What da hell?

It went down like this: It was a close friend and former co-workers last day. She had just gotten out after serving the hard part of her life sentence. 12 and a bit years. Parole was looking nice and we went out to celebrate and have a few drinks. Being slow and her getting off work at 9 pm we only made it to the bar at 11.

We arrived hungry so we had a simple request. Some food. But the kitchen was closed. At the suggestion of our server (who admittedly offered to make toast) we simply wandered over to Ali Baba's and achieved for ourselves some pizza pie. We came right back.

We happily ate our pizza pie and kept drinking, in the bar. So far so good.

Then something went terribly wrong.

Having been spurned on by our munching of the good stuff, more of our group went to get some pie. When they returned they were told that "the liquor law" prohibited us from eating it within the Bar. Further, a ridiculously moronic staff member (pictured on the left) emphatically stated that the reason the law prohibited such activities was because the bar would be liable for the food poisoning us.

We responded defiantly with a simple request. The staff person who told us this was asked to produce "the law" that said this. We stated clearly that we would follow any liquor laws that he could produce. We suggested several websites he could find the law on and offered to provide the phone numbers of lawyers we knew would be available for exactly this kind of a ridiculous inquiry.

Instead of simply saying, ok ok, just do it descretely, or saying alright I was steppin' it isn't the law but you just can't eat that in here, he threatened us by saying "if you eat that in here you will have to leave."

The threat was too good to be ignored.

We held a brief discussion and then chowed down. We all had a bite. I guess we figured that if the bar had already accepted any liability we mayaswell enjoy ourselves in the manner most likely to cause ourselves harm.

Straight over returns this fine example of a future union-busting manager. He immediately demands we leave.

We knew this was coming and had provoked it so we amicably agreed. Offering to leave immediately without paying our bill or allowing that he might want to invite us to stick around long enough for the dozen or so of us to settle up.. Long enough for us to finish eating our pizza. Idiot.

He realized he was beat, so we ate and paid. Then left and vowed never to return. As we were leaving he admitted it was just bar policy. Why he hadn't just started by saying, "Hi, I'm the power-tripping moron who doesn't want you dozen customers in the bar, please leave." Instead of making a total fool of himself and forcing a boycott. I just don't know.

The Old Bailey was the pub of choice for most of the 12 years of hell that my friend had survived at that old job (she wasn't really in jail). At one point her partner even worked at the Old Bailey. We spent literally thousands of dollars in a unionized, safe, convenient and welcoming environment. We experienced the highs and the lows... We got booted out for good reasons (like it was time to go home or being inebriated), we got invited in for better ones, like a safe warm environment where we could drink amongst friends.

We never were as angry as we were the other night.

The boycott is on and not just because the staff booted us out at a time when we carefully selected the location for maximum enjoyment.

This place exists as a deunionized, decertified, shell of its former self.

We won't be back and neither should you.

Labels: hospitality, includes photo, personal story, union