Remembrances of things Pabst

So Saturday night we had a big tiring day in the store and we decided to go to our favorite little wine and cheese bar to have a bite because we just wanted to relax. Now I have spoken about it before. It is right halfway between the store and our house so it is very convenient and they stay open late. We have many great times there. Just not that night.

Now I always try to send my customers out to eat in a joint that they will love and enjoy since there are so many great places to eat here in Carroll Gardens. I sent this couple from Connecticut to the Panele store on Union and Columbia for some old school Sicilian food. They were third generation and had lost touch with their roots. Didn't speak any Italian and thought the Olive Garden was the real deal. So I sent them to the old school foceria with the rice balls and the vastead and the Manhattan Special espresso soda on tap. They loved it. They sent me a couple of emails telling me how they can't wait to come back.

Then there is Nine D the Thai restaurant. I sent two of my best customers there and they were back in the store on Sunday and told me they were going back. They live in Manhattan and had been to plenty of Thai restaurants but they raved about the freshness of the food and the price which was great. So they always make a stop their on their shopping excursions.

Anyway, I sent two separate couples to the wine and cheese place. One was this British dude and his wife and the other was these two lesbian babes. When we get there only the girls were there. Now the obnoxious douche bag regular was at the bar being a dick as usual. I have spoken about him before. He is basically harmless. He is a tiny little gay guy who has lived in the neigborhood for years and is just overbearing and a pain in the ass. He has to start out every conversation by saying he is "Openly gay." Dude who gives a shit? Close your gay and your legs and your mouth and shut the fuck up already. I mean don't get me wrong. There is a way to blow this off with a light touch and still be firm about it. As we are walking in he goes "Oh so are they going to let you guys in?" I spin him around on the stool to face the bar and go "Hey Henry Gibson take it easy and pay attention to your drink I ain't in the mood." He laughed and went back to torturing the new bartender dude (whose eyes were bugging out of his head).

So we sit down across from the two girls who are laughing their ass off. They told us that the British guy and his wife were there earlier and this guy had harangued them the whole time they were there. Talking to them, butting into their conversations and telling them what to order and what not. He went so far as to follow them outside to the bus stop where they were waiting for the bus to continue his non stop monologue. Imagine having to listen to that shit. It must have ruined their evening. I was kinda shocked. I thought the English guy had been in enough bars to cut the guy short. I mean I know his wife would want to be polite but seriously the place if ruined for them. They won't want to go back. And I recommended it as a good place. I have to apologize to them and explain that you don't have to be polite when somebody is harshing your mellow like that shit ya know.

Anyway we order our food and the owner comes over. She had hired this new dude and she was looking forward to taking the night off. She had been working every night for months just like us so she was going to split. Fine with us we put in the order. Well this dude fucked everything up. First he cut the cheese into tiny pieces like he was feeding fucking lab rats or something. Then it was like a half an hour between the cheese plate and the meat plate with the salami and gobagual. I mean you like to eat them together you know? Then he comes over and tells us he ran out of bread. No bread! How are we gonna have pannini's. What a mess. I just called for the check and we didn't order anything else. A fiasco from start to finish.

You see when you own a bar you have to take control. You can't let things get out of whack. When you see a boring asshole monopolizing and boring people you need to tell him to knock it off. I have seen several couple who won't come back to this joint because this fucking guy won't shut up. He is like an internet troll at the bar. You are sitting next to Jeremy.

You also need to make sure you have your supplies on hand. And if you run out you have too have contingency plans. If you run out of booze you have to be able to go to a neighbor and borrow something. When the wife ran the bar in midtown she could borrow kegs of Guinness from the bar next door. Of course she helped them out of jams too. It isn't such a big thing to borrow a loaf of Italian bread from another restaurant. Especially when most of them were closing at that time anyway. They are just not organized. They don't know what they are doing. And it is not my job to correct them. Or to teach them the ropes.

But they have to be spanked. So we will probably not hit this joint for about two weeks. Just to give it a rest. Most joints get the picture. Because they don't want to lose the business. If they ask me I will tell them. But otherwise I will stay out of it. There are plenty of other people who want us to come in and are pissed that we aren't there as much.

It is an old truism. Familiarity breeds contempt.

Man they ran out of fucking Bread. WTF!