I'll pay what I want to pay
Expensive tastes and cheap attitudes don't mix.
An unnamed Fells Point bar owner told me about a rather nasty patron from a few nights back.
This customer spent all night drinking imports and microbrews in the bar.
His check came to almost $80.
Only, he didn't feel like the beer was worth $80.
So this customer scratched out the prices he'd been charged on the check and wrote in what he felt he should pay.
The bartender was none too pleased, but the patron refused to pay the full price.
The bartender threatened to call the cops.
The patron thumbed his nose at him.
So the bartender did call the cops. ...
(Kenneth K. Lam/Sun Photographer)
The cops asked the bartender what he wanted to do. Arrest the guy? Take him downtown?
But the bartender, eager to wash his hands (and face) of the situation, just said throw him out.
What would you have done if you were the bartender?
I'm not sure I would have been that nice to the customer at that point.
I've been The Baltimore Sun's nightlife and local entertainment reporter for a couple years, and it's surprising how much the scene has grown in that time. Most of Baltimore's bars and clubs are unpretentious places with fairly cheap drinks and plenty of character. I like dancing and think this city needs more clubs, but nothing beats having a cold, locally brewed beer with friends in a comfortably full corner bar.
Comments
I just thought 80 bucks was too steep for microbrews! Can't a man haggle?
In the old days, we would have settled in with a vicious back alley beating. Now we have to go and call the cops. We are so litigious as a society. Where was the manager? The bouncers? The Batman?
Posted by: JTK | December 4, 2007 2:05 PM
Hmmmmm...as long as the bar got its money, it seems more in the spirit of, you know, being a bar to just throw him out. Not to imply that drunken behavior should be treated any differently.
Posted by: Michael Byrne | December 4, 2007 3:11 PM
try that @ Club Choices. See what happens.
Posted by: J.M. Giordano | December 4, 2007 5:02 PM