Saturday, January 29, 2011

Late night drama

I had a very long day at work yesterday. Almost 13 hours... Too long. I was just about falling asleep at the counter, despite the loud rock music coming from the theatre (we were hosting a midnight record release) and was talking to the other staff member who was on to try and keep awake. A guy wandered up the stairs, well dressed and not looking particularly threatening. He stopped at the table where the band's friends were collecting the door charge and offered his cash card. Of course they didn't have an eft-pos machine, so they explained he needed cash and told him where the nearest cash machine was (just downstairs). He kept shoving his card at them and saying he wanted to pay, and they kept explaining he needed cash.

Around about this time, I realized he was pretty drunk. I pointed him out to my staff member and told him not to serve him if he came to the bar. Around about then, the guy just barged into the theatre without having paid the door charge. One of the guys on the door chased after him and told him to leave. He wouldn't. I went in and told him I was the manager and he needed to go. He followed me out of the theatre, but wouldn't go down the stairs and out of the building. My staff member and the two door people formed a kind of barrier across the top of the stairs so he couldn't go any further into the foyer. The guy still wouldn't leave, just kept saying he wanted to see the band.

Around this point, I realized he was too drunk to reason with. There had been a huge fight outside earlier, and I knew the police weren't far off, so I sent my staff member down to find them. I told the drunk guy that the police were coming, and he might like to leave before they arrived. He just laughed.

A few minutes later, four cops arrived and escorted him out of the building, although it did take some time for them to actually get rid of him.

Now, this is the incredible part of the story.

A few minutes later, I went back downstairs to make sure he was gone, and to lock the three doors we didn't have wide open to let people in. While I was down there, this guy showed up again and tried to get in. I stood in the doorway and told him there was no way he was getting in again. He tried to push past me. I told him again that he was not welcome. He shoved me up against the wall and ran up the stairs (for someone so drunk, he was pretty nimble). I ran up after him and told everyone upstairs he was coming and I was going to get the police again. I ran down the street and found the police half a block away. A lot of police. About fifteen of them. I told them the guy had come back and ran back down to the cinema - as the bar manager, I'm not really supposed to be off the premises - and they followed.

This time he tried to take off when he saw the cops, but it was too late. They grabbed him, got him up against the wall, and cuffed him. It took about four seconds. Then he was gone. Very impressive work.

I wasn't tired any more. Not one bit.... I guess he was a huge fan of the band, who of course knew nothing about what was going on outside the theatre. Crazy stuff!

Why do people act like such goons when they drink?

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