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Night shift
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Night shift |
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patchoulipumpkin Member
since 2000-01-01
Posts 196Bermuda |
As Julian arrived at work, he quickly realized that he was in good company, because his boss, who was 28yrs old but looked about 40 with his beer gut and excess fat, was also drunk, so there was no fear of him getting reprimanded for his own drunkeness. In fact, Julian had to fend off more drinks that, Matt, his boss, was offering to him as a precursor to what was in store for the evening. Of course, Julian didn’t quite understand that Matt’s buoyant mood would conduct the bar’s mood that evening, and the drinks that he offered Julian were not so much a hospitable pat-on-the back, but moreso primers to be a part of his show. The pub was small, and because of its size there were fire regulations to the amount of people that were allowed in the place, not to mention that there was a new anti-smoking policy laid down by the city of vancouver, that forbade smoking in certain pubs, at certain times. Considering the ground rules then, Julian was astonished that he was spectacle to what was no less total anarchy, if not that, then very mildy managed chaos. The people started piling in at about 10:30, and customarily, the music got louder to fill the throngs of new bodies. He found it increasingly harder to do his job, because he was supposed to bus trays from the bar keep all the way back to his station in the back because people had literally become furniture staples, that were unmoving, or to make it even more annoying to Julian, they would be like tachometer’s-rolling back and forth on their axis of gravity so that he had to judge their movement upwards as a sign that he could sneak around them on their vulnerable side. It was like he was a lone running back in a field of defensive tackles. Suddenly, a voice boomed through some kind of microphone device, that Julian didn’t even know existed, “Are you guys here to party or what”, it screamed, which was followed by the cheers and applause of the crowd. Julian turned to Pat, the cook, “what the - is this, some kind of religious gathering”, he joked. “Oh man, Mattie hasn’t been like this in a long time, forget about the dishes for now and just sit back and watch”. Matt at this point was totally hammered, and was teetering like most of the patrons back and forth, back and forth, while intermittently screaming lyrics of songs through the microphone. Obviously his energy was inspirational to the crowd, because chairs started getting pushed to the side of the pub, and a dance floor was created, where people were so crunched together, that they were not so much dancing as they were rubbing into each other. It sounds exciting, and mildly erotic, but the dancers were so drunk that their spinning and tilts made them look like they were drowning and were trying to find some kind of buoyancy to keep them from falling down. It was a strange sight, almost competitive in a way, where one- would be dancer- would try to execute a level of madness that outdid another’s. But it was Matt who finally outdid them all. While everybody was clawing and worming around the pub, Matt had lumbered up onto the bar, and was standing on top of it with both feet on the bar top and one hand holding the top of the bar, with the microphone in the other hand. It was the finest performance of Karaoke that Julian had ever witnessed, as Matt began screaming the refrain of a beastie boys song, “Sabotaaaaggggeeeee”. Because everyone was so awestruck, by his stature and insanity, nobody had seen the cops come in the front door, wearing looks of utter disbelief on their face, as if they had come upon something so foreign and weird to their experience that they didn’t know how to interact with it. Instead, the stood for at least two minutes watching Matt exorcise his rock and roll fantasy, and Julian laughed at the irony of the chosen lyric, that Matt screamed for one last time, “Listen all y’all it’s a Sabotttttaaggeee”.. As Matt’s final lyrics trailed out of the mike, the cops had been seen, and a lull fit the patrons of the pub like a warm jacket that one wears to steer off the bites of extreme cold. At this, Matt, glanced right to see the cops and with a tone of tragedy, said “OHHH Shhhooootttt”, and slipped down from his gorilla like perch on the bar. Julian couldn’t figure out what was funnier to him, the impish presence of Matt in front of the police getting an earload of laws and by-laws, or Matt’s sudden repentance as he screamed out to his patrons with hilarious condencesion, that was made even funnier by his slurring, “Okay everybody get the hell out, everybody out”, in a way that suggested he didn’t know what they were doing there in the first place, and was angry that they had allowed him to get on top of the bar. It was one of those bizarre surreal experiences that happens every once in a while, that one will never forget, and will constantly refer back to with more and more inflated descriptions of facts and circumstance. The final statistics at the end of the night were: 1 now vomiting boss, 2 violations-1 for fire regulations at the cost of $1000, 1 for smoking rule-$2500 (obviously Matt’s histrionics had been so original and indescribable that it hadn’t yet been covered by the law, except to warrant a resounding “Grow the - up” from one police officer) 500 estimated patrons (exceeded the max by 250), 40 broken glasses, one damaged painting, one blown speaker, two bloody noses (elbowing had unintentionally been added to dance style), one bus tray of broken dishes, several conspicous pools of vomit, and one disgruntled dishwasher-Julian who had to clean it all up. Although Julian was resentful, for his job of clean up, at the same time he loved it, because a work atmosphere like his, was not something that one was usually allowed to witness for free. Hi there, this is an ongoing story that i'm working on regarding various bizarre experiences, experienced while living and working in Vancouver. I apologise if its too long, but i hope there is something there to keep you interested. Please let me know what you think. [This message has been edited by Christopher (edited 01-02-2000).] |
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Marilyn Member Elite
since 1999-09-26
Posts 2621Ontario, Canada |
Welcome to Prose. This was an interesting story. Thankyou for sharing it with us. It is great to meet a fellow Canadian on this board. There are a few of us but I can not think of too many off the top of my head. I will be looking forward to reading more of you. |
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Christopher
Moderator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-08-02
Posts 8296Purgatorial Incarceration |
Very interesting story...LOL< think I've been there! |
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roxane Senior Member
since 1999-09-02
Posts 505us |
interesting, but i think the beginning should be broken up into paragraphs as to make it easier to read. |
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merlynh Member
since 1999-09-26
Posts 411deer park, wa |
Nice story. Bars do get interesting. I'll look for the follow up of this.  |
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