As per TABC law, all drinks are supposed to be off the floor at 2:15 AM
anywhere that serves alcohol.
So at 2:15, I do my usual - I turn the house lights up, and start walking
around, telling people to finish their drinks because I have to take them.
One guy who comes in every so often is drinking a hurricane, and he always
brings in those stupid little light up ice cubes for whatever reason (I've
never seen him set a drink down, so it's not to differentiate it from all the
others, that's for sure).
Anyways - I tell him he needs to finish his drink, as I have to take it from
him. He doesn't have a problem with this, so he puts a napkin down on the
closest available surface, and pour out the remainder of the drink on the
napkin (not a huge amount, but enough to soak my fresh bar rag), to get his
cubes out.
Therein lies the problem: The closest available surface was a VERY expensive
speaker. Here's the exchange I had with him:
Me: Hey buddy, I it's 2:15, I gotta get all the drinks up, go ahead and finish
it but I have to take it. [I'll give everybody a few seconds to finish their
drink]
Him: That's cool, I was already done with it. Let me just get these out of
the glass.
*pours drink onto the speaker*
Me: Dude, don't do that, those speakers are expensive, use a damned table! [I
know I shouldn't have cursed, but I was pissed off]
Him: Well you told me you wanted the glass, I had to get my ice cubes out!
Me: So let me get them for you, don't pour it out on the speaker like that!
And from there it just got into a yelling match. I could have been a bit
calmer, but it was the end of a VERY busy night and I was dead tired and
running on pure adrenalin. Should I have worked a little more to keep my
cool? He's not a real regular, I wouldn't recognize him if not for the fact
that he uses those damned ice cubes, so I'm not hugely concerned about him not
coming back in - but should I have been more professional? The way I see it,
his actions could have been DAMN costly for the club, and my immediate
reaction is to stop him if possible, and if not, correct his behavior so it
doesn't happen again.
Sorry for the long post - ideas?