TC’s Lounge, where you drink with caution
On Friday afternoon, some co-workers and I gathered at a dive bar called TC’s Lounge for after-work drinks. We’d been talking about doing regular Friday drinks for a while, and thought, considering its quietness and proximity to our office, TC’s Lounge would be the perfect regular spot. And it would be, if it weren’t run by an asshole.
We sat in the back, and moved two tables together to accomidate us all. We were there for two and a half hours, from 4 p.m. to 6:30, and ordered four pitchers of beer. We chatted. We laughed. We filled the jukebox. We were, at times, perhaps the only people giving that place business. And when we were done, we got up to leave and ran smack into a 60-something man with his arms crossed, who was short and stocky and bald and very upset.
“What, you’re going to leave the place like that?” he said, clearly pissed and somewhat yelling. “You don’t put things back where they belong?”
We looked behind us. There were the two tables, still next to each other, with some empty glasses and pitchers on them. Pretty standard sight for any bar. I’ve walked away from many such scenes. Tables get moved around in bars. That’s what they’re there for. So, uh: What’s the problem?
We asked: “What?”
“You put things back where you found them,” he ordered.
“Are you kidding?” one of my co-workers said.
“No,” he said. And he wasn’t.
Two of my co-workers went to move the tables apart. “Thank you,” the bald man said in the most condescending way those two words can be spoken, as if he were teaching us a lesson. And then again: “Thank you.”
I was standing next to the bald man at this point, and I thought he needed a lesson of his own. Something about running a smart business. Or not driving away customers. Or not being a dick. I settled on this: ”And you’re welcome for all the money we just spent on beer.”
“Don’t pull that shit on me!” he snapped. “Don’t you pull that shit on me! This is a family business.”
How I weep for his family.
He kept yelling at us, so we all just turned around and left. “We’ll be taking our business elsewhere,” one of my colleagues said as we walked out the door.
And we will. TC’s, don’t pull that shit on me.
mark baard on 29 Jun 2008 at 11:54 am #
sounds awful! some people don’t know how to do business…
john on 29 Jun 2008 at 4:24 pm #
What’s the big deal?
TC’s is a dive bar, but he manages a good dive bar.
You should at least respect his request.
You come in and move shit around and do whatever you want to do, the least you can do is put things back the way you found them.
Quit your bellyachin’ for god’s sakes.
Or, go back to TGIF!
max on 29 Jun 2008 at 4:54 pm #
Get all your co-workers to post a review on the website. Let’s alert the Boston crowd to this jerk!
Largehead on 29 Jun 2008 at 5:50 pm #
Usually it’s just the patrons who can be assholes there. The only bar I ever almost got into a fight at, and I’m not even the fighting kind. It’s more of an old-school place, which I don’t think warrants less respect. It’s actually quite a Fenway institution.
Ari on 29 Jun 2008 at 7:40 pm #
Poor attitude from a business owner should be rewarded with negative feedback from the patrons.
Posting on:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/tcs-lounge-boston
Helps spread the word.
J on 30 Jun 2008 at 3:02 am #
Ari, it’s too bad there’s no way to write about inconsiderate customers who expect far too much and become indignant when others aren’t willing to accommodate their rudeness.
Dawn on 30 Jun 2008 at 7:12 am #
Sounds like “J” does not understand a business model. You make the customers feel welcome, accommodate reasonable requests, appreciate their patronage, make a profit, then reap repeat business and new referrals.
Jason’s blog post is right on!
beth on 02 Jul 2008 at 12:19 pm #
expect far too much?!?!? they expected the owner of an empty bar to take responsibility for organizing his furniture. they didn’t have any more obligation to fix the tables than they did to bus the table and wash the pitchers and glasses.
Connie on 09 Jul 2008 at 9:53 am #
I’m about as anal retentive as one can be and like things to be orderly. I would have put the tables back the way that I found them, but I wouldn’t have cleaned them. I would however have left a small tip and I’m assuming that you all did that too, right?
I do however believe that the owner does not realize the secret to increased revenues from returning customers and word of mouth advertising. He should have let you all leave having had your good time in his bar and welcomed you back again as you left. Being a bar owner, he should actually leave a few tables together to accomodate and welcome larger crowds.
If you really want to get under his skin, keep going back and next time carry in a small suggestion box with some tips for good business practices and leave it on the tables before you go.