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Alcohol you later
Updated On: 14 February, 2021 10:39 AM IST | Mumbai | Anju Maskeri
Now that bars are back to business with the usual deadline, Mumbai is likely to drink it up. Which made us ask bar management about how they handle drunks. P.S. All stories here are true
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Illustration/Uday Mohite
This writer was recently at a Lower Parel restobar with friends, and, like most insufferable Instagrammers, wanted a group picture taken. But the steward politely refused. They didn’t have permission to. It turned out that an unpleasant experience had led to the decision. An inebriated customer slapped a waiter because he took a “bad picture”. The owners, we are told, ensured that he apologised later, but after much embarrassment.
As guests, we might cock a snook at someone at the neighbouring table for drinking and showing off. For a hotelier, it’s a tricky situation to be in. “People are unpredictable when drunk. No rules of human behaviour apply. You can’t always go by the rulebook; sometimes, you have to play it by ear,” says Arvind Shetty, owner of Hotel Two Star in Kalina. At his bar, which has been around for over 30 years, Shetty has seen umpteen cases. Some, though, have been particularly memorable. “Once, we had this customer who must have weighed 150 kg. After drinking two quarters, he slumped on the seat and dozed off. Our waiters, who are incidentally all short and skinny, tried to wake him, lift him, unsuccessfully. I began to whisper in his ears, pleading, ‘Sir, please wake up. You can do it. Please.’ He groaned. By then, we were the source of entertainment for the hotel. And, after what felt like forever, he slowly hauled himself up. We got the claps
and cheering.”
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