Doesn't make it any less annoying.
There is this troubled college bar in town that keeps getting liquor license violations - over-serving, underage drinking, etc. There were sorority girls puking in the street outside every night of the weekend. The cops basically park a car outside. They got their license suspended at least twice.
One of our bartenders has been working in our building for 11 years. He also worked at said "troubled college bar". We opened when they were closed on suspension, so he was glad to have the work. When they re-opened, he went back to his shifts there. They fired him for supposedly trying to poach employees. Not true, but we were the new bar in town so every bartender was putting in applications. Most bartenders work at 2-3 different places.
Then, on our re-opening New Year's Eve, one of the owners/owner's sons comes in to visit and "check out" our place. Shortly afterward, they get slapped with their third violation for underage drinking, and are forced to close for 30 days and find a "new owner" buyer in 30 days. Majority owner transfers ownership to her son, it seems.
It re-opens as the misguidedly-named "Wall Street". And the bartenders are wearing the same uniforms ours are. OK, we think, some desperate person steals the NYC theme and uniforms, but it's still the same shitty place. The only thing that's changed is the sign and the uniforms. Still full of Miller Lite neon signs and all that garbage. And probably the same people.
Last night, I am training a bartender, and the "new owner", who is all of 24, comes in. He proceeds to tell us that he is fighting underage drinking by allowing no t-shirts or sneakers, and thinks he can get the cops off his back via "The strictest dress code in Fort Collins". He says, "Yeah, it's totally different! I have my bartenders wearing black shirts with red ties and suspenders..." - he says to my bartender who is wearing a black shirt with red accessories. We are flabbergasted. THEN he announces, "The place is going to be red. I'm just waiting on my red chandeliers to arrive." I am stunned and look at him in disbelief. I asked, "Like that one?" pointing to our chandelier. He says, "No! Ours are RED! Completely RED!" He doesn't get it.
He then says proudly, "My mom was going to buy me a house, and then I said, no, mom, I've always wanted to own a bar, so she said, I have this cute bar in Fort Collins if you want that, so she gave it to me." Like that's something to announce to people. Strangers, even.
He asks me if I am "one of the owners", and I say yes. He probably assumes there's no way I could have done that whole renovation and concept myself. I also want to fly under the radar, but he seems rather forthcoming anyway. No poker face here. He tells me he's from Arizona. After a while, not sure how it comes up, he asks me, "Are you from New York?", and I say yes. He stops, and gets his check.
One of our bartenders has been working in our building for 11 years. He also worked at said "troubled college bar". We opened when they were closed on suspension, so he was glad to have the work. When they re-opened, he went back to his shifts there. They fired him for supposedly trying to poach employees. Not true, but we were the new bar in town so every bartender was putting in applications. Most bartenders work at 2-3 different places.
Then, on our re-opening New Year's Eve, one of the owners/owner's sons comes in to visit and "check out" our place. Shortly afterward, they get slapped with their third violation for underage drinking, and are forced to close for 30 days and find a "new owner" buyer in 30 days. Majority owner transfers ownership to her son, it seems.
It re-opens as the misguidedly-named "Wall Street". And the bartenders are wearing the same uniforms ours are. OK, we think, some desperate person steals the NYC theme and uniforms, but it's still the same shitty place. The only thing that's changed is the sign and the uniforms. Still full of Miller Lite neon signs and all that garbage. And probably the same people.
Last night, I am training a bartender, and the "new owner", who is all of 24, comes in. He proceeds to tell us that he is fighting underage drinking by allowing no t-shirts or sneakers, and thinks he can get the cops off his back via "The strictest dress code in Fort Collins". He says, "Yeah, it's totally different! I have my bartenders wearing black shirts with red ties and suspenders..." - he says to my bartender who is wearing a black shirt with red accessories. We are flabbergasted. THEN he announces, "The place is going to be red. I'm just waiting on my red chandeliers to arrive." I am stunned and look at him in disbelief. I asked, "Like that one?" pointing to our chandelier. He says, "No! Ours are RED! Completely RED!" He doesn't get it.
He then says proudly, "My mom was going to buy me a house, and then I said, no, mom, I've always wanted to own a bar, so she said, I have this cute bar in Fort Collins if you want that, so she gave it to me." Like that's something to announce to people. Strangers, even.
He asks me if I am "one of the owners", and I say yes. He probably assumes there's no way I could have done that whole renovation and concept myself. I also want to fly under the radar, but he seems rather forthcoming anyway. No poker face here. He tells me he's from Arizona. After a while, not sure how it comes up, he asks me, "Are you from New York?", and I say yes. He stops, and gets his check.
You can't fake New York, as evidenced by their choice in the wildly-politically and socially-unpopular namesake. Maybe they think Gordon Gekko was real (He was, but I doubt the kid knows who Ivan Boeski is). No one can successfully execute a concept that is not your own, which is what I learned from my 15 years in the advertising world. People can small an imitation also-ran a mile away. It also will lack conviction. Not that 19-year-olds will care if they can get served by wearing dress shoes and a button-up shirt.
I'm not worried about this place. I'm just annoyed. But just like its predecessors, it's only a matter of time until this place goes away. I doubt the kid's mom is Charles Foster Kane.
Imitation is the only option for those who have no ideas of their own. Now if the kid starts up a Kowalskis clone, I might have to hurt him. ;-)
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