I went to a pub last night, and thought I was in for a good night when I got a bingo card. Sadly it wasn't a bingo card, but a reminder of how much I'd ordered. There are several things I didn't understand about this card.
1/ This open bookkeeping can't be in the pub's best interest. Surely either the drip-drip approach of ordering one drink after another, none of which costs much, or the drink-all-you-like-and-hand-over-your-wallet-at-the-end approach would extract more money. Being told exactly how much you've spent after every drink is rather annoying.
2/ 'Kein Eintritt' literally means 'No Entrance': You can't come in. But I was already in. Should I go out again? I decided to stay, as they probably meant 'Eintritt Frei', which is 'Entrance Free'. But they should have said so.
3/ The font used was Comic Sans, or something very similar.
4/ So there is no entrance fee, and no minimum order (kein Mindestverzehr). When did pubs in working-class towns like Bochum start expecting people to pay to go in to a pub, or tell them how much to order? It really was just a pub. No dancefloor, no DJ, nice dark furniture, a billiard table, all the usual pub stuff. The next time I go in, I will walk up to the bar, put on my best Father Dougal accent and ask "Would you like some money?", then follow up with "Is it alright if I order just the one pint, or should I start with a dozen?. I don't want to be putting you out there".
5/ What other things don't they have that other pubs don't have? No entrance fee, no minimum order, no cock-fighting, no fat naked men. Maybe it's too much psychotherapy, but why not advertise with what you do have. Freibad - Cold beer and hot food, solid dark furniture, friendly service and a bit of music. Had they said that I may have stayed for another beer.
3 comments:
These cards are very common in portugal. I never quite understood what's the idea of them in a bar, in a club or disco they may be fine. Differently to Bochum the bars in portugal sometimes had ridicolous minimum consume implied, which of course was illegal but, hey, why not try...
Probably just a sign that they have waitresses to stupid to count, do not trust their guests to count their beers and are not rich enough to get one of these wireless things which usually are carried around by brainless automatons who usually forget to bring your beer.
cheers mate,great blog, liked it very much!
i use to fold the card right at the beginning so that only thing you see is the backside.
now when ordering something liquid you can easily hand out folded card to barkeeper/service-guy. he/she will take care everything is going smooth. never watch inside folded card unless you want to pay. then pay, tip, enjoy!
cu
Thankyou for your comments! I will keep writing the occasional post, and will try to do some interesting things and remember to write about them.
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