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Lost some long time regulars Saturday .... One of my regulars got into an argument with the manager of the place Saturday and was "escorted out"  and told not to come back!!!     The manager of this place SMOKES inside at his "table" in the bar.
Saturday the only table OPEN was the one next to him.  When the regular asked him not to smoke , an argument pursued with the manager calling the police to have him removed as he refused to leave. SMOKING INSIDE IS ILLEGAL in NJ .
So the bottom line is the manager has the right to NOT SERVE anyone and the customer can file a complaint against the manager for smoking inside.

The bar and bartender lose out because their group of 4 won't be back and they were STEADY every week customers ( and singers).     ADD to the list of
"DUMB AND MORONIC MANAGERS "  LMAO

I just lost some regulars at my show. What I didn't know is that they are "snowbirds";  they're here in FL for the winter gone back north after Easter.

It's going to hurt!

Hurts to lose those regulars - I lost a couple of regulars last Friday because he tends to over-consume when permitted. Interestingly, he is a veteran who is on some pretty heavy meds and adding alcohol to his meds, like with a lot of meds, increases the effects of the alcohol. Other thing is, he's a bit of a clown before he drinks anything anyway. Just stings. We work hard at building a following, get it going, and then a fit of anger causes them to shout loudly, "I'm NEVER coming back to this place." They always say, "It's not because of you...we love you. It's this place. They cut me off!"  End result is owner and we both lose.  

k

A year and a half ago my home room hired a new manager who started out a real nazi. He was a personal friend of a new owner and supposed to be a part of a transition team for the whole complex. Among other things he was searching personal items like purses and pool bags, and driving off whole groups of regulars that I had worked hard to get.

The deal fell through. We still are owned by the family that built the place. And get this... the manager was retained by them and he's turned out to be a real asset. He got out of the Dockers, got into the vibe of the place, loosened up, learned people's names and how to make them feel welcome when they come in.

Jam's story makes me dread January 2009 when the no smoking law takes effect in Oregon. It's not going to be pretty.

Bill: It sounds like you have a similar crowd to our Monday night crowd - I think they'll come to grips with just going outside to smoke - in spite of the weather. You'll just have a constant crowd moving in and out of the place, but it sounds like you have a great show and they'll continue coming. They can't go anywhere else and smoke, can they??  :no:

When NJ first went smoke free there was a slight dip in crowd size - but now its back to normal - the biggest thing to get use to is 1 second you look up and the bart is packed ..you turn around and 90% is outside smoking ---they seem to ALL go together  LMAO

Looks like MI is pushing the non-smoking thing too...it passed the Senate, now onto the House.  Don't bother me, I HATE smoking to the nth degree, but I still believe that it's total BS.  Maybe we'll get some of the 'snowbirds' back here....hehehe, I'm hopeful!  MrD

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[highlight=midnightblue]MrD - KJ/DJ Specialist
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Don't dread the no smoking thing, as with all things (breathing, walking, biking, driving) people get used to it.  It's not that big of a deal after awhile.  I think most people that have gone through it will agree.  Takes a little adjustment, but it becomes habit - just like smoking.

I've got some regulars I'd like to lose, they drive people away.  Anyone want them?  I've got three of the worst singers ever, and I'm too fair to say anything, or mess with their slips - one of them queues the whole bar sometimes to go outside to have a smoke (we're used to smoking outside now).   They are extremely faithful and I love them for it (even if one of them is a shadow of me all night long).  He sings a lot of 80s rock, which I love, sucks that he butchers them.  :)

On a side note, I picked up a gig for Saturdays at one of the eight bars in town.  Thought it was going to bite the bullet, but it was actually the best night they've had in months.  My system sounded better than at my regular gig, the light show was more effective, and the singer placement to the crowd was better for showmanship.  They had two bartenders on staff and both made out well.  Had a great night.

I did mess with one slip at that show though.  One of the three that I mentioned above has started singing 'Bed of Roses' by Bon Jovi.  It's an old Statler Brothers song.  A real 6-7 minute yawner.  Well, we had a good energy going on Saturday and there were an exorbitant number of babes in the joint.  I didn't want to snooze them out.  So when it came time for this girl to sing the Bon Jovi song, I asked her if I could swap it out for another song she knows, 'Georgia Rain' by Trisha Yearwood, or something like that.  She looked puzzled, but did it.  I think she forgot that used to be one of her favorites.  It was still a snoozer, but much less of one.  Afterwards, I said 'Thank You' and she said, "Oh yeah, you're 'Bed of Roses' has a skip or something, huh?"  I just went with that.  

The owner of my regular gig - her husband just sold his share of the new gig's bar to his partner.  I asked her if she had a problem with me doing the show at her husband's old place (didn't know if there was bad blood), she said "No".  So I had no problem taking it on.  They were in attendance for a good portion of the show.  Think they were a bit surprised at how well it did.  I think at least, he, was hoping for a crappy night, because he just sold because the place was going down.  I could bring that place back to when they used to ROCK with karaoke.  The old karaoke guy moved on long ago.  The last karaoke guy they had literally killed the karaoke scene at that place.  Guess not all shows are the same.  Cha!!!!  Oh, and I'm getting my high end (for this town) normal fee, and stipulated up front if I brought the crowd back a raise was warranted (which he agreed to), so I planted the seed beforehand which I always think is a good idea.

[glow=blue]we haven't lost any regulars so far. Our owner put a wood burning free standing stove outside on the patio. and colo winters are cooold! but...its pretty toasty when he gets it roaring. I do feel like in HS again though.  And he and i are smokers....oh well..you do what ya gotta do huh?[/glow]

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I never knew BonJovi's "Bed of Roses" was the same as the Statler Bros.  I don't believe their (Statler's) version is very long.  Unfortunately, the Statler Bros. can be hit or miss, depending on the crowd.   I do several of their songs, including "Bed".  I hate "flowers"  

Sorry, back to the original thread.

Yeah, I'm a bit confused too--I thought they were 2 different songs w/the same title!

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Maybe they are ...   I assumed.  Yawn Yawn Yawn

It's always sad to see regulars go, but that is just part of business. I've seen my crowd turn over several times in the years. People come and go for all kinds of reasons. I love when they come back to visit especially when sometimes I haven't seen them in 5 yrs or so because they've moved out of state etc...

I feel for you that this was a bad exiting with nothing to do with you. It won't be long though and some new people will be filling their shoes.

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I saw a similar situation occur once where a group of regulars would order drinks, but one of the people at the table decided to order water.  The owner decided to charge for the water.  The table got up and left and never came back.  They had been a steady source of business for this bar.

Somtimes the owners are right.  Justice?  Mercy?  Too much of one, not enough of the other?    And what if the ego gets in the way?  Or worse, the eggo?  Of course if the eggo gets in the way, you are probably at a waffle house, not a bar.  Karaoke and Belgian waffles...Strawwwwberry fields foreeeever!

That reminds me of something I wanted to say to ericlater:

Eric, when you and Robin were here visiting a few weeks ago, did you notice that at the first place where we went, they were a lot quicker about refilling your drinks than they were about refilling my glass of water?   I noticed that--I wonder if they had a problem with my "only" ordering water to drink, even though I had gotten food there as well?  (BTW I did tip the bartender when I ordered the water.)

A brief explanation for the rest of you:  Since we were planning to go to 2 places, I decided to order food at the 1st one and not order alcohol until we got to the 2nd place.  That way I would be buying something at both of 'em and I wouldn't have too much to drink.

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Laura

Please recall that the 1st place we went to has the snack bar (that we ordered the food from) which is completely separate from the bar.  I know that's the case since Robin & I had two separate bills.

Welllllll yeah, you're right...

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two replies in one:
1. I'm in Illinois and the smoking ban went into effect this year.  I love it as I am not a smoker, but I live near the Illinois/Indiana border.  You can still smoke in Indiana.  Guess what.....quite a few regulars from my normal hangout in Illinois can now be found over the border as regulars at other bars where they can toke up inside the bar.  It is hurting some of the Illinois bars near the border.

2. Lost regulars...here is a twist.  I was a regular at a karaoke show.  There was a great bartender that had been there for years.  New manager comes in....Nazi ruler...old bartender is very unhappy and pretty much driven out.  He leaves, new bartenders come in.  Business slows in the bar, now there is no longer Karaoke. We stopped up there last weekend and the new manager still doesn't get it.  About 10 people that I heard ask came in looking for Karaoke, not including our group of 8.  Some people really know how to F' up a good thing.

I would try to find out where the bartender and KJ went. Chances are other people have gravitated to where they are.  :D

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