Work Matters

The Meanest Bartender in San Francisco

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supermoxie

in

At this point, we certainly don't need any additional evidence that people get VERY worked-up about assholes, but I can't resist this fantastic post on SF Gate (the San Francisco Chronicle website) by Harmon Leon on "Who are the meanest bartenders in San Francisco?"  The best part is the comments, a whopping 468 for a rather sleepy part of blogging universe.  This post is brilliant and very funny.  For example, consider this excerpt:

The award for the all time meanest bartenders in San Francisco has got
to go to the crew at the Zeitgeist.
Besides scowling things like, "F-ing yuppies," if someone with a shirt
with buttons orders a drink, there is always an unpleasant sort of
life-has-kicked-them-in-the-nuts, unhealthy tweaker vibe when you when
you try to order a drink.

One time the bartender threw my change at me because I left her 4
quarters as a tip for a beer. (That still equals a dollar, right?)
Serious issues. Extra points for the bouncer always doing my favorite
non-ironic, closing time speech: "Last call! Drink `em up! You don't
have to go home BUT YOU CAN'T STAY HERE!"

I love this, it reminds of a now long dead but famous San Francisco waiter Edsel Ford Fong who was the star attraction at rather mediocre Chinese restaurant.  You went there for his brilliant and funny insults.. I once asked him for a fork, which he turned into a public shaming ritual as he made me walk and get it myself while he taunted me for my disrespect of him, his restaurant, and all Chinese people on the planet.  He is immortalized  at the San Francisco Giants lovely ballpark, where there is a Chinese restaurant named Edsel Ford Fong.

Under the right conditions, a professional asshole can be a lot of fun. 

Comments

16 responses to “The Meanest Bartender in San Francisco”

  1. DC Jobs Avatar
    DC Jobs

    Sounds like a charmer! I think I’m going to try this routine the next time I sit down for a job interview. Thought I get the feeling that this is approach that requires a bit of practice before it is perfected.

    Reply
  2. DC Jobs Avatar
    DC Jobs

    Sounds like a charmer! I think I’m going to try this routine the next time I sit down for a job interview. Thought I get the feeling that this is approach that requires a bit of practice before it is perfected.

    Reply
  3. DC Jobs Avatar
    DC Jobs

    Sounds like a charmer! I think I’m going to try this routine the next time I sit down for a job interview. Thought I get the feeling that this is approach that requires a bit of practice before it is perfected.

    Reply
  4. DC Jobs Avatar
    DC Jobs

    Sounds like a charmer! I think I’m going to try this routine the next time I sit down for a job interview. Thought I get the feeling that this is approach that requires a bit of practice before it is perfected.

    Reply
  5. DC Jobs Avatar
    DC Jobs

    Sounds like a charmer! I think I’m going to try this routine the next time I sit down for a job interview. Thought I get the feeling that this is approach that requires a bit of practice before it is perfected.

    Reply
  6. DC Jobs Avatar
    DC Jobs

    Sounds like a charmer! I think I’m going to try this routine the next time I sit down for a job interview. Thought I get the feeling that this is approach that requires a bit of practice before it is perfected.

    Reply
  7. DC Jobs Avatar
    DC Jobs

    Sounds like a charmer! I think I’m going to try this routine the next time I sit down for a job interview. Thought I get the feeling that this is approach that requires a bit of practice before it is perfected.

    Reply
  8. DC Jobs Avatar
    DC Jobs

    Sounds like a charmer! I think I’m going to try this routine the next time I sit down for a job interview. Thought I get the feeling that this is approach that requires a bit of practice before it is perfected.

    Reply
  9. Scott Underwood Avatar
    Scott Underwood

    I went to Sam Wo’s with a small group once, it must have been in 1982. Ford pointed to a booth that still hadn’t been cleaned of plates, etc., got mad when we hesitated, and made us stand and watch the busboys clear it.
    Then, as we were sliding in (giving my date a squeeze) he loudly asked, “What you want?” When we asked for menus, he went to get them, then slammed a pad and pencil down, saying, “Write down your order. And add it up!”
    We were all laughing, and it really just seemed like a performance, though he never broke character. The other waiter was named Leaky Pan, as I remember.
    On the other hand, Zeitgeist’s people definitely have it in for the clueless and unready. Do not whine to the cook, do not order a cosmopolitan, and generally try to be prepared with your order and your money. Get a beer, a whiskey, or one of their excellent Bloody Marys, and get out of the way.

    Reply
  10. Scott Underwood Avatar
    Scott Underwood

    I went to Sam Wo’s with a small group once, it must have been in 1982. Ford pointed to a booth that still hadn’t been cleaned of plates, etc., got mad when we hesitated, and made us stand and watch the busboys clear it.
    Then, as we were sliding in (giving my date a squeeze) he loudly asked, “What you want?” When we asked for menus, he went to get them, then slammed a pad and pencil down, saying, “Write down your order. And add it up!”
    We were all laughing, and it really just seemed like a performance, though he never broke character. The other waiter was named Leaky Pan, as I remember.
    On the other hand, Zeitgeist’s people definitely have it in for the clueless and unready. Do not whine to the cook, do not order a cosmopolitan, and generally try to be prepared with your order and your money. Get a beer, a whiskey, or one of their excellent Bloody Marys, and get out of the way.

    Reply
  11. Scott Underwood Avatar
    Scott Underwood

    I went to Sam Wo’s with a small group once, it must have been in 1982. Ford pointed to a booth that still hadn’t been cleaned of plates, etc., got mad when we hesitated, and made us stand and watch the busboys clear it.
    Then, as we were sliding in (giving my date a squeeze) he loudly asked, “What you want?” When we asked for menus, he went to get them, then slammed a pad and pencil down, saying, “Write down your order. And add it up!”
    We were all laughing, and it really just seemed like a performance, though he never broke character. The other waiter was named Leaky Pan, as I remember.
    On the other hand, Zeitgeist’s people definitely have it in for the clueless and unready. Do not whine to the cook, do not order a cosmopolitan, and generally try to be prepared with your order and your money. Get a beer, a whiskey, or one of their excellent Bloody Marys, and get out of the way.

    Reply
  12. Scott Underwood Avatar
    Scott Underwood

    I went to Sam Wo’s with a small group once, it must have been in 1982. Ford pointed to a booth that still hadn’t been cleaned of plates, etc., got mad when we hesitated, and made us stand and watch the busboys clear it.
    Then, as we were sliding in (giving my date a squeeze) he loudly asked, “What you want?” When we asked for menus, he went to get them, then slammed a pad and pencil down, saying, “Write down your order. And add it up!”
    We were all laughing, and it really just seemed like a performance, though he never broke character. The other waiter was named Leaky Pan, as I remember.
    On the other hand, Zeitgeist’s people definitely have it in for the clueless and unready. Do not whine to the cook, do not order a cosmopolitan, and generally try to be prepared with your order and your money. Get a beer, a whiskey, or one of their excellent Bloody Marys, and get out of the way.

    Reply
  13. Scott Underwood Avatar
    Scott Underwood

    I went to Sam Wo’s with a small group once, it must have been in 1982. Ford pointed to a booth that still hadn’t been cleaned of plates, etc., got mad when we hesitated, and made us stand and watch the busboys clear it.
    Then, as we were sliding in (giving my date a squeeze) he loudly asked, “What you want?” When we asked for menus, he went to get them, then slammed a pad and pencil down, saying, “Write down your order. And add it up!”
    We were all laughing, and it really just seemed like a performance, though he never broke character. The other waiter was named Leaky Pan, as I remember.
    On the other hand, Zeitgeist’s people definitely have it in for the clueless and unready. Do not whine to the cook, do not order a cosmopolitan, and generally try to be prepared with your order and your money. Get a beer, a whiskey, or one of their excellent Bloody Marys, and get out of the way.

    Reply
  14. Scott Underwood Avatar
    Scott Underwood

    I went to Sam Wo’s with a small group once, it must have been in 1982. Ford pointed to a booth that still hadn’t been cleaned of plates, etc., got mad when we hesitated, and made us stand and watch the busboys clear it.
    Then, as we were sliding in (giving my date a squeeze) he loudly asked, “What you want?” When we asked for menus, he went to get them, then slammed a pad and pencil down, saying, “Write down your order. And add it up!”
    We were all laughing, and it really just seemed like a performance, though he never broke character. The other waiter was named Leaky Pan, as I remember.
    On the other hand, Zeitgeist’s people definitely have it in for the clueless and unready. Do not whine to the cook, do not order a cosmopolitan, and generally try to be prepared with your order and your money. Get a beer, a whiskey, or one of their excellent Bloody Marys, and get out of the way.

    Reply
  15. Scott Underwood Avatar
    Scott Underwood

    I went to Sam Wo’s with a small group once, it must have been in 1982. Ford pointed to a booth that still hadn’t been cleaned of plates, etc., got mad when we hesitated, and made us stand and watch the busboys clear it.
    Then, as we were sliding in (giving my date a squeeze) he loudly asked, “What you want?” When we asked for menus, he went to get them, then slammed a pad and pencil down, saying, “Write down your order. And add it up!”
    We were all laughing, and it really just seemed like a performance, though he never broke character. The other waiter was named Leaky Pan, as I remember.
    On the other hand, Zeitgeist’s people definitely have it in for the clueless and unready. Do not whine to the cook, do not order a cosmopolitan, and generally try to be prepared with your order and your money. Get a beer, a whiskey, or one of their excellent Bloody Marys, and get out of the way.

    Reply
  16. Scott Underwood Avatar
    Scott Underwood

    I went to Sam Wo’s with a small group once, it must have been in 1982. Ford pointed to a booth that still hadn’t been cleaned of plates, etc., got mad when we hesitated, and made us stand and watch the busboys clear it.
    Then, as we were sliding in (giving my date a squeeze) he loudly asked, “What you want?” When we asked for menus, he went to get them, then slammed a pad and pencil down, saying, “Write down your order. And add it up!”
    We were all laughing, and it really just seemed like a performance, though he never broke character. The other waiter was named Leaky Pan, as I remember.
    On the other hand, Zeitgeist’s people definitely have it in for the clueless and unready. Do not whine to the cook, do not order a cosmopolitan, and generally try to be prepared with your order and your money. Get a beer, a whiskey, or one of their excellent Bloody Marys, and get out of the way.

    Reply

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