Once off the stage, how you act still counts
One of the worst things you can do as a band member is wrongfully accuse a bartender of stealing. This happened recently at one of my favorite bars in Hoboken, The Goldhawk. I have been going there for a while now and never have I heard of any indiscretions by the staff. But mistakes can happen and there is a proper way to sort out a situation.
Case in point; one night a band (who will remain nameless) finished a pretty impressive performance. They brought an interesting new sound to these walls and everyone here seemed to enjoy their set. I spoke to the members afterwards and wanted to show them some support on my site. So I took their business cards, talked music and felt good about these people. That is until a few moments later.
Sitting out in the front bar, I noticed a bit of a commotion between a girl from the band and one of the bartenders. She was upset about a bit of missing money. It was the money she was paid to play here but, instead of asking if anyone in the bar or anyone in the half dozen or so people in her band had seen it, she walked up to the bartender, pushed her finger in his face and proclaimed, “You took my money off the back bar!”
Our bartender was understandably offended by this. As he tried to explain to her that he did not swipe any money off of the back bar since it was closed already at that point, her accusations grew louder. She stomped out of the bar only to return in shame moments later when the inevitable was discovered. One of her band mates had pocketed the money so it would not get lost. Her pathetic attempt at an apology was a simple ‘thumbs up’ gesture in the general direction of the bar before she finally left.
Sadly this little outburst has wiped my memory of how good they were. Now when I see pictures from the night or hear their name, all I remember is this little scuffle. It will also not help when they try to come back to play again. If nothing else I hope a lesson could be learned from this. How you act toward the bar staff off stage often reflects on you more than on stage.
If you ever find cash or equipment missing, no matter what your suspicions may be, you need to ask politely if anyone saw anything. Nine times outta ten the bar staff is innocent and will work with you to find you missing items. Don’t be that guy or gal that gets blacklisted because you failed to think before you acted.
