The youngish guy with the sleepy eyes says he knows people who can beat down this owner, no problem.

The young bartender with the tattoos and the streaked hair from a bottle came in a few days ago. Her boss had been pressuring her to have sex with him for her to get more and better shifts. Now, she tells us that she has quit her job at that dive bar near downtown.

Commiseration is expressed; her drinks are paid for. Commiseration with drinks bought for you is a sign that people take your situation seriously. You don't get drinks bought for you just because the wife is being bitchy again. Sometimes, in that particular situation, some people are secretly siding with the wife. Not every guy in the bar is blameless. Imagine that. So: Commiseration, and commiseration with drinks bought for you, there is a difference.

Someone mentions that she should sue her boss for sexual harassment; she shakes her head. It is he-said/she-said, she says, and people probably won't sympathize with the girl with the tattoos and the streaked hair from a bottle. Besides, who has money for a lawyer? And what would she win, anyway?

She continues to say she can't make a big deal about this: other bars aren't going to hire a woman who made sexual-harassment claims about the boss of her last bar. Heads nod; more drinks are bought.

The youngish guy with the sleepy eyes says he knows people who can beat down this owner, no problem. A lot of guys in a bar might bluster and say this kind of thing; the sleepy-eyed guy actually does know people like that. He is a business man whose real job does not match the occupation he puts on his tax forms.

She declines, but in a way that appears like she really does take into serious consideration the idea of her boss being beaten. You can practically see the little devil on her shoulder, whispering to her. There is probably the corresponding little angel on her other shoulder, but you can't really see him: you just have to assume he's whispering to her, too.

The concept of Karma is tossed around a bit. But I don't think Lennon's Instant Karma is going to happen anytime soon. The boss might have a heart attack in a few years, but that probably won't be karma, just bad lifestyle choices. Unless you consider that to be karma for living a life of bad lifestyle choices that include using your power to try to pressure a young girl into having sex with you. Then: sure.

-  james james

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