Dilemma.
Tuesday 3 April 2007
Earlier in the week a chap pulled me to one side at the bar and asked me to keep an eye on his "mate". Except, the reality was he'd only just met him, but in that drunkard way that we all do, they were now very close. Well, the guy's story was pretty tragic - his new best friend had very recently lost his wife in a car accident and he wanted me to keep an eye on him as he was going at it pretty hard. No problem, I said. The guy then added that I might want to keep an eye on him as well as he was an alcoholic. He was very drunk, but he then laughed it off and said he was only kidding.
No problem.
Well, he's been very drunk every night this week and it's pretty blatantly fucking clear that he is an alcoholic. Better, his entire family appears to be either taking the same express train or already at the fucking station.
The thing is he's an incredibly pleasant guy; he's not offensive, bad mannered or aggressive in any way. He just takes forever to get out of the club.
His wife is a pisshead too, and while he's quite animated and talkative, by midnight she just sits there like a zombie. We had to kick his eldest son out earlier because he was absolutely wasted but still trying to get drinks at the bar - again, like I wrote a few posts back, it didn't help that despite being told not to one of the barstaff was either still serving him or turning a blind eye when somebody paid for his order. The last straw was when he downed a double-Sambuka/Red Bull right in front of this barman and I had to cart him out. He went pretty amicably, but Jesus Christ - way to make our job more difficult.
Now, the alcoholic guy's eldest daughter is about 15-16 and one of those girls who is always wearing some skin-tight, barely-there number that pushes her tits up to her eyeballs and her arse halfway out of her shorts. She's pleasant enough but struts around the complex like she's what everybody came to see. As a result, all the 15-21 year old blokes there hit on her 24/7 which pisses her dad off to the nth. It can be a pretty lewd place at times and he's already had to tell a few chaps to fuck off. The reality is, of course, that if anybody wanted to have a serious go at her or she wanted a crack at them by midnight he's too far gone to do much about it anyway. She could be shagging ten blokes a night on the dancefloor and I'm not sure he'd really notice.
He also has a 4-year old daughter, and this is really where my problem is. As said, tonight both he and his wife were completely gone and as usual were the last family left in the club after closing time. So it's about 1.30am and his wife has been escorted out of the bar by an also-pissed owner and taken him. Meantime, he's left with his sleeping 4-year old and he has to get her home. He has to carry her home, basically. We can't do it. If he'd have been in a coma in the floor we'd have had to do something, but legally we're taking on all kinds of risk if we offer to pick her up and walk her back to his pitch.
So, one of the guys cleared a huge walkway between the chairs and tables for him to take her home. He woke her so he could put her coat back on - believe me, it was fucking freezing outside tonight - and then watching him take about fifteen minutes to tell her it was OK while she cried constantly and then prepare himself to lift her was one of the most tragic things I've ever seen. We made sure he made it out OK and he seemed like he had his balance under control, but Christ... these are not things you really should be privy to. And I don't just mean that in an eyewitness sense - what has that guy's life come to that tells him it's OK to be the only person left with his 4-year old daughter in a club at 1.30am in the morning, and he's pissed out of his fucking skull?
posted by Sheamus @ 2:36 am
