Power

I read a book on Bill Graham, the guy behind the Fillmore and Winterland in San Francisco. One of the interesting anecdotes was his opinion on the tours by Led Zeppelin and ZZ Top. In short, he called both touring groups assholes. They were drunk with money and power and chose to use it like a club. If you've ever seen Zeppelin's “The Song Remains the Same” movie, you'll see Zeppelin's giant manager, Peter Grant, using his size and aggression to shake down some guy selling knock off Zeppelin tee shirts. After reading that, it hit me just who they were (not the band members specifically, but the touring teams and management).

They turned into bullies apparently. What I know of bullies is that they have been oppressed most of their lives by someone and the second, the second they attain any power, the jerks use it on others like it was used on them. Totally classless. The trick to power is to use it sparingly and lightly. These morons use it like an axe handle. That's the difference in character.

You had to have seen this and I hope you're not one of these people. If you've gone to any event, restaurant or bar and have had server wait on you, you've seen some person order the server around like a slave. They get off on it. When I hear people say they don't go out to eat for the food but the “service,” I begin to wonder about them. A waitress once told me the worst customers are three older women in their late 50's at a table. She couldn't explain it but that demographic seemed to enjoy shoving her around like a poor Cinderella.

Once I was witness to some guy bullying a waitress at a Chello's not far from here and I nearly turned around in the booth and call him an asshole loud enough to alert everyone in there. He can push her around due to her fear of losing her job, but not me! I didn't. Perhaps I should've. Sometimes I really do love f'ing with people.

I did hear this story though from a maitre'd who, let's say, worked in a Parisian restaurant in downtown Providence sometime in the past 10 years. He said on every Friday night, this well to do person would come with his wife to eat there. On every Tuesday, he'd show up with his much younger mistress.

Now this guy knew the maitre d wasn't stupid and decided to bribe him for his silence. Every time they entered the restaurant, the guy would shake hands with the maitre d and in that handshake, a bit of money would change hands. The total amount of that money? A one dollar bill. The maitre d said he just kept quiet and thought the guy a liar and a chintz to top it off. “I've seen enough married businessmen take their “girlfriends” here enough times, it's part of the life of running a restaurant.”

But..

One night, apparently the guy shows up with his young babe and stewed to the gills. The guy became more drunk and started to abuse the staff, ordering them around for this and that. He was sending food back to the kitchen, raising his voice and acting like a young child. The maitre d' just managed to keep the peace within the room by catering to this spoiled brat's behavior. Once the meal was over, the bill paid and the couple left, the maitre 'd told his waitstaff to “keep things in hand” as he needed to leave for a bit.

He left, but only to follow this guy's car through Providence to the entrance ramp by the mall. Once on the highway, he called 9-1-1, got ahold of the state police and reported a “very drunk driver” headed north on 95. He kept behind a few car lengths to track him and within minutes, two state cop cruisers pulled the guy over. The maitre d' then drove back to the restaurant.

“I don't think we'll be seeing him much more” he told the waitstaff.

I'm told the guy was nailed with a blood alcohol content that was stupendous. The other trick to this, the state couldn't prove just where he had gotten all that alcohol and couldn't nail the restaurant for serving him to begin with. I don't know if his wife found out about the little vixen that was with him.