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I have been inspired by "Grrrrrrr"'s post about his elderly customers not respecting his personal space to post this.
This dates back to when I worked in that club in Italy - a huge source of SC stories.
Facts to be remembered while reading this story:
- two doors away from our club there was a strip club. They opened at 11.30pm, we opened at 9.30pm
- we had a policy to allow people who were not resident in Italy to access the club without a membership card. However, if there was a live concert, they would still need to get a ticket
- there was a lorry (truck for those in the US) deposit nearby
So, we open; there is a live concert at 10.30.
Minutes after we open (9.30-ish) a man arrives. He is much taller than I am (I am about 1.83 - 6 foot tall) and quite "big" as well (I am overweight, he was... more). He was wearing an undershirt and shorts. And was extremely hairy, too. I quickly identify him with a lorry drivers who had left his vehicle at the nearby deposit and was dropping by for a quick beer before going to sleep - we had many of them and even had an agreement with the deposit to concede them a discount if they wanted to eat (we served hot sandwiches and toasties).
I stop him on his way in and ask if he has a membership card; he manages to explain me, using a lot of English, a bit of Italian and snippets of his native language (I will not mention his country of origin to avoid possible racist or ethnic implications, just know that I can not speak a single word of his native language), that he is foreigner and shows me his passport. I manage to explain him that he is welcome in the club with the "foreigners' temporary pass" that I was already handing him but that if he wanted to stay past the start of the concert, in one hour, he would have to buy a 5 Euros ticket. He manages to say that he won't stay because he intends to go to the strip club as soon as it opens. I explain that our concert started at 10.30 and the strip club opened at 11.30, he says that he'd go to his lorry and take a nap, everything is fine. He drinks a couple of beers, has some food and leaves before the concert starts, when we tell him that he couldn't stay if he didn't want to pay. No issues there.
At 11.30 he comes back, saying that he had not been admitted to the strip club because he was poorly dressed - which admittedly he was. So, he says, he wants to stay in our club. I explain him about the concert, he decides that he doesn't want to stay for it but seems seriously upset for that. As soon as the concert is over some time after midnight, he comes back in - he probably had been waiting outside the door all the time. He is allowed in (we closed at 2am) and sits on his own at a table near the door - and therefore near me. Mind, when working at the door we had a high table and high stools so we could be relatively comfortable (well, at least seated) and at eye level with the customers walking in. So, this man was sitting kinda next to me but with his face at the level of my bum.
He starts trying to make conversation, I am not too cooperative because I was kinda busy - and also because I couldn't really understand him - but I try to answer, more or less. When the creepy part happens.
Him: "Do you know where I can find sex? I have money, I can pay"
Me (taken slightly aback): "No, not really"
Him: "Come on, you are from this town, you sure know!"
Me: "Well, you can sometimes see... "ladies" waiting for customers near the motorway exits, I don't know much more"
Him: "You must know! Where do you find sex?"
Me (taken EVEN MORE aback): "Well... I have a girlfriend" (which was not true at the time, but I never paid a "lady of the night" anyway)
Him: "Come on, I am lonely, can you tell me where to find sex?"
Me (slightly upset now): "Honestly, I have no idea!"
The conversation carries on like this for a bit longer - remember, he was still sitting on a chair much lower than where I was sitting.
Then I start feeling a hand on my backside.
I jump up, mostly in surprise. I see him looking at me with a very surprised expression. I even think that maybe it had not been him but some particularly weird "goose walking on your grave" feeling.
Him: "Come on [he liked to say "come on"], you are a nice man"
Me: "I don't know if I am nice or not, but I know that I am asking you to leave now."
Him: "Come on, it was only a joke, I am sorry"
Me: "OK, let's say it was a joke - I didn't like it, at least please go sit somewhere else"
Him: "But I am lonely, I don't know anybody here"
Me: "You don't know me either. Please go sit somewhere else"
Him: "You don't like me because I like men instead of women" [by the way - the strip club he wanted to go to advertised shows "for men". But anyway]
Me: "I don't care if you like men or women, I just don't like the fact that you touched me. I wouldn't have liked it even if you had been a woman"
At this point the Awesome Boss, having overheard what I was saying, comes near. He doesn't say anything, but he is a big man too.
Him (still the creepy man, not the Awesome Boss): "OK, I go away, but you are a bad person" - and, thankfully, leaves and doesn't come back.
I had to explain the whole story to the Boss, and admittedly I chuckled too while telling it, and decided not to report the guy to the Police or anything, but we put him on our blacklist (remember, to give him a "foreigners' day pass" I had to get his details). Apparently he never reappeared anyway.
This dates back to when I worked in that club in Italy - a huge source of SC stories.
Facts to be remembered while reading this story:
- two doors away from our club there was a strip club. They opened at 11.30pm, we opened at 9.30pm
- we had a policy to allow people who were not resident in Italy to access the club without a membership card. However, if there was a live concert, they would still need to get a ticket
- there was a lorry (truck for those in the US) deposit nearby
So, we open; there is a live concert at 10.30.
Minutes after we open (9.30-ish) a man arrives. He is much taller than I am (I am about 1.83 - 6 foot tall) and quite "big" as well (I am overweight, he was... more). He was wearing an undershirt and shorts. And was extremely hairy, too. I quickly identify him with a lorry drivers who had left his vehicle at the nearby deposit and was dropping by for a quick beer before going to sleep - we had many of them and even had an agreement with the deposit to concede them a discount if they wanted to eat (we served hot sandwiches and toasties).
I stop him on his way in and ask if he has a membership card; he manages to explain me, using a lot of English, a bit of Italian and snippets of his native language (I will not mention his country of origin to avoid possible racist or ethnic implications, just know that I can not speak a single word of his native language), that he is foreigner and shows me his passport. I manage to explain him that he is welcome in the club with the "foreigners' temporary pass" that I was already handing him but that if he wanted to stay past the start of the concert, in one hour, he would have to buy a 5 Euros ticket. He manages to say that he won't stay because he intends to go to the strip club as soon as it opens. I explain that our concert started at 10.30 and the strip club opened at 11.30, he says that he'd go to his lorry and take a nap, everything is fine. He drinks a couple of beers, has some food and leaves before the concert starts, when we tell him that he couldn't stay if he didn't want to pay. No issues there.
At 11.30 he comes back, saying that he had not been admitted to the strip club because he was poorly dressed - which admittedly he was. So, he says, he wants to stay in our club. I explain him about the concert, he decides that he doesn't want to stay for it but seems seriously upset for that. As soon as the concert is over some time after midnight, he comes back in - he probably had been waiting outside the door all the time. He is allowed in (we closed at 2am) and sits on his own at a table near the door - and therefore near me. Mind, when working at the door we had a high table and high stools so we could be relatively comfortable (well, at least seated) and at eye level with the customers walking in. So, this man was sitting kinda next to me but with his face at the level of my bum.
He starts trying to make conversation, I am not too cooperative because I was kinda busy - and also because I couldn't really understand him - but I try to answer, more or less. When the creepy part happens.
Him: "Do you know where I can find sex? I have money, I can pay"
Me (taken slightly aback): "No, not really"
Him: "Come on, you are from this town, you sure know!"
Me: "Well, you can sometimes see... "ladies" waiting for customers near the motorway exits, I don't know much more"
Him: "You must know! Where do you find sex?"
Me (taken EVEN MORE aback): "Well... I have a girlfriend" (which was not true at the time, but I never paid a "lady of the night" anyway)
Him: "Come on, I am lonely, can you tell me where to find sex?"
Me (slightly upset now): "Honestly, I have no idea!"
The conversation carries on like this for a bit longer - remember, he was still sitting on a chair much lower than where I was sitting.
Then I start feeling a hand on my backside.
I jump up, mostly in surprise. I see him looking at me with a very surprised expression. I even think that maybe it had not been him but some particularly weird "goose walking on your grave" feeling.
Him: "Come on [he liked to say "come on"], you are a nice man"
Me: "I don't know if I am nice or not, but I know that I am asking you to leave now."
Him: "Come on, it was only a joke, I am sorry"
Me: "OK, let's say it was a joke - I didn't like it, at least please go sit somewhere else"
Him: "But I am lonely, I don't know anybody here"
Me: "You don't know me either. Please go sit somewhere else"
Him: "You don't like me because I like men instead of women" [by the way - the strip club he wanted to go to advertised shows "for men". But anyway]
Me: "I don't care if you like men or women, I just don't like the fact that you touched me. I wouldn't have liked it even if you had been a woman"
At this point the Awesome Boss, having overheard what I was saying, comes near. He doesn't say anything, but he is a big man too.
Him (still the creepy man, not the Awesome Boss): "OK, I go away, but you are a bad person" - and, thankfully, leaves and doesn't come back.
I had to explain the whole story to the Boss, and admittedly I chuckled too while telling it, and decided not to report the guy to the Police or anything, but we put him on our blacklist (remember, to give him a "foreigners' day pass" I had to get his details). Apparently he never reappeared anyway.
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