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Brown hares boxing
© Russell Savory
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I have been a regular at our local pub for twenty nine years. In that time I have hardly ever seen any trouble. Mostly people get on nicely - enjoying their chosen tipples while they socialise and relax. Essentially, it's what pubs are for.
Habitually, I rock down there late on a Thursday night for three or four pints of Tetley's bitter and a chinwag with Bert and Steve and sometimes Danny. We are peace-loving friendly fellows united by our distaste for dog dirt, litter, Donald Trump, waste plastic, televisions in pubs, braggards and Brexit. When we leave we have put the world to rights again and we say good night.
No trouble. However, this Thursday night there was trouble, involving a young Irish barman who has been working at the pub for the past eighteen months. Let's call him Patrick.
Patrick is six feet four and a rugby player. For a few months he had a sweet and attractive girlfriend who was almost a foot shorter than him. Around ten thirty on Thursday night she came back to the pub and asked Patrick if it would be okay for her to bring her new boyfriend in for a couple of drinks.
Patrick agreed with a charming smile. Clearly he had remained quite smitten.
All was fine for the first ten minutes but then the new boyfriend got up to visit the lavatory. This involved passing the doorway that leads behind the bar. It was a bad move because at that very moment, his face red with rage, Patrick burst from behind the bar and assaulted the new boyfriend, his fists flailing like the sails of a windmill in a gale.
Luckily, three other blokes leapt in to separate the combatants and the new boyfriend was bustled outside. Meantime the sweet girlfriend who had got up to see what the hell was going on was also attacked by Patrick and again people had to step in. I guess that young lass will never again be physically attacked by a six foot four Irish rugby player. It was not nice to see.
In 1697, the English poet William Congreve wrote:
Heav'n has no Rage, like Love to Hatred turn'd,
Nor Hell a Fury, like a Woman scorn'd.
He had clearly never encountered an enraged Irish barman who'd been dumped by a pretty English maiden.
I have not been back in the pub since that trouble but I would say this in conclusion. If my son Ian had been that new boyfriend I would have been straight on to the police urging them to arrest Patrick for common assault. After all, youthful love affairs come and go. And if I had been the pub's current manager/landlord I would have sacked Patrick on the spot but I am guessing he will be back behind the bar when I next pop in - on Sunday evening. After all, it's a mad world.
No one called the police? After Patrick assaulted the new boyfriend AND a woman? Wow.
ReplyDeleteIf Pat loses his job he can always come to the US and find a great position with lots of power! Maybe even the Supreme Court!
I think he'd be more even-handed than Kavanaugh.
DeleteI hate violence. I hate it. It's horrible.
ReplyDeleteIt would seem to me that a bar man with anger issues shouldn't be kept around.
I agree with you Ms Moon. That young couple did not deserve what was meted out on Thursday night - especially from someone who was meant to be "in charge" of the bar.
DeleteWow. Some idiots can't do the right thing even when the opportunity is handed to them on a platter. "Let's see, should I be nice and make a good impression on my old girlfriend and everyone else, or should I just act like a primitive dolt and lose it all?" At least in your country there is no easy access to guns, or it could have been even worse.
ReplyDeleteYou make a good point about guns Jan. Thanks for calling by again.
DeleteGood grief, and after she went to the trouble of checking with him if he'd be okay with it. Not that she should have needed to, but she went out of her way to try not to give offense. Has Patrick ever shown an inclination to violence before? (Is this the barman you wrote about not long ago, one who was acting inappropriately in his job, maybe drinking too much, if I recall correctly?)
ReplyDeleteNo Jenny - that guy is the manager! Patrick appears like a gentle giant with a deep and broad Irish accent but I had already sensed there was a bit of an "edge" to him. I taught several boys like him in my career - having only the appearance of extinct volcanoes.
DeleteOh my, if I was attacked after doing nothing to provoke it I would call the police as well. I hope the young couple was okay. No doubt they won't be back.
ReplyDeleteI guess that a veil will be pulled over the incident Bonnie. If there's a follow up chapter I will let you know.
DeleteI probably would have avoided taking my latest boyfriend there period.
ReplyDeleteThere are plenty of other pubs why risk an upset, sounds like her and the Irish lad were pretty serious at one point.
Jo
I agree with you Jo. Arguably, the girl should have been aware of Patrick's explosive potential.
DeleteAnd to add, some girls would stir the pot by going through with this, just to get a reaction from the ex.
DeleteSigh.
The girl may or may not have known Patrick's potential. It can take a very long time to learn those things.
DeleteAnd let's not name her a troublemaker or yet again we favour the man simply because he has a penis
I have no idea what you mean by that last remark Kylie.
DeleteI would also think that the ex girlfriend made a very foolish choice to bring the new guy to the pub. These scenes are very sad.
ReplyDeleteNot just sad Red. If you punch someone and they hit their head on something hard - like a table top - they could die!
DeleteHe needs to lose his job. Pub owner could be sued too I would think.
ReplyDeleteI agree but it is likely that the couple who were attacked will bot go to the trouble of pursuing the matter. However, I hope that one of them has a parent like you or me.
DeleteI was going to say that if you'd been a regular at that pub for 29 years it might be time to go home. But then your post got serious. Patrick needs to control himself and save his violence for the rugby field.
ReplyDeleteThough rugby is a tough game, punching opponents should not happen. However, if I was playing rugby against you Mr C, I might make an exception!
DeleteNot that I condone fisticuffs...or any such violence, but it sounds like that young lass is a bit of a trouble-maker herself. I'm sure there is another pub she and her new boyfriend could visit rather than her parading him in front of her ex-boyfriend.
ReplyDeleteYour antennae have made an accurate connection. As he was working, Patrick never expected that this might happen.
DeleteHe should be fired. Absolutely. I do question her judgment in wanting to bring her new boyfriend there, but nothing justifies his behavior.
ReplyDeleteFOUR DAYS LATER - The couple who were attacked have been barred and Patrick still has his job! Madness!
Delete