Thursday, August 6, 2009

Girly the Beer's bad




As some of you know, I grow up in a small country town and live in a hotel for a time. The whole family work in the Pub and we have regular’s that make working there fun. As I was only seventeen and I should not have been working the bar as I was under age, but being six foot tall and local girl I got away with it.
Mt Magnet is a gold mining town in Western Australia, on Friday the mine close down at noon and most of the men would head for one of the three pubs.
Now most of the men were good, they would drink slow and have something to eat, but you always got one or two who would hit the beer and you would have to cut their beer off because they got too full and very loud.
One Friday I was working the bar, with Anne and Dad, one of the men Peter, had been there from noon and was very loud and very full, as he was in my bar I need to cut his beer off, so as was custom, I pull him a beer set it on the bar in front of him and said “This is your last Peter”, much to his horror.
But Peter being Peter could not just go home, he took a mouth full of the beer I had give him, cough and splutter and yell very loudly, “Bloody hell, what are you doing girly, try to kill me with a bad beer, this beer’s off”.
Now the call of bad beer always silences the bar, as it did this day.
My Father walk up to Peter, pick up his beer, had a mouthful, and look at me saying “He right, the beer’s bad, get that keg off now "and off Dad when to the cool room and unspeared the keg as Anne and I close taps down. You could hear the whoosh of the spear coming out all over the bar.
By now Anne and I are trying hard not to laugh as we had a fair idea what was what was going to happen.
Dad yell for the pipes to be wash out with water to get rid of the bad beer, and water flow, then he yell for them to be drain of water for the new keg.
Dad voice could be hear all over the bar, there was a shout of “Beers coming girls” as the spear could be heard going into the keg with the same whoosh as when it come out, follow by “Is it flowing yet”.
Then Dad was back behind the bar “Susan pour the man his beer”, I pour Peter his new beer put in front of him with the words “How is it Peter” he took a mouth full and said it was good ‘In fact it’s the best beer I’ve had had all day”, I said ‘Well that good because it still your last”, the look of horror was back on his face as he left the bar telling the blokes coming in the door he was being kick out by the girly.
Now this is how it when, Peter bad beer was also the best beer he had had all day, how can this be.
Easy Dad had taken spear out of and speared the same keg. The men and Peter in the bar heard the whoosh of the spear coming out and saw the water come out of the taps and then heard the spear going back in and that all they care about, not one of then got up to see what was going on in the cool room.
Dad knew the beer was good because when he run the keg line’s in the morning’s he was always in the habit of try it because he knew what a bad beer call could do. What happen was all for show and as always it work just fine, and everyone when back to having a beer and a chat like nothing had happen.
S.M Mac Arthur©

1 comment:

  1. Great story, Sue! I tended bar for a while myself and Dad did for the best part of 30 years, both while he was still in the Navy and after he retired. I have a few bar stories as welll but it'll take some dooing to clean 'em up enough to post.

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