MASTERS OF HAPPY HOUR
Cover Story / THE SUNSET SOTS MAKE A LIFE OUT OF DRINKING CHEAP
you might think getting 86′d will never happen to you. You might be the kind of patron that bartenders and bouncers alike love to see, because you’re friendly, easy-going, tip well and never cause a problem. But circumstances sometimes spin out of control and you may find yourself lumped in with the rest of the rabble-rousers. Just ask Ron Savoy, morning bartender at The Hideaway.
In four and a half years, Savoy had only seen 12 fights in his establishment. Sure, there have been arguments and close calls before, but punches are rarely thrown, partly due to Savoy’s knack for diffusing situations with a mix of humor, intelligence and patience. But even he has his limits.
‘One morning, I had three fights break out withing the first five hours after we opened,’ Savoy says. ‘And I warned everybody, telling them if there was one more fight, I was going to clear out the entire bar. They knew I meant it, but within the next hour, there was another fight. I told everybody–and there were about 25 people here–that I had had it, and everybody had to get out, right now.
‘I didn’t get one argument,’ he says. ‘You would expect that people would protest, or insist they didn’t deserve being tossed out but instead they got up, and made their way to the door. One guy has been coming here for 20 years, and he’s never been a problem. He had just arrived when this happened and he didn’t protest either. He just took a last sip from his Miller Lite, put his bottle down on the table and walked out. The people who were sitting at the bar, people who weren’t even involved actually tipped me, which I still find funny.’
Savoy locked the front door and spent the next hour sweeping the floor, prepping the area for the next bartender and finally reopened for the last hour of his shift.
‘It was like I flushed the toilet,’ he says. ‘All the crap just washed away and I could feel the breeze coming through, the sun seemed to be shining a little brighter, and I swear I could hear the birds chirping outside.’ –D. C.
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