Bar Tales

04/12/08

Not much to report of late. I'm still trying to motivate myself into looking for work teaching English. I did have a possibility of work recently. It was in a bar called Revolution. The deal was I would work two days a week and for that I would get free accommodation upstairs over the bar. A sweet deal I thought as accommodation is one of the main drains on finances. The bar is run by a very attractive girl called Anandi. It is owned by a guy called Alex but in my head I called him David Brent (from the office) as like Brent he has an inflated ego and is really quite irritating after about 30 seconds.

I worked one night and was told by Anandi that I did okay for the first night. I asked about the room. I was told that they would like me to work another night before they decided to go ahead with the agreement. They would definitely let me know after the second night.

I turned up for my third day of work, Anandi said she was happy with my work but that Alex wanted me to work another two nights before he came to a decision. I pre-empted him by deciding there and then that I wasn't going to work for him. I spent the next four hours drinking free beer as a way of payment for my two nights work.

Later, Alex called to the bar and I could see that he was wondering why I was sitting down at a table drinking beer rather than working. I called him over for a little chat. He admitted that I wasn't what he was looking for, he was looking for someone with a bit more 'pep' (translates as someone younger) he said he was sorry that it didn't work out but that Anandi wasn't really happy with my work. (I know who I believe). He insisted on buying me a beer. I accepted his kind offer but wasn't too sure if I could fit it in after the ten other beers he bought for me that he doesn't know about.

As I said there is nothing else really to report. I did witness something the other day that I found amusing. There is a bar around the corner from the guesthouse I am staying in. The bar is called 'Chilli's' and is a very well run girly type bar. When I arrived there were two British guys aged around their mid-fifties sitting at the bar. I sat at the far end of the bar and was just in time to see the drama unfold. When they received their bill one of them absolutely exploded with rage. He tried to climb over the bar and attack the owner. The owner (a German bloke) gave as good as he got and they wrestled a bit with armlocks and that sort of thing for a minute or two. Two of the girls jumped into the melee and eventually the angry Brit was lead from the bar by his mate who looked more resigned to being caught out and learning from the experience rather than getting into a punch up with the owner and the now attendant Cambodian security guard. The angry Brit left but not before calling the owner every bad name under the sun, with special emphasis on the 'c' word. He also promised he would be back to burn the place down.

After they left I got talking to the girls, two of which were quite drunk. Apparently the guys had been there for the last four hours and had insisted on buying the girls drink too. In this type of bar when you buy a girl a drink it costs the same as any other drink but with an extra dollar on top of the price. This extra dollar goes to the girl as a tip. The upshot of this was that the two guys were presented with a bill for 164 dollars. The average bill a customer will pay in a place like this is between 5 and 10 dollars.

Afterwards I walked home to my guesthouse and on the way stood against a wall waiting for two Cambodian guys to stop kicking the shit out of each other in the middle of the street. There was a large crowd around them and I didn't fancy walking through it. After a few minutes the fight had moved over to the far pavement and I was able to pass by unscathed.

So now folks it is coming up to make or break time. The funds have nearly disappeared and if I want to stay on here I will have to get some work soon.

Watch this space...