One day while sitting in this pub, this guy turns to me to explain that there is no queue for the pool table (we weren't interested anyway) but he then goes on to offer further information about the pub...
He is quite well informed, you see.
he coasters, for instance, he knows, come from New Guinea.
You see, he has to know, cause there are places where the coasters come from Malaysia "sweat shops" where people work for cents, really terrible.
He just won't go into places like those, you see?
I offer that he either visits this bar very often, or has launched an intricate research of the institution. I then ask if he has done any background work regarding the tables, I just happen to know that furniture of this kind is a classic product of under payed slave work. It probably has "Made in Peru" stuck to the bottom.
He looks at me for a second and then agrees it is a very valid point. From now on he will include information of this kind in his research.
I then venture to ask what he does in places of those kind, hold the glass up in the air? and he retorts that that is the obvious course of action, Isn't it?
Then this guys friend cuts in mentioning that he happens to know that this particular table was brought in by workers breaking the strike, which is a very bad thing!
'Terrible', agrees his counterpart.
'Enough change?', he asks his friend as the waiter leaves it on the table.
'yep'.
They get up to leave,
'Social conscience', he says, 'it's a very important thing you know'...
© 1998 by Aner Moss
|
|
|
|
|