No Longer Being Paid To Be Nice

Me: “It’s 10.50 pm, so last orders, please!”

(Ten minutes later:)

Me: “It’s 11.00 pm. That’s time at the bar now!”

(I go about closing the bar, cleaning, sweeping, taking out the trash and cashing up. Four customers who’ve been chatting for several hours over one and a half beers and lots of glasses of tap water ignore me as I clean around them and tell them that I need to take their glasses.)

Me: “It’s 11.45 pm. Come on. Everyone’s gone, the bar is shut, and I’m not being paid to be here any more. Will you please just go?”

Customer: “I can’t believe how rude you’re being! Let me talk to your manager!”

(They explain how rude I was when I asked them to leave and how I had claimed that I wasn’t being paid to be polite to them now.)

Manager: “He’s right. We’ve been closed for nearly an hour and none of us are being paid to be here now. So get out!”

(I thought I might have overstepped the mark but it’s good to know your manager’s got your back!)