Cleveland is full of whiners (not you, obviously!). I exaggerate, of course. Here is a story that illustrates why I'm making this statement: During Spin the Black Circle, the song that preceded the last song of the first set, I left our seats to use the bathroom and get some more water. And even with earplugs in, Spin the Black Circle is just a little too much for me. Out in the concourse, a fair amount of people were transacting business at the souvenir stands and the concessions areas. Everyone was buying water or soda, because PJ cuts off beer sales right around the time they go on stage. (Which makes me like them all the more; making socially conscious, safe choices. People can get blasted if they want, but PJ ain't gonna hold their hand past a certain point. Plus, they have experienced some concert tragedy, and nothing whips a crowd into a frenzy like some drunk assholes. Anyway. Love the decision.) I cannot tell you the number of people who were grumbling and moaning about no beer, blah blah blah. I'm absolutely certain that people were probably even more vocal earlier in the night (as I said, we were approaching the first of the encores at this point in the show), but still. *Moan moan moan* "What do you mean I can't get a beer??"
The kicker wasn't the beer whining, though, but the water whining. Both of the people in front of me were so RUDE to the woman behind the counter, because she insisted on serving their water to them in plastic cups. (Which is also a PJ decision, because I imagine the band doesn't want those bottles to become projectiles. Regardless of the reason, MANY bands have the same policy, and even more bands insist that the bottles be sold without caps.) The woman in front of me even kept fighting the woman after her boyfriend had paid and their drinks had been served. "This is just a RIDICULOUS policy. I just want a bottle of water. I can't believe you won't let me have a bottle." The woman behind the counter made polite noises, insisting that she would if she could, and so on. When I got up to the counter, she looked harrassed and unhappy (the person in the line next to me, ordering at the same time as me, was verbally accosting his cashier: "Can't you just give me the bottle without the cap? What if I don't bring it on the floor? This is silly. Give me the damn bottle.), and I didn't want to make it worse. I just politely asked for water, and then I said, "But...can you put some ice in the cup?" The woman beamed at me--seriously beamed--and said, I can give you some extra ice if you sip it right now. I declined, but I appreciated the offer.
Here's the thing: have these people NEVER been to a concert? (I suppose that is a possibility. I concede that maybe I'm nitpicking.) I've never seen people who seemed so angry about what is, in my estimation, a pretty common concert policy. And it's just a freakin' bottle of water! Get over it, and leave the poor harrassed cashier, who can do nothing about it, alone. Sheesh.
Oh, and did you ever notice how much old people like Wendy's? I think it's the chili. Every old person in the Wendy's we went to today (in extreme Southern Michigan) had a cup of chili on their tray. I swear. And S said that his grandpa LOVED Wendy's (for lunch or dinner, because they prefer McDonald's for breakfast), and I remember that my mom used to take my grandma there a lot, when we were little. Interesting.
My grandparents (who live in MI) loooovvve Wendy's. It's one of those weird old people things.
Posted by: comebacknikki | May 21, 2006 at 09:00 PM