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| The Globe Hotel |
Its difficult to know where to begin...
It was immediately obvious shortly after I arrived that working at the Globe Hotel in Cootamundra would be an interesting experience but first let me set the scene. Earlier this year the owner of the pub had been desperately trying to sell his failing business. I'd heard it from some locals that the owner, Dave, was the biggest cunt going (that's a direct quote!). He had screwed over every person that has ever done him a favour and given the pub a bad reputation. I never met Dave so I never got to see what he was like for myself but given the universal dislike of the guy I didn't particularly want to meet him.
I didn't have to. In January he had sold the lease to an islander called Keni. I think Keni himself might admit that it was the dumbest move he ever made. He signed a 15 year contract having never even worked in the hospitality industry before. We think Keni was sort of conned into it, believing he would make a lot of money with it and wouldn't need to put in much effort.
Keni had initially worked 3-4 days a week when he first took over but by the time I got there he was only working Saturday nights. Other than that he would sit at home watching the CCTV and asking stupid questions on facebook like "How much did that guy just put in the POKIES?". I initially felt a bit sorry for Keni after he had landed himself in a bad situation but only a bit and my opinion certainly changed after a while.
I arrived in Cootamundra full of excitement and nervous energy about starting a new job. I met Lauren who picked me up from the train station and took me to my new temporary home. My first impression of the place wasn't great. The bar itself didn't look great and the accommodation left a lot to be desired but these things I can deal with. I met Sarah and she filled me in on all of the above and Dani, the part time waitress, asked me "What the hell are you doing here?" I already did not have an answer to that question! It seemed Sarah and Lauren who were essentially backpackers were running this business.
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| The Bar |
I had arrived in town on an unusually busy day, there was some races on in town and some other sort of event I cant remember the name of. It meant that that first Saturday night was very busy and I enjoyed myself being behind the bar again. It was quite a large building so I imagine it was once very profitable. There's a large outdoor space which must have been quite busy in the summer, a few POKIES machines, a pool table, a dancefloor, a TAB area and a large bar for people to sit at. You also had the restaurant at the back with enough seating for 30 people and 17 rooms in the upstairs accommodation.
Over the next week I began to realise what a strange place this was to work and the enormous amount of things wrong with it. Whilst there was plenty of space there wasn't really anywhere to sit. It was too cold to be outside now and not everyone wants to sit at the bar. The restaurant area would be good but that's only during restaurant hours which was pretty much only when the chef could be bothered. He was already sick of the place and was planning to leave.
The bar itself was the worst looking bar I've ever seen. There was paint peeling off all the walls and it wasn't even nice paint, it was dull grey. The was no display of spirits so anyone looking would have no idea what we sell, just two big blank grey walls. The fridge was way over in the corner where it could barely be seen by the customers. Not that there was much in it. Keni was in charge of bringing the alcohol and in the short time I was there he didn't bring any more bottle beer. People would ask for beers that we wouldn't have and just leave. I told him this but he still didn't bring the beers that people kept asking for. They weren't obscure beers either, they were regular beers that every bar has. The most popular drink from the fridge was the Crusiers so he bought a load of the cheaper version and told us to sell that instead! No one bought any.
This all meant that pub was extremely quite. Only a handful of people would come in during the day and that was for food. It had quite a good reputation for food actually. The prices were cheap enough and it was really tasty. If customers knew about the sheer volume of cockroaches that were crawling all over that kitchen at night then they too might think twice about coming.
We stopped selling the accommodation due to the severe need for restoration. Here too the paint was peeling off the walls, the carpets were smelly and had holes in and the furniture looked like it was Victorian. The plumbing was off too. One of the bathrooms wouldn't work. A plumber had told us the whole lot needs redoing. We had feral cats that kept coming into the building too and leaving turds in the hallway!
So all in all I felt like I was saying 'no' to customers a lot more than saying 'yes'. Meanwhile Keni is sat at home watching the CCTV sending stupid messages like "Why aren't we busy?" He was thoroughly convinced he had no need to be there and that leaving it in the hands of us backpackers was a sure way to make money. Sarah had been there ages and tried her best to do what she could. She had given Keni some ideas to improve the place as did I when I arrived but he was not willing to put in any effort or any money. He flat ignored Sarah when she was telling him because he was too distracted by the rugby on TV.
Up came the second saturday night which I had been looking forward to all week. Finally a busy night I thought. Two very drunk girls came in at 10.30 followed by about 5 guys at 11.30. That was it! I guess following Easter weekend this was to be expected to some degree.
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| Saturday night at the Globe |
My time in Cootamundra wasn't without a bit of fun though. I met the girls one night in Central which is another pub down the road where we had a few drinks before going back to Kane's place and played singstar till 5am!
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| Penis drink |
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| Cheers |
My car was finally fixed so on my day off at the end of the second week I went and collected in from Mittagong. The weather was nasty over that way but I hadn't realised the worst storm in a decade had hit the coast just north of where I was. I hastily drove back to Coota where it was dry and not so windy.
Into the third and unexpectedly final week and it all got very interesting. Keni messaged Sarah on the Sunday telling her that two managers would be starting tomorrow and we should show them around. This we did explaining all the areas for improvement and the ideas we had. Within about 5 minutes the guy, Ash, said "clearly the problem is Keni" to our immense relief.
It turns out though that they hadn't actually excepted the job yet, they had just come for a look around. When the other potential manager, Lindy, said "we think you should stay", which was followed by an awkward silence, Keni's master plan unraveled and blew up in his face. He had already said that "you's aren't making any money" blaming us for the fact that his business is failing. The potential managers didn't take the job, they practically ran away but not before telling us what Keni had told them. They were supposed to come in, fire us and replace us.
We found this extremely offensive, especially Sarah who had been there for 4 months doing Keni's job for him. We didn't say anything to him until the next day when he rang up and told us to show around a new potential manager. Sarah lost it. She asked him if this was another attempt to replace her and started packing hers bags. She quit but Keni was messaging me saying she was fired and that I needed to do her shift. I asked him the same "is my job safe or you just keeping me on because you have no choice?"
Sarah was leaving, the chef too had brought forward his plans to leave and was already packing up his car. I initially decided to stay thinking I'll just keep taking his money, but for how long? He was going to have me replaced without even talking to me. It was such a sly and underhand move. He's the most incompetent manager I have ever come across. He wouldn't even last at employee level in this industry. I decided I couldn't keep working for him just waiting for him to pull the rug out from under me and I packed my things too.
He knew that we were all going and told us he was on his but none of us wanted to be there when he did. I chucked all my stuff in my car as quickly as I could. Sarah paid us the wages we were due before officially resigning and we left.
I've never been in a situation like it and hope that I am never in it again. Leaving like that is something I have never done, I am not a quitter but I am better off out of it.
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| Back in the car |
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| Bye Coota |
Looking back now I do regret the way that I left. I don't regret leaving but walking out is not really my style. Perhaps I should have worked the rest of the week but maybe if I didn't do it that way then I might have wasted more time there. It is what it is.
Since I left Keni lost his license because of a previous assault charge. You can't have a license with a criminal record. He's just set up a barbers. WTF?! The last I heard the pub is shut but the restaurant is still open. Mind them cockroaches folks!
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