Bringing Musical Instruments to a Restaurant

[TheGeneralPublicSucks]

Don't do it.

This idiot last night let his kids play a freaking harmonica all throughout dinner. Other tables were obviously confused and upset by it. I could hear it from like 8 tables away! What is going to happen next year when the kids discover a trumpet?!

Even worse, the kids kept dropping it on the floor, which was loud as hell too.
Even better, each time they dropped it, they picked it up and put it right back in their mouth. Might as well skip a step and just lick the floor.
Excellent parenting all around by this gem of a person.

[Jester]

This reminds me of many years ago, when I was working in a corporate chain restaurant, and this guy brought in a portable keyboard and was playing it while drinking at the bar. The manager, a friend of mine, told him several times to stop it, and to stop harassing the customers, as I think he was not only annoying them with his musical repertoire but by asking them for money/tips (though I could be wrong on that last point). When he persisted, and ignored my manager's instructions, my manager told him he was done, and to pay the tab.

Naturally this fuckwit didn't have the money to pay said tab.

Hilarity ensued.

Manager called the cops. Cops came. Cops talked to manager and musician. Cops assessed the situation. Cops arrested musician. Everyone laughed--except musician. Story made the local paper's "crime report" a few days later.

I tried finding said crime report online, but just couldn't find it.

Might as well skip a step and just lick the floor.

Don't give the kid any more ideas! He's fucked up enough already, don't you think?

[RecoveringKinkoid]

It's times like these that it would be really handy to have a set of Scottish greatpipes in the trunk of your car.

[Argabarga]

I remember not too long back that my Mom invited me to breakfast at a high-end (well, higher than most) hotel, which made the unfortunate decision to place a piano in the hallway just outside the dining room. A very expensive and well-tuned piano I might ad, probably, if you made arrangements, someone skilled in actually playing this instrument for your enjoyment would do so.

Sure enough, one of the clueless people in line in front of us though it would be just wonderful for their 3 year olds to POUND on this instrument as if it was a AA-operated "My first Keyboard!" from Fisher-Price

We just bit our lips in abject horror, not wanting to make a scene.

Fortunately, someone in line with the onions to do so did, and the manager quickly threw the brats off the stool, seriously people, I have enough ammunition there for 10 different rants, doesn't anyone have any class anymore????

Forget that, how about shame?

[chainedbarista]

arga, sadly, no is the answer; no shame and no courtesy.

Might as well skip a step and just lick the floor.

something tells me he already does...

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

It's times like these that it would be really handy to have a set of Scottish greatpipes in the trunk of your car.

Reminds me of what I did once.

My first new car had a decent stereo installed from the factory. The speakers rocked and the sound quality was awesome. Sadly however it lacked a CD player. So I went to a local Car Audio store and I bought a CD Changer for the trunk. Since the stereo didn't have inputs for an auxiliary device, I had to get the FM Modulator that hooked up into the antenna jack.

It's similar to the little gizmo's you can now get for iPods , but instead of doing it wirelessly it did it through the antenna cable.

Mine was for some reason...overpowered. The range is supposed to be limited to the cable itself and to the stereo itself. Mine had a range of 30 feet and could down out the signal of all but the most powerful station transmitters. So I could force someone else to listen to what I was listening to if I tuned in their radio station on the unit.

So I was driving along and I'm stuck at Rail Road crossing with a massively long and slow moving train. The car to my left has on some (c)Rap music and is blaring it so loud that *my* rear-view mirror is vibrating from it. They cut to a commercial and I got to hear the station that they were on. So I dialed in their station, selected "The Rogues" and let it rip.

The look of confusion on the faces of the two "Hip-Hop-Homey-wannabes" was priceless as they were trying to figure what in the unholy hell that screeching, wailing, three cats in a tumble dryer-like noise was.

[Argabarga]

That was just freakin awesome Mongo

Not to drive this off-topic, but, back in the 70's when the CB radio craze was at it's height, my family lived next door to a gas station where all the mechanics had (likely illegaly-boosted) CB rigs in their cars, so much so that trying to listen to the radio at our house resulted in their voices talking over the signal

Alas, the grease monkies had made a fatal mistake, Father was an electronics engineer.

He built a multi-frequency jamming unit and used the house's wood stove chimney flue as the antenna

We never heard from the CB boyz ever again

[wraiths_crono]

Here quite a few times I have seen people bring in their guitars, or worse: portable drum pads (the multi pad kind..) bah!

Reminds me of what I did once...

Mine was for some reason...overpowered. T

You too hmm? Tho mine was playing the Japanese Teen Titans intro. lol

[bhskittykatt]

The only time customers should be allowed to bring in instruments is during Open Mic Night. The rest of the time, management should not hesitate to boot them out.

Mongo, you totally pwn!

[Chromatix]

"Anything will fly if you strap a big enough engine to it." - re. the F4 Phantom.

"Anything will radiate if you strap a big enough resonance tuner on it." - Ham radio guys everywhere.

[protege]

something tells me he already does...

The kid probably licks the school bus windows as well

[MoonCat]

Coulda been worse. He could have had a kazoo.

[TruthHurts]

It's not just restaurants and bars these people show up in. We had some guy comes into the grocery store with a guitar. A guitar that he strummed and sang (badly) for the whole 20 minutes that he and his girlfriend were shopping.

He wouldn't even stop once they got to the counter to pay.

[Argabarga]

It's not just restaurants and bars these people show up in. We had some guy comes into the grocery store with a guitar. A guitar that he strummed and sang (badly) for the whole 20 minutes that he and his girlfriend were shopping.

He wouldn't even stop once they got to the counter to pay.

Was he trying to get his groceries....

For a song?

[Micer]

It's not just restaurants and bars these people show up in. We had some guy comes into the grocery store with a guitar. A guitar that he strummed and sang (badly) for the whole 20 minutes that he and his girlfriend were shopping.

He wouldn't even stop once they got to the counter to pay.

Why does this give me the mental image of a folk singer narrating his shopping trip in song? "Goooing... down the bread aisle... makes me haaaappy. Goooing... down the next one for some eggs.... "

Crap, now I have John Denver singing in my head.