Stories from the pub - Sam and his ruined life

I was thinking about continuing to introduce the life of a bartender, more precisely, sharing my own experiences and stories.

A lot of things have happened to me in 10 years. I have seen loves being born, families falling apart, lives being ruined. I live in a small town, here every pub has regular guests and although of course strangers also come into the pubs, most of the time we can see the same faces every day. This has both good and bad sides. If every day the same people are guests after a while the bartender will know almost everything about each of them. This is good because a friendship is established, the working days are spent as if we are simply spending our time with a group of friends every day. Sounds good doesn't it?

But it can be very stressful nervously. Think about it, everyone tell you all their problems, their joys, their frustrations, their secrets. Secrets are the worst. And of course the contradictions between the regulars. You have to listen to the views of all parties but you have to remain impartial.

But let’s turn back a bit to where I mentioned how many things I’ve seen over the years, and the topic of these right now is going to be how life is ruined.

6 years ago, a 26-year-old boy entered the pub door. I don’t know if he remembers that day, I don’t know if he regretted stepping in that door, I don’t know if his life would have turned out differently or not. But that day his story began.

So he (let’s call him Sam, but that’s not his real name) walked in the door and greeted one of the regulars he already knew. Sam introduced himself to the other guests as well and told us that he had recently moved near the pub. He was a nice boy, he had a good job, a happy relationship. He soon became friends with the other guests and with us bartenders as well. He told me that he used to drink beer at home sometimes while cooking, but he loved the people in the pub so he came many times. The other regulars were 35-45 years old at the time and many of them had already broken their marriages or were single and sat in the pub until closing after work. Of course, that doesn’t mean they were bad people, they just had no reason to hurry home.

And they often made fun of Sam for going home to his girlfriend earlier or when Sam talked about buying something for his girlfriend. He told me that he was very saddened that they were making fun of him for that. Because of this, after a while, he preferred to stay in the pub until closing, when the others told him, "Why are you rushing home? The woman is the boss? Drink another beer." 

This led to the fact that due to the too much time spent in the pub, his relationship broke down and his girlfriend left him. 

After the breakup, he spent even more time in the pub, but he was still a nice, helpful boy. Whoever asked him for anything he always helped. Sometimes he even went to the playground with the kids of the other guests or bought them ice cream. It may sound strange, but it wasn't. 

But he was too lonely without his girlfriend, drank more and more, was drunk more and more and showed signs of alcoholism over time. For example, when the pub closed in the evening, he went to the gas station to continue drinking. And the worst of all is that he went there by car, drove the car drunk. He was already drinking at the gas station and was often a jerk to the staff.

One of the girls working there called the police, and when Sam drove home from the gas station, the police catched and took his license. I mentioned at the beginning of the story that Sam had a good job. What was his job? He was a driver. So the next thing was that he also lost his job due to drunk driving.

And nothing stopped him on the slope. He was constantly drunk, talking roughly to the bartenders, sometimes even throwing his glass at the counter if he didn’t like something. He shouted at the pub door to people walking down the street.

He was still happy to help everyone, but his help was no longer helpful. One of the guys asked him to help him pack furniture when the guy and his family moved into his newly renovated new apartment. Sam went there to help, but sprinkled the freshly painted wall with some drink. He was drunk as always.

I last saw him a few months ago, he was drunk even then. He had a job, but he also drank while working. He didn't have a girlfriend.

Closing thoughts

It’s a terrible feeling to watch someone’s life start on the slope and there’s no stopping and you can’t help it. We have tried countless times with his friends to convince him that he needs to change his life. When he is sober he realizes that we are right, but the next day he continues everything where he left off. Somewhere deep in him is still the boy who entered that door 6 years ago. And I can only hope that boy can still break to the surface.

images source: Pixabay