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Finally: A bar for anal-retentive perfectionists

Everybody else, however, might want to avoid TC's Lounge on Haviland Street, Jason Feifer reports.

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Comments

Based on the reviews at the linked site, the only person who needs to avoid TC's is the writer of that post.

Hint: always follow the link.

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What are you talking about? The guy had a crappy time at a bar (and if some bar owner gave me the same load of crap I'd have laughed on my way to the car and left his tables together). He's also a writer/editor for Boston magazine (guess they won't be reviewing TC's any time soon now, whoops).

I certainly don't want to go to a place that's going to give me crap for a slight rearrangement of the tables and chairs. This is what blogs are great at. Leveling the information playing field so that we can all know that that bar's owner is a tool and make more informed decisions about whether we want to go there or not.

What does that even mean "based on the reviews, the writer needs to avoid TC's"?

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"What does that even mean "based on the reviews, the writer needs to avoid TC's"?"

Reads with comprehension: C-

Try "based on the reviews":http://www.yelp.com/biz/tcs-lounge-boston "the only person who needs to avoid the bar is the writer. If you moved your finger and followed the link, you would have learned that the place gets glowing reviews at the site the poster links to. What does that tell you about one person's opinion?

Next time how's about following the link! when you see a link?

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I see! When you wrote "read the link" you meant the one on a totally different website and not the one that you were responding to! Wow! Who would have known you meant to keep following links until the rest of us could discern your meaning? Not I. I made the silly assumption that you wanted us to follow the only link in this story here on UHub. Sheesh, what was I thinking taking you literal like that?

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that sounds like something a 4th grader would say, if 4th graders drank beer.

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Something similar happened to me at that same bar. One day, the bar was full, so I stood behind the people seated at the bar and leaned or partially sat on the edge of one of the tables. That short, bald fellow called from across the room and told me to get off the table. No please or thank you. No tact either. I never went back.

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Ive worked in a food-type of establishment before and the most annoying thing for servers are people who move tables together and then leave them that way. He's probably glad you won't be coming back.

Move tables all you want to accommodate your party, but ALWAYS put them as you found them. Theyre set up that way for a reason.

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Come on, get over yourself food-type establishment workers. You provide a service for guests and get paid for it, and if they move the tables around, treat them like guests and move them back the way you want it after they leave. It's not the paying guests responsibility to do that.

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The guests are paying for food, not paying for the ability to set up the establishment as they please. In the same way any private business has the right to kick people out for any reason, a private business can demand that tables be kept in a certain way.

I don't care if you think you're a beloved guest. You need to follow standards like wearing clothing, shoes, not breaking things, and keeping the place neat.

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I guess he expected them to bus their own table too?

I mean, according to you, he's not responsible for resetting the place back to the way it was before they got there, right? They're only paying for food and not atmosphere, cleanliness, or convenience, right?

If the tables were left in such a problematic state, then why let them move them to begin with?

If the house wants the tables set up a certain way, it's their problem not the customer's. If they let customers move them around, the customer has no expectation to need to move them back. In the same way, the customer has no expectation to need to clean their dishes, sweep the floors, wipe the tables, or any other simple tasks that comes with owning a restaurant.

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Busing obviously comes with food. Taking order, making the food, removing the plates. That's not the argument.

You argue that atmosphere is also included. Moving tables around can destroy the atmosphere the venue is trying to create. They weren't stopped at first, perhaps because by the time the workers noticed it was too late. Or perhaps they were willing to allow the moved tables on the expectation that the costumers were considerate enough to put things back into place. When you visit a friends house, do you move their furniture around and then leave it this way?

The staff is busy enough doing their job, which means providing food, beverage and security. Moving tables is not a part of the job, and asking the staff to do this will only hurt others waiting for a table or waiting to get their drinks refilled. The original blogger went during off hours, so obviously they were working with a smaller staff which could be busy cleaning or setting things up for the rush.

Be considerate to others, customer does not equal king.

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Come on now. You're stretching so far to try and make your point of view work. Now paying a commercial establishment for a meal is the same as eating at my friend's house? Give me a break. These are professionals. They work on a margin of profit provided by good customer base. They cater to the needs and requests of the customer in order to get paid. If they don't want to do that, then they won't be getting paid for very long. There's an overwhelming supply of places to eat and demand is a constant. Places live and die on word-of-mouth sales and repeat customers, so the customer has the upper hand when it comes to a restaurant, with the small exception of those restaurants that are so specialized, high caliber, or peculiar that they create their own niche.

The staff have to clean the table anyways. Moving it would be all the same difference. It's not like they have to fling it all the way across the bar to reset the situation. Hell, there are places like the Middlesex Lounge in Cambridge where the furniture is entirely modular. The norm is that restaurants cater to customer needs and keep their place in whatever state they want. There's a reason we pay a gratuity at a restaurant and not at my friend's house. You don't inconvenience the customer if you want a good tip.

But, whatever, you go have your expectations about good service and I'm sure you'll love every place you go where you schlep your own crap and do the restaurant's job. I'll keep going to places that don't expect me to fix up their dining room on my way out the door.

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Where I worked the tables were very heavy, almost impossible to move alone. When the large group arrives and moves tables as they please, they have many people to help. One worker, all alone, is going to have much more trouble doing the same task. Cleaning a table and heavy lifting are not the same.

You also ignore the bit where the staff moving tables is taking away service from others.

It all goes down to the original blogger not having respect for others and then complaining when his inconsiderate ways are pointed out.

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I thought Service was short for "Customer" Service. I guess if they sit in the designated seats with their hands on their laps...

Its a BAR and according to the unread reviews a DIVEY BAR with photos of naked women on the ceiling.

To each their own. If I were in the group with the original poster, I would not return to this bar. Is the post going to stop me from visiting, probably not but I would be wary and if sniffed any of that attitude from the bald chubby guy, I'd hit the road.

I've spent time on both sides of the bar. I have found diapers wedged between booths, seen horrors in the bathroom stalls, been spit at... and those were nicer memories. But I got a lot of $$ in tips, so I shut off my emotions and hustled.

The only time I'd be peeved if a customer moved tables together is if one table was from my section and another from server's another section. I'd size it up, if its possible to take the other servers table, I'd do it. If not, I'd explain it to the customers before the orders were taken. 9 times out of 10, they would understand and we'd find a way to accommodate them.

If the tables in the establishment are too heavy for one person to move (over 50 pounds) then management needs to come up with a better solution.

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I don't recall naked women on the ceiling but I had no reason to look up either.

This is a SMALL bar and space is limited. One factor could be moving tables maybe in violation of fire laws. The place has no food service and no servers except for the bartender.

They have a juke box, pinball machine and a piano that Berklee students sometimes use.

No matter how you spin this the patrons moved things around to begin with and should have moved them back.

The bar is a throwback to thirty years ago just accept it for what it is.

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My guess is the blogger also likes pink Red Sox hats.

I have spent many a night at TC's and accept the quirks of the place. It is a melting pot where you get regulars from the South End, Roxbury, the Fenway, Berklee and strangers from the hostel down the street.

I hear people grumble it doesn't take credit cards but that helps keep the prices low.

Common sense should be asking if it is OK to move some things around and if you moved something to move it back. Most of the time you only have a bartender and bouncer and they are usually too busy to take the time to move anything back.

Hey try moving something around at a place like the Pour House and you will be out on Boylston St in seconds.

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My goodness, there's a surprising amount of controversy on this topic!

Here's my take: if the staff moved tables together to accommodate a large group, it's their job to put them back where they want them when the large party leaves. But if a bunch of folks come in and rearrange the furniture on their own, then it's a bit unusual but not utterly unreasonable for the manager to tell them to put things back where they found them.

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