But I did hear one of these requests recently at Arturo's, the wonderful 55-year-old Italian place that isn't being wiped off the face of Manhattan because the family owns the building.
Guy at the bar: Do you have a charger here for a Blackberry?
Bartender: A what?
Guy: I need my Blackberry charged.
Bartender: Uh, sure.
The bartender goes to get permission to let the guy plug in his Blackberry. There's a bit of confusion, but permission is given.
Bartender: Okay, I can plug in your charger.
Guy: I don't have the charger. I need a charger. You don't have one?
Bartender: No.
Guy: [to girl next to him who is texting on her iPhone] Can you believe it?
Girl: Every bar should have a charger for a Blackberry and an iPhone.
Guy: Right. Bars have whole set-ups now to charge Blackberries and iPhones. Most bars have that. But not this bar.
Not this bar. And thank God for small favors.
God Bless this bar for not brooking this insane entitled hipster nonsense...& DAMN, I am so glad this place remains! A current favorite for childhood buddy reunions & the best damn pizza & ambiance place. Been loving it since high school.
ReplyDeleteJesus wept.
ReplyDeleteI wish more bars-restaurants had washers and dryers for my use. That way, I could drink and eat AND do my laundry at the same time.
ReplyDeleteBut only if the place had a chemical free, fragrance free, all natural goat milk laundry soap.
Holy Crap, it's a *BAR*, not a goddamn Radio Shack. I have nothing against technology, but to expect EVERYone to adopt it with the same needless fervor is something I find astonishingly depressing. People suck.
ReplyDeleteand the last thing you want to do in Arturo's is yap or text on the phone. the music is great--during all this, there was a woman singing slow jazz standards, really lovely--and old-timers sit at the bar and tell you about how it used to be.
ReplyDeleteI'm a longtime bartender and was thinking of buying a charger just so when these spoiled brat tools demand or passive/aggressively ask that I should have I-phone & Blackberry chargers and to re-charge their phone, BUT then I make them pay a few bucks for the service... 9 out of 10 will forget about it.
ReplyDeleteTo Digress for a moment, it's really sad that these young 20's & 30's have no bar etiquette whatsoever or manners and think that bartenders are their servants. Their sheer IGNORANCE is mind boggling. They all want their asses kissed and if you don't they'll post (on the bastion of spoiled kiddies) Yelp that you were "rude" to them.... They can kiss my Ass for even considering to serve them...
I just don't understand the Entitled Its-All-About-Moi Generation. I'm sure our parents found *us* a bit annoying but this goes above and beyond the call of (*&$#@ ridiculous. Once again, must NOT read JVNY in the morning. Too upsetting.
ReplyDeleteI have always loved Arturos going way back...the hell with these
ReplyDeletedouchebags.
I hate the invaders that have inundated our city. When Americans go to Europe and get huffy when things aren't like they expect them to be back home, they're called assholes and ugly Americans. When people come to New York and do the same, it's no different.
ReplyDeletePeople used to come here and respect the way we did things, and generally try to learn the ropes and adapt. Now, it's exactly the opposite. What an outrage, and what a grotesque place this is turning into.
this sense of entitlement is so damn annoying.
ReplyDeleteArturo's has great food but like any popular spot in lower Manhattan it attracts a strong douchey element. I refuse to believe that "charging stations" are actually common in New York bars now. Maybe in a very particular kind of post-frat bar.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, has ANYONE hear heard of this before? I think this might be a made-up New York Times trend.
How I love Arturo's! Makes me miss New York -- old, real, wonderful, sans-techno-hipster New York -- so much. Thanks for the nostalgia, and the reminder that there are still real places out there.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to charge this idiots face with my fist.
ReplyDeletejust a note, RE: fists--the guy who said all this is not in the photo.
ReplyDeleteMaybe that douchey red monstrosity in Murray Hill has a "whole set up".
ReplyDeleteI think the Times went to one place that had that setup and was told that everyone does it.
Love Arturo's ! Arturo and his wife were very generous and sweet people. Made the best Shirley temples around. The Pizza and baked clams were always my favorite as a child. They would measure your height and mark it in pencil at the entrance to the kitchen, The family was very generous to the artists in Soho C. 1970's. Sometimes allowing a large tab to accumulate while awaiting payment for a job. I love that they are keeping it real. Great post!
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of a bar having a phone charging station. Maybe they have them in newer sports bars???The people in the conversation sound like Gramercy Frat/Sorority dipshits.
ReplyDeleteThe second photo says it all, people staring at their texting devices like zombies instead of socializing. Why do they even bother to leave their apartments?
ReplyDeleteDon't people get all of their hyper texting done these days while walking down the sidewalk not paying attention to where they're going or who they're about to run over?
ReplyDeleteIf not, they certainly get it all done while blocking the stairs out of the subway.
Was watching this girl hyper texting while sitting at the bar the other night by herself - so in my mind, I gave her the benefit of the doubt and assumed she was just giving a confused friend directions to meet her. Well, about 15 minutes later, her friend walks in, and I'm all proud of myself for being such a great detective....until about 10 minutes later when I glance over to see BOTH of them now hyper texting into their phones like the fate of the world rested on the next 'omg!-lmfao'. Not sure why they even bothered to get out of the house.
nyc is dead.
ReplyDelete@EV Grieve
ReplyDeleteThanks, I just shat myself a little laughing.
It may behoove Arturo's to get one of those old korean-war-era radio/phones so when entitled trust-fund doofoids ask for a charger; "We don't have a charger. use this instead. *KLONK*"
Ooh ooh, or better yet, get some Rube Goldberg-esque crank-up contraption to really make them look dumb(er).
Damn, I can remember when I just used to punch people like that.
I've never seen a "charging station" in a bar.
ReplyDeleteThen again, I go to good bars.
And memo to the Times: A Brooklyn bar with its own charging station for patrons' iPhones and BlackBerrys is not a "dive bar."
@Grieve - Arturo's does have a bathtub - just bring your own mangler!
ReplyDeleteThe guy looks above 30 and not like a typical hipster, eg. a doofy skinny white guy. Nice try.
ReplyDeleteI love this crowd! Time to Goggle and find those(I know, "Anyone caught manufacturing, selling, owning, or using a jammer in the U.S. is punishable by an $11,000 fine and up to a year in prison for each offense.") cell phone jammers.
ReplyDeleteit's called FOMO -- fear of missing out
ReplyDeletewww.nytimes.com/2011/11/20/nyregion/out-on-the-town-always-online.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/10/business/10ping.html
again, not that i'm defending them
Went into an Irish bar I used to hang
ReplyDeleteout in ten years ago. It was full of
assclamps lasering in on their
dumbphones and ignoring the people
around them.
Sad. It's the death of human interaction, of conviviality, of being social. Of being human.
Ugh...how obnoxious. My sister visited me in the city with her friend and were looking for an outlet to charge their phones too. Because they USE THEM EVERY FUCKING SECOND!!! Arturo's sounds like a place I need to go regularly.
ReplyDeletethe bartender can charge $5.00 per charge. he will do well. not a bad idea for a business op! is this phone thing OCD? or it it something that these people think is chic? or makes them look important? i hardly use a cell phone outside. only to say "i am late, see you bye", or "what time do you close tonight"? "need taxi, i am @xxxx, bye". (usually not all 3 in same day). not much electric for that. ps i think i am chic. i am important, so much so that i talk only in private.
ReplyDeletei have a cell phone. i use it so seldom, it requires charging just once a week.
ReplyDeleteIf you told me this was a post from April 1st I would believe you.
ReplyDeleteThis is just a microcosm of Bloomberg's NYC: the problem also lies at the bars that offers charging and chargers to these yunnies, which enable and cater to their narcissistic and infantile needs; thus, they think that all bars should have this charging charging station, which they don't know or think that it isn't so, since they're spending money -- you know -- much like what Bloomberg has done to NYC.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, it's a sad sign of the times today. They're not called "crackberries" for nothing -- everyone, young and old, it seems -- HAS to be online at all times. It really takes away whatever little is left of interacting socially. (I like to refer to such individuals as being "socially challenged.")
ReplyDeleteMuch as I like the convenience of my cell device, I can put it away and enjoy being in the moment wherever I am. I think Arturo's and other places should have a surcharge for any of these asshats who have to power up their smartphones.
Oh my goodness, pretentious douchebags in New York! This type of thing has never happened before.
ReplyDeleteThe commenters on this blog crack me up. I am forever amazed by the mundane things that you people will elevate to violence-worthy. A bar that serves food is clearly in the business of keeping people in their seats ordering another round. Maybe that means snacks. Or free sodas for a designated driver. Or a charger behind the bar so someone who might not be returning to their own apartment tonight can still function at work the next day.
ReplyDelete& Is tapping away on a phone really worse than staring at the wall, or a football game, or reading a paper? Maybe they were just killing time while waiting for someone worth flirting with to show up.
Unbelievable. For the sake of us all I hope there was some creative license taken in the recounting of this conversation. Nobody is this insufferable right? Right?
ReplyDeleteEven Mars Bar had a power strip at the end of the bar (by the windows) that often had a phone charging. There was a tangled mess of old chargers that might have been useful if your phone was from the 90's (but come to think of it, many patrons did have phones from the 90's).
ReplyDeleteif you are "on the phone", "tapping the phone"......you cant see someone to flirt with. you will miss the hot one. bars now, are not what they should be. but i will take the "tap" over the "yap" any day. and I will see the sexy people before they do. a tip: reading a magazine is ok, you are more accessible.
ReplyDeleteJamesKInIA... If you're really in Iowa, then please stay there.
ReplyDeleteAnd I think staring at the wall, or the environment around you, is much better than spending half your waking hours away from work with your eyes glued to a screen.
Unlike just about every human under 50, I have never owned a cell phone, and have no intention of ever getting one.
Amazing how life goes along just fine without one.
I also have some great memories about Arturo's in the 70's.Looking back some of the best times and best friends at the place. We, all of us use to go there to have a pie or 2 with a big antipast sit at the table for hours and were always welcome by Betty and Artie at the time, I would love to know what ever happened to our then afavorite waitress Diane.
ReplyDeleteKevin D