Kris was trying to get his poker on at Boston’s The Gourmet Pizza, but an unruly manager who tried to impress him by showing him video of strippers doing their thing at the restaurant after hours ruined the night for him.

He writes:

Just wanted to share a troubling experience from last night. My wife and I were at your [redacted] location to play free poker, run by IPL. We’ve been many times and the bar staff has always been great. During the game, I noticed a few troubling things- First, a guy named Kevin [which may or may not be his real name], who several people mentioned was the (general?) manager of this specific location, showed off a video clip he had on his Blackberry of two women stripping. This in itself is perhaps not the biggest deal, however the women were dancing inside the restaurant/bar, and according to Kevin and another player, this happened after hours at your restaurant.

Kevin continued to talk about the women dancing on the bar, the tables, and their stripping. Another player even commented that we should stick around for a while after closing for the show. And I’m aware employees, on their time off can/should be allowed to drink and socialize, but Kevin was obnoxious. He was working behind the bar at times, perhaps only to get refills, etc., but also drinking alcohol, to the point he began to insist the bar area was too warm and ordering staff to prop open an exterior door- despite the fact it was approximately 50 degrees out and several customers requested the door shut. In fact, after a customer closed the door, Kevin, still drinking, complained to an employee that he wanted the door propped open again. Of course, Kevin wasn’t sitting at a table near the door, so I’m not sure his plan of cooling the restaurant was well thought out.

Also, there is a digital jukebox located in the bar area, which was playing music during the game. Approximately halfway through the game, Kevin gave an IPL staff member some cash and they set a playlist of expletive-filled songs, including the N word, and enough foul language that other players at my table were requesting the music be turned down. Instead, Kevin, perhaps unaware of anyone else in the room, got the remote from behind the bar and turned the volume up to a level it was likely heard in the dining room, a treat for the families I’m sure. It was at this point I decided to leave. As a place that advertises a family atmosphere, I’m not sure strippers dancing on your tables is something which falls in line with that vision. And I would normally discount a story like that, except for the fact this video was being shown to customers, myself included. I can only imagine what happened that wasn’t recorded on a cell phone.

And you may want to consider a policy that discourages your employees from drinking at your bar if they are going to act like Kevin. Standing on chairs and yelling across the bar area to your buddies, having a door propped open because you’ve been drinking too much, etc. are really not doing Boston’s a favor in the marketing department. Especially if you’re going to go behind the bar and make it clear you work for the company.

Kris complained to management and got this response:

Thank you for your email dated 1/24/2010. We are sorry and embarrassed. But most of all, we are deeply sorry that you had this experience in our bar.

While we make every attempt to ensure that our employees present themselves in a professional manner unfortunate incident can occasionally occur that are not in alignment with our organizational values.

We are very appreciative that you have taken the time to
bring this to our attention. Please not that we have taken the appropriate steps to ensure that the events you described will not reoccur. I fully understand that this letter does not change the experience that you had at our bar but it has allowed us to make the needed changes to ensure that the behaviors you described are not repeated.

Thank you again for taking the time to share your experience and allowing us the opportunity to improve. Please do not hesitate to call me if I can be of any further assistance. I can be reached at [redacted].

So sorry, Boston’s stripper fans — looks like the shows are over.

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