Wednesday, April 16, 2014

4.16.14 Bee-otch of the Day: The BOB

Bee-otch of the Day honors are awarded Monday through Thursday, Bee-otch of the Week is awarded Friday on Chuck69.com.



DON'T FORGET TO "LIKE" BEE-OTCH OF THE DAY ON FACEBOOK!

----------
  

Name: The BOB
Age: 111
Occupation: a building loaded with bars and restuarants
Last Seen: Grand Rapids, MI
Bee-otched For: overserving and paying the penalty
---
  
In a few weeks, if you want to drink at one of Grand Rapids' best-known venues, well, the good news is that there's other places nearby that you can do that.

From May 30 to June 1, all venues inside The BOB - aka The Big Old Building - will suspend all sales of alcohol because the state of Michigan ordered them to after they overserved 36-year-old Kevin O'Brien, who died when he fell four stories to his death last year in a stairwell in the building. O'Brien had a blood alcohol rating of .25, three times more than the legal limit in Michigan.

According to witnesses, O'Brien had at least two vodka and Red Bulls and two lemon drop shots. He apparently came to The BOB with an additional four drinks in his system. At 1:30 in the morning last May, he tried to ride down the stairwell at the BOB when he fell to his death. In four years, three people have died from drunken stupidity at the popular Grand Rapids hotspot.

Representatives for The BOB, which include owner Greg Gilmore say that they will honor the state's ruling, but in the meantime, they will fight it.

In my adult life, I've been to bars countless times, mostly here in Grand Rapids. I've been to good bars that have sadly come and gone (Stooges and Ten Bells) to ones that are still rockin' (Stella's, The Meanwhile and Hopcat to name a few). However, I've been to a few places I want to forget. One place - the Sazarac Lounge - overserved me one time with too many IPAs. I learned the hard way that an IPA should be drank in moderation and the fine folks at the Sazarac had to clean up my puke. Of course, payback was a bitch to them when they were forced to change their name to the Reservoir Lounge because of a lawsuit over the name "Sazarac".

Sadly, there's plenty of bars in Grand Rapids whose barkeeps aren't trained enough to learn that overserving is a bad idea. Some places even learned the hard way, such as the Margarita Grill (now abandoned) and The Tap Room (now a Buffalo Wild Wings). Yes, when the booze flows like wine, so do the profits. But when somebody's BAC looks like it's way over the limit, it's time for the booze to stop. Hell, even up in Mackinac Island - where there's no automobiles - my cousin was refused service because the bartenders knew he drank too much and he spent the time walking home in a fashion similar to Jeffy from The Family Circus. Yes, there's no such thing as drinking and driving on Mackinac Island, but public drunkenness is still a crime.

Personally, I could care less about The BOB. To me, it's just another douchebag dance club where the girls are total skanks and the guys are tools. Plus, there's a dress code and it's a major turn off for me. I only go to the club in T-shirt and jeans, not dressed like I just walked out of Abercrombie and Fitch.

Thanks, but I prefer good 'ol DJ's Lounge. Oh, wait, they're closed? Damn....

  ---

Got a Bee-otch to nominate? E-mail us @ chuck69dotcom@gmail.com. All suggestions (except for me) are welcome!

Bee-otch of the Day Archives can be seen on http://beeotchoftheday.blogspot.com!

Bee-otch of the Day is a production of Chuck69.com, Grand Rapids' site for Stern, politics and more!

No comments:

Post a Comment