Food For Fraught

You'll See

Yes, we revel in yet another re-telling of an episode of Manglement, where the incompetent prove that no position is proof against entitled idiocy, and where the density of the human skull exceeds that of vanadium steel alloy.  Art!

CAUTION! for illustrative purposes only.  Lacks manglement.

     The Wistful Narrator, hereafter WN, jumps into the story half-way through, because the brewery-with-attached-restaurant was already a going concern and had built up both a reputation and clientele, without the Bottomhole Owner, hereafter BO, interfering and killing business.  So, Conrad suspects he had bought out a prior owner who knew when to leave well alone.  Art!

     Conrad is not sure exactly what 'Buckaroo' consists of, and there's no entry in either my "Collins Concise Dictionary" or "Brewer's Dictionary Of Phrase And Fable", so we'll just have to guess at beef.  My point is that WN said the BWAR's menu was excellent without being 'fancy', so no bestowing looooong French names on tiny portions.  The restaurant chef drove the menu, thanks to being skilled and imaginative, and the punters enjoyed many a pint with their scoff.

     All is well, the business is coining it, all the owner needs to do is stay hands-off and watch the profits accumulate, right?

     WRONG!  WN informs us that BO is a 'trust-fund' baby, that is, a person who inherited wealth without having to work for it, and was also one of those delusional people who think they are the smartest person in the room when their IQ barely makes double figures.  Art!

     ANYWAY BO, having zero experience in either brewing or catering, decided that the restaurant was over-staffed and got rid of 50% of the staff.  No consultation mentioned, so this was presented to the chef as a fait accomplit.  Chefy wore another hat, as that of the General Manager for the restaurant, so he had to cope with the fallout of this action and he naturally complained to BO -

     Who promoted a bar tender to GM and cut Chefy's wages, which seems to be a tactic taken out of the 'Slaves And How To Exploit Them' management guide.  End result, Chefy left.  The previously-excellent menu went all to Hades.  Deprived of a chef to bully and abuse, BO turned to the brewery's master brewer, hereafter MB.  Art!

CAUTION! for illustrative purposes only.  I have no idea how they taste, either.

     BO ordered the MB to brew only beers that he, BO, liked.  Never mind what was popular, sold well and made lots of money, catering to BO's taste buds was FAR MORE IMPORTANT!  Whims over profit, must be from that "How To Destroy A Successful Business In Four Easy Stages" management guide.  You see, other businesses were buying the popular beers in cans, bottles and barrels, for onward sale to customers, and THEY WEREN'T GETTING ANY.  To coin a phrase.  This is cutting your throat to spite your neck levels of stupidity.

     Business was already bad because the restaurant traffic had fallen off a cliff, and now people couldn't even get their preferred beer.  If MB was allowed to brew one of the popular brands, it was immediately consumed thanks to lack of volume.  Brewery traffic also fell of a cliff at the bottom of the other cliff.  So, with poor food and unwanted beers, there was no reason for people to visit any longer.  The serving staff all left.  MB left.  Art!

     WN states that, two years after opening, the business closed for good.  The owner was forced to sell it to a property developer looking to turn a profit selling mediocre product.
     You might want to know what this BWAR was called, and so would I, except our Wistful Narrator is careful to leave out any identifying details.  No names of people, or the business, or any of the beer brands being sold.  It doesn't even use units of currency, so you, gentle reader, might guess that it's in South Canada, but it could equally well be British America, the land of the Polite Australians or Eire.

     Food (and drink) for thought!

Jake's Take

Conrad has been following Youtube vlogger Jake Broe on his channel, "Jake Broe" for a couple of years now, ever since he transitioned from offering guidance on finance to covering the war in Ukraine.  He puts out a 20 - 30 minute vlog every couple of days, and has been forced to cover South Canadian politics for months now.  He apologises for this and his pained expressions on detailing the exploits of the Orange Land Whale are hilarious to see.  Art!

     This is his official mail-in ballot paper, with his address details obscured by pen.  Conrad hasn't heard of 'LPN' or 'IAP' and wonders what they are?

     Aha, so LPN is the 'Libertarian Party', whom seem to hate all liberties and want them gone.  'IAP' is the 'Independent American Party', which seems to be a fringe political group out of Nevada, who probably want to secede from South Canada and go it alone, sustained by gambling.  Or something.

     Yes yes yes, this does border on Politics.  I thought it would be interesting to see how a South Canadian ballot paper appears to the rest of us non-South Canadians.

See Italy And-

Just a placeholder, as I'm working on an Intro for the Italian Front in the First Unpleasantness, which might end up being the whole of the blog, as there's sufficient background to manage that.  I'm also roping in "Bruno Pisani", the Italian hiker and climber (he doesn't reckon he's a mountaineer) whose strenuous exploits we have covered here, especially one video, which I'll preview here.  Art!

He got in a bit of a jam

"The War Illustrated Edition 196 22nd December 1944"

I cheated and looked ahead, so Conrad can tell you that there won't be anything about the Battle of the Bulge until editions in January, when the crisis was over.  Can't be handing out information that might help the Teutons!  Art?

"The Tricolour flies again over Alsace-Lorraine"

      Apologies for low-quality photograph and me being too idle to re-take it.

    The top port photograph shows a Jeep on fire, which is no big news, but the picture to Starboard shows an M3 half-track in French service, with their 2nd armoured division.  More pertinent still is the fact that this picture is taken in Strasbourg, the capital of Alsace, now part of France again.  Note jaunty use of Hitler portrait to protect the radiator grill.

     Bad news for Germany at lower port, for this is the South Canadians in the streets of Metz, the 'fortress-city' of Lorraine, which has done a pretty poor job of keeping the opposition on the other side of the fortifications.  To starboard we see a trio of GIs seeking either treasure, booze or Teuton stragglers, it says here (that last part).  Art!

 

The area in question

FAR TOO DOG BUNS SOON!

<ahem - allows blood pressure to settle down> Not going to apologise for flying off the handle this soon into an item, and you'll see why.  Art!

     Dear lord aloft, we've not even got through HALLOWEEN yet!   We still have two months to run until Christmas Eve.   Be warned, when I take over, there will be nothing permitted about Christmas until December 1st, and it'll be a trip to the uranium mines for any transgressors, O yes by gum.  All this without mentioning Bonfire Night, either, when people are dangerous with fireworks.

Finally -

Talking of things explosive, tomorrow is then the Ruffian Central Bank and Ministry of Finance get together and commiserate with each other about the economy, and then look at interest rates in Modern-day Mordor.  The expectation is that they'll be raised by 100 base points from 19% to 20%.

     The thing is, Sperbank, the biggest bank they have, already raised their mortgage rates, to 24.5%.  Contrast this rate with This Sceptred Isle, where you might be chiselled out of as much as 5%!  Art?

     Ruffians adapting to squirrel as a staple foodstuff?  It could happen.