More about Antonio Wood
One of the first things Antonio did to help us was to arrange a gathering of some of the people he had worked with, but like everything Wood, this was to turn out to be not as straight forward as just feeding a group of thirty people.
The date was set, the menu agreed, mostly meat cooked on the 'brasa' open fire, some provided by Wood himself. We did the odd salad and bowl of chips, for those that don't just want meat and bread.
All was going well, everyone had a drink and a full tummy. As I walked into the kitchen with some empty places, our young barmaid was there and very upset. Reluctantly she explained that one of our male customers had pinched her bum. Ok, so bum pinching is a bit of an occupational hazard, but this was a young girl, her first bar job and as of yet she had not gained the experience to deal with these types of sleaze balls. I very rarely have that type of problem these days, wether that is because I am now mid thirties and not late teens or just because I can cope with it or not, I don't know. Our clientele at the beginning mainly, but also a little towards the end of our time, instead of bum pinching, would offer me money in return for services. I was slightly horrified the first time I had to explain to an eighty something man that I was NOT a prostute, his reaction of 'why not' was even more shocking.
Although I have been financially hard up in my life, I have been fortunate enough never to be so desperate to sleep with an unwashed eighty year old, not sure he could afford me anyway!
Back to my upset barmaid. I told her not to serve him again and to show me which man it was. I then went to have a word. This was the first time I meet Lucifer, unfortunately not the last. Lucifer I am guessing is in his mid forties, with not much to show for his years, apart from some grey hair and rotting teeth. He is not good looking, he cleans the streets for the town hall, with little lightly hood of every finding a nice woman to settle down with it is no great surprise, that when a young attractive bum is clearing a table in front of him , the temptation was too great. However not in my bar and not to my staff.
I explained to him, in my bar, no-one touches my staff, and to remember that in future. Of course, he decided this was not acceptable, because he had not touched her. Yes right, my barmaid had made it all up, I don't thinks so.
The other group members that were around him, backed me up and I thought that was the end of it. But he continued to be a pain, nothing major, just mouthy. He was racist which to be fair was pretty much the first time, we had encounter racism in Seron. He didn't like the English, he didn't like us, he didn't like our bar, easy leave then. But no we had this until I refused to serve him, because the situation was escalating. He really didn't like that, Wood had to take him home or to another bar, either way I didn't care, he had gone.
As described in an earlier blog, you don't argue with Wood, he is really someone you want on your side. His strength is just astonishing.
Although Wood can be a very real pain himself, he seemed to want to protect us from others. When he has had to much to drink, he really does become a bit of a nightmare, however better the devil you know. He always stopped his very smutty comments when I told him too.
Still more Wood stories to come.