Sometimes when business owners make rules they don’t think through the consequences.

That’s the situation in today’s story, where a bar owner decides to change a rule that ends up really hurting his business.

At first one particular employee was annoyed by the rule change, but it ended up working out really well for everyone except the bar owner and the bartender.

Let’s read all the details.

If I can’t drink here, neither will my friends

Back in my mid-twenties I used to wait tables at this restaurant in my hometown.

The money was good and I got along well with everyone there.

Usually after our shift, a few of the servers would sit at the bar and have a few drinks to wind down.

You figure why go to another bar when there’s a bar right here.

The owner changed the rules.

We always tipped well and nothing was ever an issue.

Until one day when the owner out of nowhere decided that employees weren’t allowed to drink at the bar anymore.

Now I completely understand this is a normal rule in other bars and the owner was well within his rights, but I just didn’t see where this came from.

The manager didn’t agree with the rule change.

I asked the manager if we did anything wrong to warrant the rule change.

He said the owner was just being a jerk.

He told me he tried to talk him out of it because there was no reason, but the owner just wanted to make his presence known.

Okay, he’s within his right to.

However what he didn’t count on was Thursday nights and my friends.

His friends brought in a lot of money on Thursdays.

Back then my friends were in a punk band and had practice every Thursday night.

I would work every Thursday night and they would meet up with me at my bar and grab a drink with me after my shift.

And usually they’d bring their girlfriends, friends, and whoever was hanging around.

My friends pretty much made the bar’s Thursday night as busy as a Friday or a Saturday.

And when I tell you we could drink, oooohhhhhhh we could drink!

And of course everyone tipped generously.

They decided to go to another bar instead.

So when I told them I wasn’t allowed to drink at my bar anymore after my shift they were as mad as I was.

My buddy Bob was like “Wait, so there’s no point to go to your bar and then for all of us to go to another bar after you’re done so you can join us. We might as well just go to another bar and you can meet up with us after.”

It was the most logical solution. There was another bar around the corner.

The manager didn’t see this coming!

So come Thursday around 9pm, I’m finishing up my shift as my manager approaches me.

He looks at the empty bar and asks, “Hey man, are your friends on their way? They’re usually three drinks in by now?”

I reply, “Oh actually they’re four drinks in. They’re at the bar around the corner.”

My manager is dumbfounded. “Wait, what? Why aren’t they drinking here?”

I calmly tell him, “Well they want to drink with me, and I’m not allowed to drink here. Now if you excuse me, there’s a pint of Kane Head High (my favorite beer) waiting for me around the corner.”

He does feel bad for the bartender.

I walked out and joined my friends for a fun night.

Now I must admit I feel bad for the bartender who usually worked Thursday nights.

She had no part in the decision and her tips suffered because of our move.

But that’s on management, not me.

The rules changed, but it didn’t matter.

After a few weeks the owner noticed the dip in sales on Thursday nights and said we were allowed to drink at our bar again.

However the damage was done.

We found out that not only did the bar around the corner have all the beers we usually drink, they were much cheaper.

We also struck up a great friendship with the bartenders.

We found our new hang out spot.

There was no reason to go back.

Oh well.

That really is too bad for the bartender to miss out on the tips, but it serves the owner right for changing the rules.

Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.

This reader is glad they kept going to the other bar.

Here’s a suggestion for a way they could’ve helped the bartender.

This man shares a similar story.

This really is a stupid rule.

That rule change was a very bad idea.

The boss figured that out a little too late.

If you liked this post, check out this story about an employee who got revenge on a co-worker who kept grading their work suspiciously low.