Mr. and Mrs. W. owned a bar in Hartford Connecticut for a few years in the mid 1970's. Both are now in their 80's.
"Earl came home one night and said he bought a bar for $20,000 cash," said Mrs. W.. "I said for Christ sake, what the hell do you know about running a bar. I'm at home raising 5 kids and you go and buy a bar. Earl didn't even know what a screwdriver (the mixed drink) was. It also ended up being in a predominately Spanish speaking part of the city. It was over 50 miles from our home but I knew I needed to get involved quickly or we would lose everything."
"I learned two Spanish phrases, cuantos anos tienes, how old are you and que quieres beber, what do you want to drink. Problem was that everyone thought I knew Spanish and would want to talk with me. I would just smile and laugh whenever they would smile and laugh and try to look sympathetic whenever they seemed serious. I had no idea what they were saying...but the bar did well and we were able to sell it for a small profit about three years later."
No comments:
Post a Comment