I was in Port Douglas, 1979 I think, and had a part time job as cleaner at the Central Hotel. I turned up one morning, 7 o’clock as usual, but the boss, Bill, hadn’t opened up. “Slippery” turned up, he was also working at the pub as yardman/boots. I never got to know “Slipperys” real name but he was a bit older than me, about six foot two and built like the handle of a stock whip, he was also possibly the wisest man in town. We stood about waiting for Bill to come down and open up but nothing was happening. I said “What do you reckon we should do, Slip?” He said “ Were you here last night?” - “ No” - “The bastards still pissed!” After some thinking it was decided Slip, as I called him, would climb the fire escape and enter through an upstairs window and open up from the inside, no worries. I hoisted me mate onto the fire escape, which was about 8 feet from the ground , and he went about his mission. I watched as he scrambled onto the upstairs verandah and headed for an open window. I heard a muffled sound - faaaark. I knew there was something wrong. Slip descended quickly to the ground and informed me that the only window open was Bills and he was still asleep with a large pistol in his hand. Well we could have just gone home and waited for a call later in the day, but as employees we were duty bound to have that pub open by 10 o’clock. Plan B, Bills son John was just up the road and had a spare set of keys, he was living with his girlfriend and I was to waken her, get her to pinch the keys and deliver them back when we had got in, without having to worry his son that his dad was history. All went well and we had the pub open at 10. Trouble was there wasn’t any tills or bar staff, so I just run a tab and served as though all was normal. In life you must be prepared for the unpredictable.
Posted on: Thu, 05 Sep 2013 11:13:29 +0000
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