Time for the lovely NYS sales tax to be mailed which means the end of another quarter. Just the three little bars in this area - no food involved - will be sending NYS $6,398 less in tax money than we did last year during this quarter. We lost Christmas parties, New Year's Eve parties and Super Bowl parties. On the other hand, two little bars, just a few miles away, in PA, are bragging of an increase in business of 28% and 42% plus planning on even bigger increases as the weather warms and people take off for weekend daily trips. The two bar/restaurants said their total tax payment is half of last year this time but I don't know the figures and it's not my place to ask. The local Legion, in their monthly news letter, has a plea to all members to start showing up or they stand a chance of losing their club.

Again, editorials from supporters of the ban, those who have yet to flood our doors, keep mouthing off about the protection of the workers. Of the three bars mentioned earlier, we have no employees and over 90% customers who smoke. Somehow we can't quite understand this picture.

We did try a few of those family night get togethers since they said we need to advertise and promote the smokefree atmosphere. "Bring in the kids for half price Ice-Cold pitchers of Bud or Bud Light - shoot some pool, throw some darts and get some free tattoos. Enter our swearing contest and win a free drink, pickled egg and hunk of beef jerky for inventing a new four letter word. Free jukebox and table dancing allowed, afterall we are SMOKEFREE so why stay away" but no one showed up. They promised they would be there, they said the one and only reason they never came in was because of the smoke.

Oh wait, I forgot, we're all out to lie and say we lost this business as a front to promote smoking. How silly of me. That ship is sailing in with our checks from Big Tobacco, nothing to worry about. Apparently these pay offs are all under the table and we don't have to claim them as income on our taxes, otherwise we'd have to explain this huge windfall somehow.

Another one of our fine editorial writings which I wish would see the light of day - in print!

"They" have yet to explain why private business owners, with their own money on the line, whould "lie" about their expectation that smoking bans will hurt business or their experience after the bans.

Business owners have zero incentive to lie about this. Those who support the bans have every incentive.

No need to go figure. It is all too obvious.

Lizzie, your advertising copy is hilarious. But I hope the NYS "revenooers" don't look at your tax return and swoop down on you with the claim that you're holding out on them.

What a difference a state border can make.

I was just in a local bar yesterday afternoon (Sunday). I'm rarely at a bar nowadays in my town, not even once a year. But a friend needed a ride to pick up his truck because he had locked his keys inside it the night before. So anyway, we stopped inside the bar when we went to go get it.

I counted 22 people in the bar, including the bartender. In 20 minutes time 11 people smoked, two of them were cigar smokers. A herd of people came in just as we were leaving, but I didn't stick around to count them in.

Lizzie,

I meant to ask you (though I'm almost afraid to) how St. Patrick's Day went in your bar.

As for my neighborhood, I made a point of driving around and taking a look-see at the local haunts. With names like "Brennan's," "Napper Tandy's," "Finn MacCool's," and "Katie Donoghan's," you'd think they'd be packed, right?

Wrong.

The weather in New York was FOUL last Wednesday, and the bars were empty, or nearly so. NOBODY wants to stand outside in freezing rain and snow whilst trying to have a good time, and so instead of socializing at the Irish pubs...they stayed home. (That's what I did.)

Hope it went a little bit better for you, though, Lizzie.

Regards,
Jenny

PS: Oops! Forgot to mention that one of the bars was CLOSED on St. Patrick's Day. In fact, Katie Donoghan's looks like it's closed PERMANENTLY. There haven't been any signs of life in the joint for weeks now. I thought maybe they had been doing renovations or something, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

Thanks a lot, you smoking gnatzie morons.

For 15 years we have always had free dinner for anyone on the holidays. It started on Thanksgiving 1989, when we discovered that group of people who, for various reasons, had nowhere to go. We knew when we bought the place it would include us working every holiday, so why not make a day out of it. Thanksgiving turned to Christmas, Easter, 4th of July and even included St. Patty's Day.
Of course that one was because most of the guys said their wives refused to cook it for them at home---too stinky.

It was iffy this year but my mom helped so we had the free corned beef and cabbage. Then the weather turned on us. The parking lot was knee deep in snow and the guy who plows us was broken down. Green beer was looking awfully good to me. But soon all my old customers started packing in. Didn't know if it was because they were stuck in town or the free giveaways donated by our local beer distributor, but they were there. I do know it wasn't the free food because they all took up a donation and it covered the cost of the food perfectly. Sad part is, other years they would party until closing time but the place was empty by 9 pm but it was fun while it lasted, and the green beer tasted wonderful.

(When we started serving food I couldn't stand coming in the next day and smelling old grease, especially from the fish, hanging in the air. We made part of the kitchen just for the fryers, vented to suck a human out the fan, and the only way most people knew we served food was from smelling it outside because not a whiff was inside. It now stores my mop bucket and things I don't use in the bar anymore.)