A downtown Columbus, Ohio, bar is being sued for $10 million by an auditor who says she was asked to leave it on January 9. The reason? She was sad during happy hour.
“I’d messed up the transactionals report, gotten a reprimand, and needed a drink,” says Mary Jo Allen, who works at Nolling/Weems on High St.. At 5 PM, she walked across the street to Clung, known for cocktails garnished with carrot slices imported the same day from Peru.
“I guess I was still a little teary-eyed,” says Allen. “Then the bartender told me he couldn’t serve me unless I was happy.” She says she tried explaining about her job, and that she’d come in to get happy. “But he said I was required to already be happy and asked me to leave,” she says.
Owner Christine Lee Soloway doesn’t deny any of this, but claims the action was justified.
“There’s a sign outside that plainly says ‘Happy Hour – 4 PM to 6 PM,’” she says. “If Ms. Allen wasn’t happy she shouldn’t have come in.” She says that Allen could have gone to any number of nearby establishments that cater to the sad and semi-sad – including the new Sobb on Gay St.
“We’ve spent tens of thousands on double-stemmed glassware, personalized napkins, and lifelike sculptures of lifelike people,” says Lee Solloway. “All that goes out the window if you become known as a place where sad people hang out.”
While Allen understands the logic, she says getting kicked out has caused her unnecessary anguish.
“If they’d given me just ten minutes to get happy we wouldn’t be having this conversation,” she says.
