A downtown Columbus, Ohio, bar is being sued is being sued for in excess of one million dollars by an auditor who says she was asked to leave it on February 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 slices of 16varieties of carrots.
“I guess I was still a little teary-eyed,” says Allen, “so 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 when I came in, 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 artist renderings of lifelike people,” says Lee Soloway. “All that goes out the window if you become known as a place where sad people hang out, especially ones who cry.”
While Allen would like to be sympathetic, 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.
