I don't tend to waste valuable life penning inconsequential substance such as contained herein as I try to rise above such nonsense. However, the fact that I am devoting residual elements of my life in the writing hereof perhaps will indicate the level of disgust that has fuelled my task. Today, Sunday the 22nd October in the Alex pub Southend around 3pm, an establishment I have periodically frequented for 15 years or so, I happened by after a morning of frenetic activity looking forward to a pint of lager to assuage my fatigued spirit. Quiet the interior, my presence rendering the total patrons within 7 people. A pint of lager I requested, Peroni, but seeking if possible a 'tulip' sort of glass, you know, bulbous with a stem, the ritualistic format of the vessel as pleasurable as the liquid housed itself. The barman, young chap, helpful at first, to indulge my idiosyncratic request but failing to produce a worthy candidate. Until. Until he showed me a Moretti glass. Perfect I cried, delighted by such a seamless transaction. Until. Until he advised me, the dream dangled so tantalisingly close, that 'technically' - the very word employed, technically- only the same beer brand could be served in such..... Oh I said. Unless he said, I had a Madri, then I could have the Moretti glass. Oh again I said. Madri a different beer and yet preferential glass treatment, not poor old Peroni nor the other offerings. I mean, really??? Beerist lol! So essentially I could secure my preferred glass type if I changed the beer I desired. I eschewed the glass in favour of the beer.

Beyond the unspeakable dire customer service. what of the logic? Does this mean that if the pub is heaving on a vibrant night and glasses in short supply with only Moretti glasses left, unless Moretti of Madri is ordered you will refuse to serve any more beer??? Hahahahah!! As if! Where is the reason in allowing one non Moretti beer, Madri, access to a Moretti glass but not other non branded equivalents? Entirely inconsistent, entirely lacking logic. The only conclusion I could draw? The guy was a jobsworth, bored maybe, angered by my desire to select a particular type of glass and determined to render my simple one beer experience (might have been more had it not been that at that moment I knew I would never again give the Alex one more penny of my money) unpleasant. The ineffable myopia, the shortsighted commercial vision, beyond comprehension. Honestly, unless gold encrusted glasses, when I spend £6.10 on a pint of beer, I think I earn the right to choose the glass from which I drink it. Don't you?

All of this has impact on your 'bottom line'. One man I may be, my business that you've now lost may be of indifference to you but others will be influenced by this content. Many will think me pedantic, some won't. The pub was almost empty, the barman could easily have fulfilled my wish without injury nor harm to anyone. I went into have a pint of beer in a glass as a palatable symbiosis. I left your pub half hour later with the most unpalatable taste lingering...