The hidden side of capitalism (part II)
Today I am going to tell you about the Ron Bar in Utrecht. A year ago I moved from that city, until then it was the most popular place.After leaving La Cubanita, a little disappointed by the use they made of Cubanness, I joined a new project: Ron Bar. Something new for the city, a concept that focused more on the “cool climate” than on the quality of the service. No doubts that is something revolutionary for Holland where the service is exquisite. For me as a Cuban, there was nothing new about it, it is what normally happens in Cuba and made so many people who visit the island to fall in love with Cuba and its people. My favorite places are the FAC (Cuban Art Factory), Ray Fernández in “the Devil Tun Tun” venue and “Mejunje” in Sta Clara.Well.. when I started to work at the Rum Bar, it hadn't opened yet. They gave us a fairly quick course to explain the philosophy of this project and then we took some lessons, but like La Cubanita, you have to learn in record time, three days of practice and ready to go. The idea was to bring the joy and flavor of the Caribbean, spontaneity, bright colors, etc. Something already seemed fishy when one of the managers referred to the Caribbean as "exotic". That very same manager I asked him to play Cuban music during one of the training sessions and the second song he took away my cell phone from the speakers, he told me that this music gave him a headache (Habana Abierta) and he played on his own music (techno). In this bar that spent 3 million euros, there are three saloons, the smallest is called Old Havana ... just saying ...The fauna that visited the place caused me a lot of curiosity because Utrecht is a city that has one of the most important universities in the world and of course it has students from almost all geographies ... although I could not meet any Cubans ... I don't know why ... I saw many Africans, I wonder where they got so much money… ?????... the drinks that were not cheap at all, they ranged from 8 euros to 14 euros. Most of the drinks, they invented themselves and changed the recipe from time to time. A partner who was a professional bartender told me that he had never seen anything like this but hey ... they were the owners and they knew what they were doing ... The rum drinks had prices that "provoke fever" ... I asked one of the managers that person who did not have a very good job, could afford to go there ... and the guy was perplexed ... obviously he didn’t give a f****k that immigrants like me could not go to those kinds of places… one would spend 100 euros in the blink of an eye ...
… if the previous job seemed heavy to me, actually compared to this one, it was a summer vacation. The truth is that the Bar was full all the time and there was no rest at all. In addition, the days were up to 12 hours at times, which I think is illegal but no one complained. People were excited to be part of a project that was the latest fashion trend in Utrecht, plus almost all young students and foreigners. There I made friends with 4 young Uruguayans (3 girls and a boy, I think his name was Guille, I'm very bad for names). With the Uruguayan girls, we began to realize that the initial joy that the managers (all Dutch) had “sold” us was completely b*******t. People were very stressed by the demand for quality of service and the not very good working conditions. We were surprised that with how efficient the Dutch are, these people were improvising so much there, which made us work double ... One of the Uruguayan girls was in love with one of the managers and did everything to make this dude to make a move but nothing. I almost push his head to see if he just kissed her. It looked like the scene of Ariel, the little mermaid and Sebastián, the crab ... singing kiss her ... the truth is that in Europe, with the theme of feminism and the concept of the womanizer, men are very restrained when it comes to saying a compliment and "hit on" a woman. There I also met a partner from Croatia, I think… some country from the former Yugoslavia. That's the closest thing to a Cuban I've come across so far. In the few weeks I was there, he hit on half the staff ... it reminded me of the times of the Kalimbas and the Melos ... those did not leave a Viking woman standing ... wherever they passed, the grass did not grow again ... well this partner that we barely met on 3 or 4 occasions, we clicked very quickly. On one occasion that one of the bantenders, Sharma I think his name is, a Dutchman of Turkish origin addressed me in a wrong way, I wanted to crash the ice pack on his head, I still regret I didn’t do it ... but this partner noticed and called me aside and served me a shot of tequila, which was not allowed, but he didn't care ... then that night after the shift we went to party and talked about it. I explain me that the Dutch are like that, they offend without realizing it because for them it is normal to bitch you in front of a group for the smallest mistake. They call it being direct, in Cuba and also in many other countries, that is considered a disrespect and at least a couple of punches usually settle the matter. But in Holland, one has to count to 10 and if you can't keep counting until the angriness goes away, because if you get a police record, they could revoke your immigration status and even trying to get a job could become extremely difficult. Speaking with the Uruguayan girls, I asked them how people could continue that rhythm of work indefinitely, she agreed. Even when she was much younger than me, she told me that she was devastated with fatigue, and that they had lied to her because rather than being a waitress, they had made her wash dishes. She, like us Cubans, who have a tremendous ego and we think that we are best of everything, we do not like doing that kind of jobs but life in emigration is a tremendous university to control the ego and earn a lot humbleness. But she also told me that many of those who work there, more than 12 hours a day almost every day of the week, could resist it because they got their "stripes." I was able to verify that later on when I was talking to a Venezuelan who is a cook and he told me that this was his red bull. It was a shock because the vision that I have from Cuba… whoever tasted the “white powder”, was doom, already falling into an abyss, a path to hell with no return, and seeing those people who are perfectly functional and consume the “magic powder”, I didn't put him in anyway because I'm still afraid that he might hook me ... by the way, these types of narcotics are illegal but whoever wants to can consume them, it's very easy to acquire. They have already given me some lectures about it, and they laughed their gots out when I told them about the Cuban reality and how they handle the drug issue, especially marijuana, which has been legal in Holland for more than 20 years and now the rest of the world is beginning to realize that everything that was said about the mary ... were pure lies ... in Cuba it is still a taboo subject ... Well, so much was the physical effort that I had to do in that bar that my back said "ENOUGH", one day I couldn't get out of bed because of the pain, I called the bar and they told me that I had to find a replacement myself or to go to work ... I told them to "go f***k themselves" ... I never heard from them again.
Another aspect that is extremely curious. Companies in the Netherlands, most of them do not have the human resources department, but instead hire other companies specialized in this area. In other words, if you have a problem, you don't talk to your boss but to another person that you usually never get to know, and you don't even talk because everything is computerized so these procedures are done through websites. Like the previous job, my salary was 10 euros per hour, but due to the large number of hours I did, the profit was much higher. The part of reporting the hours was carried out by a Dutch woman who does not coincide with the stereotypes we Cubans have of the Dutch people… since she was a mulatto woman. The first time I saw her, I thought we were going to get along, as is often the case with almost all non-white people I have worked with… I could not be more wrong. That girl was pure acid, no one could bear her and for more ... my Uruguayan friend told me that she always reported fewer hours ... as they say out there ... there is no worse splinter than the same stick ... well here I end my story of my brief stay in the Ron Bar. It is a pity that once again Dutch businessmen are appropriating non-Western cultures to make money and not paying the respect that these cultures deserve. My next story is about my experiences at Picnic, or as I like to affectionately call it: "modern slavery." Thank you very much to those who read ... and if you have a few seconds to write a comment ... awesome ...
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