I would have asked him what was going on in his life right now. I'd say, "It seems you're a little on the edge today, care to share it?" Or something along those lines, things that humans talk about, etc.
Now, maybe one of your barkeeps cheated you by giving him what was not his to give?
My point, again, is any business that follows its rules to the point of harming the customers had better check their reasons for being in business in the first place. A good business says, "No problem, let me check to be sure your on the list then we'll give you a temp pass until you can retrieve yours." Or something like that, I don't know all the details, of course. Keeping customers is much cheaper than finding new ones. That is part of how it should be done, too, for sure.
I get you all about pool players being bums who want shit for free. I see it far too often. When we were prepping for the State tourney, we rented Valley tables to practice on. I went up to the counter and told them I'm playing and to start my time. I discovered later than several of our group just played without paying. They said to me, "Why did you pay, no one would know?" I said, "Look around here, this place is beautiful, I want it to stay. I've lived without a pool hall and it sucks." I didn't go into the ethics of it or anything at that time, but probably will with each Person involved at some date.
The solving of problems, not the "it's against procedure," is what businesses do, after all.
I've fired customers, btw, in spite of the costs involved to replace them. Sometimes it DOES pay to just let 'em go.
Jeff Livingston
