Post #213228 by LavaLounger on Tue, Feb 7, 2006 2:11 PM

On 2006-02-07 10:53, Humuhumu wrote:
I had a very similar experience the first few times I had people over to my home bar. People wanted beer, no one wanted to drink out of stoopid tiki mugs, everyone took their lei off after about 45 seconds, and no one -- no one wanted garnish. And Yma Sumac was judged to sound like an animal that needed to be put out of her misery. And they wanted to watch the basketball game. Hawaiian shirts were so far out of the question that I didn't even consider suggesting they wear them. With time, they tried the drinks, got in the mood of it... no one was totally converted, and they still took their leis off, but I finally had a party where one of the two beer pony kegs didn't get tapped. Victory!

Hey, sounds like you were at my party! Same deal here with the leis. We spent the whole morning making a lei rack out of bamboo so guests could grab a lei on the way in. I had to explain the rack and they shrugged and walked in anyway. :::grumble::: You'd think they had to pay to rent them or something.

If you want to convert your friends, it might take a lot of patience. Anyone can be converted to great hospitality, though, so if you take a "come as you are" stance, and serve them beer if they want it without making them feel bad, they'll be relaxed and their minds will crack open a smidge... perfect time to slip them the Book of Tiki! They'll probably have questions about your bar, and the BOT is a great way to answer them and help them see you're not some lone wacko, but that this is something that is big and has a lot of history.

Book of Tiki? I thought that was just a running gag in here...there really is one?

Another suggestion is to try only having one or two people over at a time at first. Your friends might be more open to trying the "sissy" drinks without a crowd around. Plus, it's reasonable when one is simply a casual guest to understand that you just don't have any beer in the house. :wink: Consider serving them without any garnish and in rocks glasses at first.

I'm beginning to think that not having beer around is probably the best defense. Although I probably wouldn't mind the beer drinkers so much if they got the whole gist of the tiki atmosphere. And yes, they didn't much care for my Martin Denny and Lymon CD's either.

As a total devotee to immersive themed environments, where every detail fits, it kills me to say it -- but it just might be easier, and perhaps the better thing to do as a host, to meet your guests partway and ease them in gently. I'm so sorry your friends left you feeling for a while like you didn't want your bar anymore -- for them to have made you feel that bad about something you were so excited about, they must have had their heads pretty far up their asses.

Lesson learned. I'm not sure how I'm going to entertain from now on but I LOVE my tiki bar, and I love the tiki bars I've seen on here, and the art and craftsmanship I've seen here and the dedication to detail you many people have provided, and I'm going to continue enjoying myself tweaking my tiki bar details and to heck with the non-believers!

LavaLounge-wiping happy tears with a silk lei