The Parting of the Yellow Sea

Like Moses and his parting of the "Yellow" Sea, this past Saturday was time for me to separate myself from the promoter of a piss event, to bring his tumultuous party to an end and allow him to lead his flock to the promised land of another Borough. But things don't always go according to plan...

Of all the promoters, he's the one who acts like he's doing me a favor by having his parties here. When in reality, who wants people pissing all over their space? He's lucky to have found a place that's so accommodating!

Two months ago (at his last party) I said that we could not longer use the washer and dryer in the building for cleaning towels. I mean, what tenants want to put their kids' clothes in a washer or dryer that had sex party rags thrown into it? A stray condom even.
No, it was time to use a public laundromat.
But what would happen if we ran out of bath towels at 2:00am?
That was unacceptable to him!
And using paper towels was not an option.
He "wasn't given enough notice" so that he could bring more towels of his own. He insisted that he be able to use the washer and dryer one last time. (I already had about 70 clean towels ready to go.)
He said that he wrote in his advertisement to the members that towels were available and if they ran out and didn't have any, the guys wouldn't come back.

My response: NO! You can't use it! Period. End of discussion.
So, was there a 24 hour laundromat he could use?
Eventually we figured that to be our solution -- to drive a half mile if we ran out of towels.
Funny thing is, we never did.

This wasn't the first time he demanded things be his way, rather than give into the demands of the person who owns the space (not me).
He also wanted to serve liquor, which was getting guys really wasted and throwing up in garbage cans. He laughed it off as "boys will be boys," ignoring the liability of having drunks at the space. And then he continued bringing the liquor anyway saying that he wanted to finish off the supply that he had. He refused to obey the rules.
Why was he even still here?
(He stopped serving liquor.)

And he doesn't like having to clean up the space, which requires hosing down with soap and water, then sqeegeeing it to the drains. Instead, he prefers that the original (older) piss party guys schedule their parties after his and let them hose the place down -- for his party too! The nerve! Such entitlement issues.

I could overlook all the things that rub me the wrong way if he was at least a nice guy who could understand an opposing viewpoint, rather than always forcing his agenda at a place that isn't even his. His attitude was all wrong -- this is a team effort, not a party of one. We work together.

Dare I say -- it's not all about him! We don't need his party here, especially after the recent text he left:

"Ugh. Ok."

That was his response when I reminded him the washer and dryer were still not available (he tends to "forget" rules) and that he should bring extra towels.
It was the "ugh" that bothered me. I could hear his saying it. As if he was being put out once again. That he had to deal with yet another set back.

So as I set up the space before he arrived, I kept imagining how our conversation would go... how I would tell him I didn't want him to do parties here anymore and that this would be the last one.

The funny thing is, as soon as he arrived, he was an angel! And the extra towels I had purchased and washed (now totaling 104!) were more that enough -- not even half were used!

I even told him about my plans to end his party and he was aghast and said "You're joking, right?" No, I wasn't.
I shared my feelings about his views of the space and strangely it felt as though a healing was taking place. The parting yellow sea walls were gently coming back together without destroying the enemy.

But... it was a new party, so there had to be one last issue to complain about --
the sound system.

It wasn't working properly for his DJ -- who needed a speaker moved closer to him so he could mix the CDs, throwing off the balance of the other speaker. He wanted it moved.
So at his request I reluctantly unscrewed a permanently installed speaker and moved it to another location, so a small room in the back could get music.

When he realized it was better where it was before, and it had to be re-installed to its original spot, all I could do was laugh and say, "That's why I had it there to begin with."

Maybe now I'll start building an arc!