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posted by cmn32480 on Thursday August 13 2015, @09:09AM   Printer-friendly
from the volunteer-labor?-that'll-never-work dept.

Chicago-based "Geek Bar"-- where bartenders dress in labcoats and serve geek-themed drinks-- has been saved from financial ruin by a combination of crowdfunding by patrons, and a sizable personal loan. But The Chicago Reader asks, Geek Bar's fans rescue it from oblivion—but was it worth saving?

It sounds like a feel-good story, something inspired by the kind of movie sometimes screened at the ten-month-old bar. You know, the ones where the scrappy outcasts band together to save their beloved sanctuary from the clutches of evil. But former employees and volunteers now wonder if the bar was worth saving.

Nine and a half months after it first began slinging Cthulhu-themed cocktails, Geek Bar Beta still feels like an experiment, one that hasn't gone according to plan. Former employees say paychecks began bouncing last fall, soon after the bar opened.

The article tells a tale of a business that is obviously loved, but plagued by mismanagement, poor employee relationships, financial woes and an over-reliance on community support and free labor. What value does the "geek" label have, when the underlining business is unsustainable? What extraordinary value does the concept bring that justifies such extraordinary efforts to keep it afloat?


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  • (Score: 4, Funny) by c0lo on Thursday August 13 2015, @11:23AM

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Thursday August 13 2015, @11:23AM (#222224) Journal

    "Work For Exposure"

    WTH does this mean, is it like a striptease bar?

    slinging Cthulhu-themed cocktails, Geek Bar Beta still feels like an experiment, one that hasn't gone according to plan.

    Or is it more like slashdot?

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 13 2015, @11:40AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 13 2015, @11:40AM (#222231)

    You have to have a job to get a job, so you start with rim jobs and work your way over to blow jobs. If you're lucky someone looks at your face, and if they're drunk enough to think you're pretty, and if your makeup isn't smeared, you might move on up to tit sucking. If you're really lucky you might even find work that pays money someday.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 13 2015, @11:46AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 13 2015, @11:46AM (#222234)

      you start with rim jobs and work your way over to blow jobs

      Huh... you have it the easy way, at least your food is assured.

  • (Score: 4, Informative) by Thexalon on Thursday August 13 2015, @02:30PM

    by Thexalon (636) on Thursday August 13 2015, @02:30PM (#222311)

    "Work for exposure" is a line of BS usually fed to creative types like musicians, painters, and writers to try to convince them to work without having to pay them. The model takes advantage of the fact that aspiring creative types far outnumber those that are actually paid real money to do it professionally.

    - That singer with a guitar working open mic night? There's a good chance she thinks that's going to put her on a path to a record contract, even though that almost never happens.
    - That sculptor with a lovely art fair booth? Quite possibly hasn't sold a single statue, and that booth is basically a waste of his time and money.
    - That coffee shop with paintings with price tags on the wall? Yep, they probably haven't sold a single one, but the price tags convince the artists to help the coffee shop become a free art gallery.

    My general rule, when somebody asks me to perform music for free and says "But you'll get great exposure" is to say something along the lines of "Exposure plus $5 will get me a drink at the bar."

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    The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
    • (Score: 1) by Francis on Thursday August 13 2015, @11:50PM

      by Francis (5544) on Thursday August 13 2015, @11:50PM (#222588)

      It's also completely illegal in most cases. They can sort of get around it if you're a contractor or if you're doing it for a non-profit, but working for free is illegal.

      OTOH, having your painting up in a coffee shop is basically free advertising, as long as they let you have a URL or other contact information under it. You lose the use of that painting for a while if they can't sell it, but there's relatively little you're out anyways.