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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: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 13 2015, @05:34PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 13 2015, @05:34PM (#222417)

    Role playing games and cosplay, really? It's like someone watched The Big Bang Theory, missed the entire point, and decided to celebrate the very same highly-visible easily-mocked subset of geek culture that is openly mocked on the show. Here's a hint: Stuart is a loser and the comic book store is a failure. The only reason the comic book store stays in business is IT'S NOT REAL.

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  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by dyingtolive on Thursday August 13 2015, @06:34PM

    by dyingtolive (952) on Thursday August 13 2015, @06:34PM (#222449)

    No kidding. This place would attract the kind of people I go to a real bar to avoid. I have no use for people who wear glasses solely because it's "cool" and say things like "Nintendo 64 LMAO".

    As an aside, the core idea isn't a bad one, but I would say something with more of a hackerspace type theme than a "TV Geek Bar" would go much further to attracting an interested crowd less alienated by the fact that everyone there are insufferable cutsey nerd idiots.

    I'm not saying you should ask me if I want to use the circular saw after my third scotch, but a place with even something as simple as graph paper placemats/napkins, places to plug in laptops/tablets, and a cup of pencils in the condiment rack would be one I'd dump far more cash at and be infinitely more "cool" than this kitschy bullshit. A more creative person than me could probably expand upon this even further.

    --
    Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!
    • (Score: 2, Interesting) by tftp on Thursday August 13 2015, @08:33PM

      by tftp (806) on Thursday August 13 2015, @08:33PM (#222501) Homepage

      I'm not saying you should ask me if I want to use the circular saw after my third scotch, but a place with even something as simple as graph paper placemats/napkins, places to plug in laptops/tablets, and a cup of pencils in the condiment rack would be one I'd dump far more cash at and be infinitely more "cool" than this kitschy bullshit.

      I can't say how many geeks share my preferences. However I don't drink ethyl alcohol in any concentration, and I have no reason to go to a bar of any kind. IMO, nothing good will result from that. I could visit a club, though, kind of as you describe it, to do some work and to interact with similarly minded people. Graph paper, outlets, and convenient 5 GHz WiFi would be handy for that, along with a simple workbench that has a decent Metcal soldering iron and a few instruments. A ham radio station with a reasonable vertical on the roof would be also handy, and a 3D printer for those who don't own one yet... one can easily think of a few other things that a geek would be comfortable with and that don't really cost that much.

      • (Score: 2) by dyingtolive on Friday August 14 2015, @04:31AM

        by dyingtolive (952) on Friday August 14 2015, @04:31AM (#222677)

        That sounds like an actual hackerspace. Maybe what I'm looking for is something inbetween. I mean, I'm at the direct opposite from you. I do my best thinking when I'm away from work, and have had some pot or a few beers or a vicodin. It's probably an undiagnosed condition or something, but it works. In STL we have places that will give you access to that kind of stuff for a membership fee, but even those don't really have engineer/hacker types sitting around that you could buy a beer and get intelligent feedback on the idea you have bouncing around your brain. I guess feedback/conception is really what I'm wanting a palce for versus implementation, and other than immediate friends, I don't know of any place to get that around here. They're good for a lot, but I'm the only one of the lot of us who knows shit about hardware, and I'm an infant compared to some of the people I've seen here.

        --
        Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!