At half-time in the replay of this year’s All-Ireland football final, I went to buy a coffee. There were two teenage girls serving at the cafe. They had a little system going where one took the order and your money and then you waited at the end of the counter while the other made the coffee.

As the people began to gather around, the girls were under a bit of pressure, but doing well. In front of me was a well-dressed man, probably in his 60s. He became impatient and started shouting at one of them about how long he’d been waiting.

Red mist

I saw a red mist. I couldn’t resist. I went up to him and in front of his group I said: “I’ve a 17-year-old daughter who works behind a bar part-time for pocket money at weekends. If you spoke to her the way you just spoke to that girl, I’d deck [hit] you.”

He tried to defend himself, but I just walked away shaking. I never did that before, but I couldn’t help it.

I also told him if he’d a problem, he should complain to Croke Park and not to the two young girls doing their best to serve everybody.

Verbal tirade

Later that evening I witnessed another exchange in a nearby hotel. A bleary-eyed man was pushing and shoving his way to the bar gesticulating at the young barman to serve him first instead of somebody else. The young man stood his ground despite a verbal tirade of abuse and refused to serve the slob.

Last week, I was in a hotel bar in Brussels. There were two bar staff behind the counter and they were busy. The last thing they needed was me asking for a phone charger.

But the barman took me over to a portal and helped me with the not-so-complicated, although for me complicated, process of charging my phone.

Young staff working for small money in pubs and restaurants should not have to put up with drunks and bullies shouting at them

A few minutes later a man hastily approached the bar. I noticed the Irish accent.

He began to gruffly complain that he’d been waiting 40 minutes for his meal, the barwoman apologised. A few minutes later the barman rushed out with his dish apologising once more. But still, the Irishman stood up and remonstrated again about “....this is meant to be a four- or five-star hotel....”.

Mortified

The poor barman was mortified. It must be becoming a habit, but a few minutes later I retrieved my phone, finished my drink and went over to him.

“I’m Irish and you’re an embarrassment the way you just spoke there. Have some manners.” And I walked off as he started muttering something.

Now I know we’re renowned as a nation that doesn’t complain when we should in bars and restaurants; and I have in my time come across plenty of reasons to complain about shabby service.

But young staff working for small money in pubs and restaurants should not have to put up with drunks and bullies shouting at them. There are plenty of ways to complain, but young part-timers like my daughter doing their best should be above this behaviour. They deserve respect, not abuse.

Somebody told me I shouldn’t have intervened. Instead, I should have checked on the staff. Maybe they are correct. Still, it doesn’t give privileged, middle-aged men the right to throw their weight around like this.

Growing rewards

There’s little doubt but that the Green Party has the potential to reap the political benefits of working sensibly with farmers - the real custodians of the countryside.

Eamon Ryan has surely gone and undone any inroads they may have recently made in this regard by talking about reintroducing the wolf into nature and rural folk sharing cars?