Capitalism is Good

I'm sitting in a hotel lounge in Antwerp, enjoying a nightcap and working on a couple of PowerPoint decks. When I walked in (around 23:45), the barman was just beginning to clean up from the viewing aftermath of Turkey's *unbelievable* comeback win over the Czechs in Euro Cup 2008. I mean, *I* got excited about soccer tonight, scarily enough.

When I walked into the empty bar and asked if they were still serving, I received the standard look of "Eh, do I want to deal with this guy?" To the barman's credit, he drew me a pint. About 5 minutes later, a group of nearly 20 people walked in, begging the barman to draw them a nightcap. He agreed; since then, another 25 people from the same crowd have walked in.

Net-net, if you're in a capitalist society--unless local law prohibits it--the proper answer to "You open?" as closing time nears is always YES. Whether you're a bar, a restaurant, a clothing store, pretty much anything but a jeweler or a bank--make the customer happy, and you never know what kind of good karma will come along.

Judging from the number of orders, the more than 70 drinks purchased has more than paid for the lights, an extra hour for the barman, and a whole bunch more.

Bravo!