Don't Boast About the "Hot Bartender" at Your Tech Meetup
As tech communities on both coasts grapple with issues of gender inclusion and harassment, casual meetups will be more and more important. But this is definitely one of the worst places you can meet.
Tomorrow night, a group of Stack Overflow users—a sort of tech Q&A social network—will convene at Patriot Saloon in Manhattan, pictured above. Hmm. It should be fun! Likeminded people in similar professions, talking about work, play, and whatever else. A meeting of the minds.
Get excited for the NYC MeetUp! It is 3 days overdue. Let's do this right, let's do this soon.
We are meeting at The Patriot Saloon
So far so good. What else?
We'll have the entire second floor space with pool table, hot eastern European bartender, seating, and specials! $3 Bud, Bud Light and Coors Light $4 Mixed Well Drinks 10% off Food See you there! Bring your friends!
Oh, come on, you idiots. A quick glance at New York magazine's summary of Patriot Saloon indicates this is probably not a "welcoming space" for people who aren't "straight dudes" or even "middle school boys."
Run by the same people who brought us Yogi's—the same people rumored to hire bartenders by putting out a sign reading "Drunk Sluts Wanted"—the Patriot is gloriously, unabashedly, just a little pornographically, all about the boobage. It's a two-story bar bannered in "lost" bras, but the primary décor comes chiefly in the form of various types of mammaries: the massive ones of the bartenders (who appear on a Flickr fan-club gallery, "Ladies of the Patriot Saloon"), the attention-seeking ones on the girls-night-out gangs grooving on the bar-top, and the quivering manboobs on the unshaven peanut gallery wedged up against the bar. Pabst is ordered by the $8 pitcher; all other drinks are superfluous. There are also $1.75 burgers, though nobody seems to be eating them.
Well, at least the burgers are cheap. If you feel like being part of the problem, sign up right here.
