Goodness, it's been quite an enthralling day, hasn't it? The tale of the cheap patrons versus the cranky House of Shield bartender got many of us hot and bothered. And in an effort to pour fuel on that fire -- oh, you're welcome - we contacted both the House of Shields' owner, the awesomely-named Schlomo Rabinowitz, and the anonymous bar patron who spent much of last night digging glass out of her foot.

While the patron preferred not to go on record with her name or story, we did ask Rabinowitz what went down and what he heard from the bartender in question. He tells us that "the customer in question refused to tip for a $200 bar tab," which then prompted the unidentified bartender to slam "a glass down on the side of the bar," smashing it and sending shards down to the ground.

In the end, you know, these things happen. Working with the public is difficult; working with an inebriated one is next to impossible. Then again, it was the servers job to rope the crowd in, so...group hug, ladies. (On a personal note, we're biased since we deeply love House of Shields and their bartenders. They place has a very low staff turnover rate, many of whom have been there for several years.)

Rabinowitz left us by saying, "If someone doesn't want to tip, then they shouldn't come to House of Shields."

Update: Bridges gave been built, folks. Rabinowitz tells SFist that he's throwing a personal party for the patron in question to mend fences. Aw. Life really is like a Judds song!

Altered image credit: Kenn Christ

Internet drama of the hair-pulling, eye-scratching, and feline variety is always high quality entertainment. And today Yelp has it in spades.

It seems some sort of Coyote Ugly-vs.-patrons fight went down over at the wonderful drinking establishment House of Shields last night. A gaggle of drinkers - celebrating a colleague's wedding plans no less! - were put off by a crusty female bartender. Her crimes? She allegedly had the unmitigated gall to ignore the female patrons (welcome to a man's world, ladies), curse/spray water at bar patrons, and throw shattered glass at people.

We're so going there tonight.

Anyway, some Yelpers, who fell victim to the brutal bartender's barrage, are saddened and surprised. Here is just a sample of what went down:

- Lucy C.: "...slow service + discrimination against women customers + cursing at the customers + spraying water at the customers + throwing a glass????? really??? i'm SHOCKED"

- Melissa C.: "When I was about to order another round of drinks for the 10 or so of us, 15 minutes after standing at the bar, and waving down the bartender, she finally made eye contact with me and said in a very rude tone that it would take a bit to help me. She then proceeded to serve a gentleman who had just walked in, then another guy at the bar. So as she walked by again I said "let me just close out me tab." When she handed me the check, I told her she should know we wouldn't probably spend double our tab (which was already $200 when I closed it out), to which she gave me a thumbs-up and muttered "bitch" under her breath. As I walked away, she tried to spray me with soda, although her terrible aim missed me, but my colleagues weren't as fortunate when she THREW A GLASS THAT SHATTERED ON US."

According to the fine folks over at The Sword (NSFW), the GayVNs (NSFW) will be held here on Saturday -- you know, those homosexual pornography achievement awards, which led to Mayor Gavin Newsom getting all Berkeley City Council on us after he declared Feb. 23 to be Colt Studio Day last year? -- coinciding with that hairy-large-gay-appreciation festival thing happening.

Anyway, last year the GayVNs had comedienne and social critic Kathy Griffin hosting the show. From what we heard she was a phenomenal success. But this year the AVN/GayVN committee refused to pay her performance fee, deciding to go in a cheaper direction with their emcee: that blond drag queen Lady Bunny. Allegedly unthrilled with the snub by the GayVNs sponsors, Griffin scheduled a show at the Castro Theatre this Saturday night for the bears, the same night as the awards show. Our sources tell us:

...essentially the main sponsors of the awards, AVN/GayVN, decided not to spring for the Castro Theater and not to pay Kathy Griffin’s high appearance fee this year, opting instead for the Gift Center and a couple of F-list satellite radio stars (and Lady Bunny). So then Kathy, miffed, and knowing she has an audience here, decided to mount a competing show at the Castro the same night.

Silly gays.

Anyway, is it true? Who cares. Where's our after-party invite? And remember to be on watch this weekend for Griffin, hairy men, GayVN attendees/Ryan Seacrest apologists, and scores of twinks sporting pupils dilated to the size of dinner plates.