That Awkward Moment When A Pub Has To Bribe You To Put Your Phone Away

You know that awkward moment when you’re on your phone in a bar with your friends and suddenly notice a stunned silence surrounding you? Your pals are trying to get your attention, but you are well and truly lost in a technical reverie of WhatsApp, Facebook or Twitter and completely ignoring those physically closer to you.

One bar in Galway, Ireland has come up with an answer. After noticing a bunch of clientele, all silently lost in their phones, the barkeeper of Whiskey’s Loughrea made a plan. On the pub’s Facebook page they noted that they understood, everyone loves their phones and it is most probably the best invention ever, but on a Saturday night in the pub, a cellphone can become the worst invention of all times.

According to Entertainment, it was quiet in the pub for a Saturday night and there were four ladies, out enjoying a few drinks. The barkeeper attempted to get a conversation going with them, making the odd – admittedly bad – joke, but even that rather awkward moment couldn’t get them away from their phones. He reckoned that most of the time, at least three out of the four were using their phones and making no conversation whatsoever. One girl sat there, looking lost and alone, patiently waiting for one of her friends to take notice and maybe chat to her.

The barkeeper felt the ladies were completely missing the point of going out to a pub to socialize on a Saturday night by not interacting socially with others, or even with their own group of friends. Now the pub has officially made a plan to attempt to cure what it calls the “epidemic of over-usage.”

They understand if people want to take a few group selfies, or check their status every now and then, but these days if a group is sitting together between 8:00 p.m. and closing time, the barkeeper offers to put their phones in a secure lock box for 30 minutes. If the group agrees to comply, and manages to do without the technology for the full 30 minutes, they all win a complimentary drink on the house.

At that point they might even realize how much more fun it is to physically interact with each other, instead of some distant pal over the ether and end up having a good laugh at the situation.

Galway pub, Whiskey’s in Loughrea, offers free drinks to punters who stay off their phones for 30 minutes.Good stuff! http://t.co/dgZ50DkQzI

— Sarah Kenny (@SarahKenny2) January 16, 2015

This brings to mind a meme doing the rounds on the Internet of a chalkboard outside a restaurant or cafe which reads, “We have no WiFi. Speak to each other.” Wise words indeed.

Have you ever had that awkward moment when you found out you really should have been paying attention to those around you, rather than that plastic object in your hand?

Speaking of having an awkward moment, the Inquisitr recently reported several that happened at the recent Golden Globes, including a spectacular one between Jennifer Lopez and Jeremy Renner, where she said she should open the envelope because she has the nails and he said, while gazing at her chest, “You’ve got the globes too.”

[Image: Not actually the ladies in question – CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 Scott Beale / Laughing Squid]