take it somewhere else

While reading about LES music venue Tonic's financial woes, I recalled many a pleasant evening I've spent there. I also remembered one particular night when the men's and women's rooms were both out of order, surely a sign of problems ahead. Patrons were instructed to try the Lansky Lounge across the street. I held out for as long as I could before venturing into the entirely empty L Lounge, at which point a seated bartender told me that the restrooms were reserved for customers only (though I feel like they must have agreed to the arrangement at some earlier time). My current state of searching the streets made me a little cranky, so I had to point out the imaginary nature of these L Lounge customers to the bartender before I received a much more welcome reception at Schiller's. And yet I returned to Tonic again after that evening. That's saying something.