ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact
Stephanie Carlin is the toast of her small West Betootanese friendship circle this morning after the 23-year-old successfully negotiated an almost-unheard-of $15-a-head cover charge for her and four friends last night at the infamous Pink Weathersock Nite Spot on Diamantina Parade.
Using all her skills as a study-by-distance law student, the 23-year-old was able to talk the doorman down from the typical Wednesday night gouge of $35 to less than half that.
“He was a tough cookie,” she said. “But on the night, I was tougher.”
Refusing to back down, even when her friends told her not to worry about it, Carlin’s tenacity and unquenchable thirst to come out on top ultimately won.
The tricky part was her close friend, Sam, who had quite a bit to drink before being thrown out of The Betoota Hotel shortly before midnight last night. Struggling to find another place open in town, the quintet decided to try their luck at the Pink Weathersock.
“I told the bouncer that Sam has Bell’s palsy, which was why he was swaying about and slurring his words,” she said. “That was off-the-cuff, too – and he bought it.”
The door staff at the notorious Pink Weathersock are infamously tricky to get past. There’s a smorgasbord of unofficial rules, dress codes and social customs that one must be aware of before even trying to gain access to the Channel Country institution.
“Lucky we were all relatively sober white folk in high-top boots. If you both of those things, you can get in anywhere.”
