YOUR LETTERS

AS a former Bar Owner in Calvia, I can sympathise with the Punta Ballena businesses about the lack of trade; but I have no sympathy with complaints of the Council being ‘heavy handed' with fines.

Personally, one of the reasons I voted for Delgado was because of his promise to get those nuisance PRs, often referred to as ‘Ticket Touts', off the streets. This included those very-often aggressive Timeshare sellers, all about which I heard frequent and serious complaints from our valuable holidaymakers.

My contention has always been that from the bar-owners' point of view, if there were NO PRs, then all of the bars would be playing on an even field and the holidaymakers will go into the bars that they favour - without coercion. This has proved to be the case and the Punta Ballena has improved no end. Plus we can stroll along our beautiful beach promenades without being accosted by smooth-talking (and often ignorant) pseudo-salesmen and girls purporting to be ‘taking a survey' to get you into a taxi and pressured into a timeshare sale.

If the bar owners in the Punta Ballena decide to break the law by continuing to employ often illegal workers to get people into their bars, then they should NOT be fined 6'000€, 10 or 12'000€; they should be fined 50'000€ and CLOSED DOWN for the duration of the rest of the season. That way, the bars who work within the law will benefit and flourish.

All power to ‘Los Municipales'.

Norman MacLeod, Palma Nova

Dear Sir, RE: THE “PARETO PINT”?
YOU have probably heard of the Pareto principle – the 80-20 rule or “the law of the vital few”. It can be applied to many areas of business, even a bar. The principle says that you will be making around 80% of your turnover from 20% of your products, so make sure you know your “20%” and make sure you never run out of these items.

I believe that the Pareto principle has been developed even further by some bar owners on the Island as they have introduced the “Pareto Pint”.
Where a bar is advertising “pints”, you will almost certainly be served a 16 fluid ounce glass which is only 80% of a true pint. So when you see a “pint” of your favorite beer advertised at 4 Euros, you are actually paying almost 5 Euros per imperial pint, as served in the UK.

If it is legal practice in Spain to call 80% of a pint “one pint”, perhaps petrol stations should dispense 80% of a liter – still calling it a liter as it is “close enough” in Spanish law.

Most British holidaymakers compare the drinks served per pint with the price they would pay for the same back home. The sad thing is they are comparing apples with pears due to the deception of the “Pareto Pint”.

Ice in your drink can ruin your comparison even further. To see the effect for yourself, ask for half a pint with no ice. Now pour your half pint drink into a “pint” glass with 4 ice cubes and hey presto - you will now appear to have a full pint!

Mark Masters
Andratx