“We never talk about us. And yet, we also suffer, ”laments the cavernous voice of Pascal Barilaro. The director of the Prince’s nightclub in Thionville recalls that his branch, a full member of the union of the Hotel Trades and Industries Union (UMIH), is also bending under the weight of the coronavirus. Since mid-March, this night owl, former DJ at New-Max in Yutz, has been going to bed at an indecent hour: “Midnight, midnight thirty … Usually, this is where I start my work …”
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“A mask with a straw?” “
Difficult to redo after more than two decades of paddling in the rough waters of the night world. Pascal sometimes deceives boredom by mixing, live and in his disco, on the Facebook page The DJs of the East: “History of keeping me awake. And give joy to the confined. A musical interlude to break this silent wall that stands before him.
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“How to get out, how to reopen? I do not know. The protocol of the moment seems indeed incompatible with a night out in a club. Introduce the wearing of masks in these festive walls? “So these masks would have to be fitted with a straw,” he quips. Watch for barrier gestures on the dance floor? Difficult to imagine respecting a social distance of 2 meters even when a disco, in essence, advocates rapprochement: “We go out to have fun, to dance and also, sometimes, to seduce. Clearly, these restrictions linked to the crisis, I understand them. But it is very complicated to manage them in a night establishment. And even in a bar… ”
Waiting for a happy ending, the boss goes to the cash register. Each month, “fixed charges” fall. And lead him: “Rent, electricity bills and, especially insurance. The cost of insurance in a nightclub is enormous. At the very least, € 15,000 a year in his case. Another inescapable expense, the rights of Sacem: “About 10% of annual turnover. Pascal worries about him. And even more for his team, made up of thirteen employees, all on permanent contracts. The Prince’s wants to see the day again. Finally in the morning…
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