Paper Chase

By John Geluardi

O’Reilly’s on Green Street is probably one of the more popular and authentic Irish pubs in the city; good food, a wide selection of beer and lovely barmaids who speak with intoxicating brogues that summon lilting images of pastoral green fields, Aran-knit sweaters and peat-warmed crofters cottages.

But some customers and employees have complained that cell phone reception at the pub is bad and that’s why bartender Orla Niland was a caught off guard last Sunday.

Word has it that a customer was sitting at the bar enjoying a morning pint when he pushed back from the bar and ambled to the rest room at the back of the pub. It wasn’t much later that the bar’s phone rang. Niland answered and was surprised to hear the customer’s voice. There was no toilet paper in the bathroom. He was stranded and wanted to know if she could perhaps deliver a fresh roll to him.

Now it’s not that Niland was unconcerned about her customer’s misfortune, but she was so surprised that his cell phone actually worked in the bar that she blurted out “Jeeze, what network do you use?”