Witnesses of the night

You’re drunk. They’re sober.

Lundagård has spoken to the people working while the students are partying.

These are their worst drunken stories.

Miljan Andric, cab driver

– Driving students from parties to the nations usually is a lot of fun. They’re happy and want loud music and many of them ask if they can try the cab radio. Driving them home is another story; they’re really wasted and often fall asleep in the cab.

Miljan Andric has been a cabby with 121212 for two years and has seen his share of students at night.

– Most of them love to sing in the car, especially old songs. Last week I drove a bunch who kept singing the theme song from ”The Muppet Show” really loud, all the way to Malmö. On the same night, around 4 a.m., I picked up three guys who wanted me to drive them to Kastrup since they had decided to take a plane to Spain, he says.

Miljan Andric has had to help some tipsy passengers many times and in many ways.

– Once, there was this really wasted girl who fell flat on her face the minute she got out of the cab. When I got out to talk to her, she slurred “it’s cool, I’ll just sleep right here”. I felt a bit sorry for her though, so I helped her up and then carried her to the house. Another time, I drove a girl from Sparta to a nation and also got to drive her home the same night. By that time she was so sloshed she no longer knew where she lived. I had to drive her to the same place where I picked her up and then tell her where to go.

Noureddin al-Mossalmani, food vendor

On an average Friday and Saturday night they sell fifty to a hundred falafel rolls at Lunds Grill och Falafel. The rush is at its worst after 1 a.m., when all the party animals get tired and hungry.

– It’s easy to spot the students, he says. They behave somewhat badly when they’re drunk. I don’t think they can hold their liquor. And they mostly order falafel, since it’s so cheap. But most of the time they’re happy and agreeable, and sometimes they speak English, Noureddin al-Mossalmani says.

At night, he often gets pretty odd orders:

– A lot of people ask for kebab without kebab and sometimes they want falafel without falafel. Perhaps they think they’ll get 15 kronor off?

At 4 a.m. Lunds Grill och Falafel closes, but some people are still not ready to go home.

– Very often someone falls asleep eating. But when we wake them up and ask them to leave they usually do as they are told, Noureddin al-Mossalmani says.

Gazmend Tahiri, bus driver

“The wheels on the bus go round and round”, Gazmend Tahiri hums while the photographer takes photos of him. He likes his job, mostly because of the friendly people he meets.

– The night buses from Vildanden, Norra Fäladen and Delphi are always packed with people on weekends, but everyone’s so happy it doesn’t matter anyway.

Gazmend Tahiri gives the students top grades in manners. Most of the time anyway.

– The other day a couple in the back of the bus were making out, practically having sex. Sometimes people are sitting there bent forward, throwing up on the floor. It can be a bit of a hassle when they’re drunk. They push the stop button at every stop but no one gets off, they just want some fresh air.

A lot of people smoke while at the bus stop, and when they’re drunk they sometimes forget to put out their cigarettes before getting on.

– I remember this one guy in particular, who thought he had put out his cig and put it in his pocket. After a while his jacket began smoking – that was kind of scary.

Is it common for people to fall asleep on the bus?

– All the time. Once when I had taken the bus to the garage after a night shift, I found a guy sleeping on the floor between two seats. When I woke him up he looked at me, still half asleep, wondering why there where buses everywhere. I had to drive the poor kid home in my own car.

Zenona Sederlin, cleaner

Vomit, completely wrecked sinks and feces in bowls – nothing surprises Zenona Sederlin, who has been cleaning in AF-borgen for seven years.

– Mostly it’s a fun job. I like young people and all the people in here are so nice. But after there’s been a big party here the place can look like a complete mess the next day. There are napkins, cups and broken glass everywhere. We used to have a lot of problem with sinks falling down.

Sinks falling down?

– Well, you know…the girl is sitting on the sink and the rest you can figure out yourself.

Puke is the worst to clean up, Zenona Sederlin says, and there are plenty of those here and there. The bigger the party, the more vomit, that’s the rule.

Do you ever find odd things the morning after?

– Oh, yes. We’ve found panties, socks and condoms. One time, after a ball, we found a guy in tails sleeping in the bathroom. He had pulled down his pants and used them as a barfbag, but when we got there he just had to put his pants on and leave. And once there was a bowl with poo in it down in the kitchen.

But Zenona Sederlin emphasizes that almost all the students behave well and that things have become orderly in AF-borgen the last two years.

– The carnival was fantastic. When we got back to AF-borgen they had cleaned it so minutely.

Back to the drunken stories. Zenona Sederlin especially remembers one event:

– I got here in the morning and when I opened the front door I saw a guy standing on the platform in front of the toilets, peeing straight down at the entrance. Haha, he looked like a fountain.

Alexander Andersson, bartender

At Herkules Bar, where Alexander Andersson works, they are busy as always during weekends. Both students and “civilians” go there to party.

– The students prefer drinking cheaply, and are mostly very happy and spontaneous, he says. What characterizes them, though, is that they always forget stuff here. We’ve found all sorts of things, from bowling balls to sex letters, but mostly jackets. They usually come here the day after, a bit ashamed, to get their jackets. Especially during winter, they realize how drunk they must have been, having left with no jacket, Alexander Andersson says.

What’s so fun about working in Lund, he continues, is that there are a lot of new faces.

– You get to meet quite a lot of new students who want to make a show of having been in the game for a while. They’ll order, for example, whisky on the rocks with no ice or a cup of coffee in a glass. This is very typical to Lund, and I find it charming.

He has seen a lot during the years and the funniest incidents are collected in an old, faded pad.

– One of my colleagues was waiting on the tables outside when this guy jumped over to the roped-off area, just like that. When she pointed out that he couldn’t do that he asked; “eh, you work here, or what?” which she affirmed and the guy came out with “cool, I’ll have a beer.”

John Wang, DJ

Three years ago, John Wang launched his DJ career and it was at the nations in Lund he had his first gigs. Today, approximately 800 hours of jockeying and 20 000 songs later, he runs the company recordspin.se together with Robert Olofsson.

– What’s so unique about nations is that people are so happy. Compared to regular pubs, the guests at nations are more bent on having fun than looking good and being cool, John Wang says.

From the DJ booth he sees all types of pick up strategies:

– I’ve seen one guy doing the same thing a couple of times. He walks up to the girl and pulls up his top and then flexes his abs. With various results. Guys studying technology also have a certain technique. They’ll form a circle around their victims and then dance closer and closer. It’s almost like they think that the most spastic move will win the girl.

– Many are those who try an exhaust tactic as well, and it actually works amazingly often. The guy walks up to the girl and makes a move, she disses him, and a second later he’s back and so it goes on. Eventually she’ll be too tired to care and the guy gets to make out, John Wang says.