Associated Press
OSLO, Norway — What the new bouncer at a Norwegian pub lacks in brawn, she more than makes up in experience: She’s a 91-year-old great-grandmother.
"I can be pretty strict if I have to. In fact, I am good at talking to people, much better than using my fists," Marta Aurenes was quoted as saying in the Rogalands Avis newspaper on Thursday.
Police in the west coast city of Stavanger are imposing a rule that all bars and pubs must have bouncers on the weekends to prevent trouble.
So, Odd Noreger, owner of the Skjenkestuen pub, offered the job to his oldest regular guest.
"We have a little pub off the beaten track with a lot of regulars. We’ve operated for 15 years without any trouble, but now we have to have a bouncer we don’t need. So this is kind of a mild protest," Noreger said by telephone from Stavanger, about 185 miles west of the capital, Oslo.
Noreger said Aurenes started coming to the pub when she was 86. She discovered that she loved jazz and kept coming back.
"She is a fantastic woman in every way," Noreger said.
Aurenes doesn’t expect any trouble, although she has been working out with weights three times a week and will go through a required police training course for bouncers.
"It’s an advantage that I know the guests," she was quoted as saying. "Everyone is so nice that I want to tell all grandmothers and great-grandmothers who don’t feel secure out on the town: Come here to a safe place."
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