It is the norm for certain locations to be crowded, but there was something different about the gathering at a fast-food outlet on Orange Street, downtown Kingston, yesterday.

That difference was that almost everyone gathered there wanted to witness Usain Bolt run in the men's 200m finals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Many at the location missed the race, however. Why? There was this one customer who could not find a vacant seat after buying a patty because many of those seated were just 'loitering'. After unsuccessfully trying to find the customer a seat, the supervisor took matters into her own hands, literally. She grabbed the remote and pointed it at the television, threatening to turn it off minutes before the race started. All hell broke loose.

"But kiss mi ... ! Wait! My girl, a wha yuh a deal wid?" shouted one man from the far left.

"Mi a turn off the TV because nuff a unnu a tek up de seat and de customers dem waan siddung," the supervisor responded.

Insults

Her response was met with a barrage of the most colourful words in the Jamaican dialect and a few shouts of "Please! Nuh turn it off. We waan see Bolt," and "If yuh turn it off, yuh disrespect Jamaica."

The supervisor tried turning off the television some 20 times, but the remote did not work. She then called one of the bakers from the back and assigned him the task. He, too, was met with a violent string of comments. Luckily, the remote still did not work.

Both the baker and the supervisor eventually gave up and some 'loafers' voluntarily gave up their seats at this point.

Less than 20 seconds later, Bolt bolted across the finish line in 19.30 seconds, breaking Michael Johnson's 12-year-old record of 19.32. Hell broke loose in Juici Patties, again. This time, tables, chairs, garbage bins and everything else in sight were pounded by the ecstatic viewers in celebration of the historic win.

A few joked that it was now okay if the supervisor wanted to shut the television off.