Club hockey goalie Brent Pitts lunges for a save during the first period of a game against Missouri State last semester at Pepsi Ice Midwest. At Friday evening's game against Missouri, played in the same stadium, the Jayhawks fell to the Tigers, 5-4.
Thursday, March 1, 2007
Ebony Simon knows how to spot a small-time crook in his bar. He’s got an eye for it.
“If you’ve got a bulge on your way out that you didn’t have when you got there, you probably stole something,” Simon said.
Simon is a bartender and doorman at Louise’s Bar Downtown, 1009 Massachusetts St. Like many of his peers, he has grown accustomed to customers trying to get away with theft — petty and otherwise. An employee at The Hawk, 1340 Ohio St., reported the theft of ten keg shells from the bar last week, but bartenders said most bar burglaries were on a smaller scale. Simon, for example said he only knew of one incident when people tried to steal keg shells, but they were caught by a doorman. He said the most common objects of attention at Louise’s were the bar’s trademark Schooner glasses. Sometimes people try to walk out of the bar holding the glasses, with beer still in them.
“Everybody and their mother wants a Schooner,” Simon said.
Other items that frequently go missing include tip jars, shot glasses and other things that patrons think will look cool in their houses.
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Everybody and their mother wants a Schooner.
- Ebony Simon, bartender and doorman at Louise’s Bar Downtown
Danny Loentel, bartender at The Sandbar, 17 E. 8th St., said the fastest disappearing items at his bar were Guiness spoons, which are used for mixing Black and Tan beers. Loentel said the spoons only cost a few dollars, but it was annoying when they went missing.
“We had one, it got stolen, so we got a new one. It got stolen,” Loentel said with a sigh. “I guess it’s a cool little trick, to say that you stole it.”
Loentel could only laugh at the second-most commonly “stolen” item: glasses that the bar gives away as part of its Bahama Mama promotion. He said he commonly saw people try to sneak away with the decorated glasses, even though they were included in the price of the drink.
“You look over, and you see someone sticking them into a pocket or a purse,” Loentel said. “I don’t know if they don’t realize they paid for it or not.”
Both Loentel and Simon agreed that it was rare for anything major to turn up missing, and Simon said attentive bartenders could make the difference.
“They want to say, ‘Hey, look what I stole in college’,” Simon said. “We just keep an eye out, and that’s usually enough.”
Kansan staff writer Erick R. Schmidt can be contacted at eschmidt@kansan.com.
— Edited by Jyl Unruh
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