It’s 2 a.m. on a Friday night and a college student rushes into a local restaurant to use the bathroom.
In the process, something — a toilet, a light bulb, a sink — gets destroyed by the intoxicated individual.
Employees will have to stay late to clean the bathroom.
It’s a storyline all too familiar for Uptown Athens establishments, which reported more than 300 complaints of property damage last year, authorities said.
However, many restaurant managers said that even though they struggle to protect their property against late-night customers, they reap too many economic benefits during the wee hours of the night to not be open late.
Jack Mende, assistant manager at Jimmy Johns, 16 S. Court St., said that with so many people coming through the doors to use the facilities, he’s seen many people abuse Jimmy Johns’ restroom privileges.
He and the rest of Jimmy Johns’ employees have seen enough.
After someone broke a recently replaced toilet two weeks ago, management there decided to lock its restroom doors when its facilities become what they consider a “biohazard” — containing broken glass, human excrement, semen and vomit, for example.
“It’s not fair to the employees. …They shouldn’t have to wade through vomit to use the bathroom,” he said. “If I don’t have the time or the resources to keep them clean, it’s worth locking the door.”
But it’s not worth shutting down before the bars close. During those risky hours between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m., Mende said Jimmy Johns stands to make $900 in sales. That income makes up for the thousands spent over the years to pay for property damage, he added.
These experiences aren’t unique to Jimmy Johns.
Big Mamma’s Burritos, 10 S. Court St., has taken precaution throughout the years to protect its property from damage.
“We used to have removable stools up front, and we had to get rid of them because drunk people were using them as weapons,” said Zach Graman, manager at Big Mamma’s. “Now the stools are bolted down.”
Graman said most customers come in from midnight to 3 a.m., and the workers can see hundreds of customers per night. They have gone without incident this year, he said.
“The cops are always pretty active about coming in here to eat while they’re making their rounds, and that keeps things pretty calm,” Graman said.
Athens City Police Chief Tom Pyle said there were 337 complaints related to Uptown property damage last year, and the department receives at least one call a day relating to property damage Uptown.
“There is a fair amount of alcohol consumption in the downtown area late at night, and it exacerbates this issue,” Pyle said. “With the clientele late at night, a large percentage of which consumed alcohol, this leads to some bad things sometimes.”
Still, Mende said most of the time drunken customers are entertaining and not harmful.
“I usually like them,” Mende said. “It only takes one to mess it up.”
eo300813@ohiou.edu
—Reporter Allan Smith contributed to this report.
