For Too’s Spirits Under High, Tuesday night usually draws crowds of students with its drink specials.
Last Tuesday was no different, until an unknown woman sprayed Mace in the main room of the High Street bar shortly after midnight, prompting many to leave while others endured the physical pain from the gas.
“A little Mace goes a long way and you know when it’s in the air,” said Scott Ellsworth, owner of Too’s, in an e-mail. “Our customers and employees had to endure coughing, watery eyes, sneezing and shortness of [breath].”
When the Mace settled, the bar had lost nearly all their clientele, ending what was otherwise a successful night.
“The timing of the incident could not have been worse. Our bar was packed,” Ellsworth said. “When [she] sprayed the mace, we went from 150 people to around 30.”
Customers weren’t the only ones affected. The bar and its employees suffered losses in profit as well.
Ellsworth said the bar likely lost “at least $1,000, and $200 for the bartenders.”
But what might have been a prank hasn’t spurred the bar’s owner to reconsider security rules.
“We can’t ask someone to empty their purses and pockets and give us their Mace, that’s their personal property,” Ellsworth said. “We understand people having it, we just wish this person would have been more mature with such a serious product.”
Ellsworth said he does not know who the culprit is or why it happened, but he hopes she understands her actions.
“She screwed up a great night for us and put our customers in jeopardy,” he said. “I guess we just hope she realizes what she did and has some sort of remorse.”
For Too’s, the incident caused a temporary loss, but wasn’t devastating.
“Tuesdays are equivalent to a Friday or Saturday. We always have a crowd of people and many are regulars to the Tuesday special,” Ellsworth said. “So when something like this happens, you can’t help but take it personally. But you also can’t cry over spilled milk.”
