by Debbi | May 16, 2011 | Bachelorette Parties, Birthday Party, Guest Blogs, Our Ghost, Pub Crawl, Stories
Here's a guest blog from long-time bartender Heather, works the Friday 5-9 shift. Last Friday was Heather's first shift back after several days off, and it happened to be Friday the 13th. Welcome back, Heather!
Friday the 13th, another Friday night down at The Sandbar- or so I thought walking in the door. That was before five bar crawls, a bachelorette party and a birthday celebration made their way through our doors. Yes, that’s right: five bar crawls in just four hours.
One group of bar crawlers got out the super long shotski, one group sang their sorority song, there were matching T-shirts, Dirty Banana shots, Shark Attacks, Bahama Mamas, broken glassware, yelling, hugging, and photo-taking. One group had a guy calling out the remaining time in the bar, which, having been on a bar crawl or two, I thought was awesome.
Most of our patrons were quite patient with the ruckus and, in fact, seemed amused by all of it. In addition to all of the festivities we had old friends, new friends, a just-turned-21-year-old and his family, a cute little guy in his stroller, a soon-to-be-married couple out on a date, a potential romance blooming and, of course, some KU Grads.
Personally, I think the ghost may have even been in attendance as well. We have a handy step stool for those of us who aren't Dave’s height. I was getting down from pulling a couple of T-shirts and missed the bottom step. Instead of crashing to the floor I just kind of… landed. Okay, so it isn’t that far to the ground, but I am a klutz of the highest order. Which was unfortunate for Phil on this particular night as I did actually stomp on his foot once or twice.
At the end of it all I can’t help but think that Jimmy Buffet could probably turn this particular night into one heck of a song!
The night was so full of entertainment that we'll have several more guest blogs from Heather about the evening. Stay tuned!
by Debbi | Jul 30, 2010 | Our Ghost
The Sandbar ghost seems to be making frequent appearances lately. Here's an excerpt from our "door diary" about the ghost's recent contact.
It was a sweltering hot Monday night at the Sandbar in the middle of July. It was closing time and the two employees, Tyler and Fyler, thought they were all alone. At 2:07 a.m., Fyler's phone rang and logged a conversation lasting six seconds.
Confused, Fyler asked Tyler "Why are you calling me?"
Tyler looked at his phone and realized it had made no such call.
Have you ever felt like you weren't alone in the Sandbar at closing time?
This is the first story we've heard about the ghost making phone calls. In the past, he's hidden money, knocked trashcans down the stairs, or messed with the fish tank.
Wonder what he'll do next?
by Debbi | Jul 5, 2010 | Our Ghost
Last night, Dave got a phone call.
"Did you pull money out of the change bank when you were here earlier?" Joe asked.
"No," Dave responded. "Why?"
"Well, I know there was a hundred dollar bill in there. I saw it earlier. And now I can't find it anywhere."
Dave sighed and drove back to the bar to look for the missing money. Between him, John and Joe they tore the place apart. They looked under the register, between the liquor bottles and in all of the usual "hiding places" things disappear into at the bar. And believe me, things disappear. And a hundred dollars is kind of a big deal.
No luck. Finally, Dave pulls out the ones and fives from the register to count them yet again. Halfway through the bundle of five dollar bills, he found the missing hundred.
"That's nuts. I swear I counted that bundle earlier and that bill wasn't there," said John.
The ghost strikes again.
by Debbi | Jun 15, 2010 | Guest Blogs, Our Ghost
Here's a little story from our friend and customer Bailey.
My coworker and I had gotten food and brought it in- we were starving and didn't think we should start in on the Pink Flamingos on an empty stomach. We were sitting in the little corner table by the fish tank. Trivia was happening, it was more crowded than I thought it would be but I guess I'd never been there on a Thursday during trivia before.
Anyway, I could tell there was definitely a group of trivia "regulars," and there seemed to be another guy who was playing but was maybe a newbie – he wasn't really talking to anyone. I wasn't paying attention to the trivia because my friend and I were gossiping and complaining about our jobs (sometimes, you have dark days).
At one point there was some rumbling that sounded like thunder but then we realized it was coming from upstairs. The place got mostly quiet, and then it sounded like someone was running down the stairs. Someone shouted "it's the ghost" and we all chuckled.
A moment later we knew it wasn't as the ghost, as quiet trivia guy came barreling out from the stairwell running straight at the aquarium.
And then we all ended up soaked and the place was flooded because some crazy trivia guy flipped out and crashed the aquarium.
If it had happened. Which it did not.
*Recently I put a desperate call out for stories for this blog, and I thought I was going to have to start making up stories. Fortunately, I don't have to, since we have friends who will make things up for us. Rest assured, the aquarium is intact and the fish are safe. The ghost, however, is laughing at us all.
by Debbi | Apr 6, 2010 | Our Ghost
I found this letter in the doorguys' notebook. We keep this notebook for staff to write about problems, incidents, or funny stuff that happens on their shift. It began as a way for Dave to know what was happening, but now it mostly provides fodder for this blog.
I should also tell you that this entry was dated 11/31/08. And it was written in purple pen. And it was unsigned.
To The Ghost:
So, I've worked here a little over a year now and the trash can has never fallen down the stairs on my time, but now it falls down the stairs about three times a week. I remember in the movie "Ghost" when Patrick Swayze meets the ghost that always is hitting and knocking crap over and then he teaches Swayze how to do it by focusing his emotion on his intended target.
What I'm trying to communicate to you, Ghost, is stop knocking the trash can down the stairs because it's getting really lame.
The trash can referenced above is used for fish tank maintenance and stored on the stairs that go to the basement. Did you know we have a basement? You can get there through the women's restroom, but I don't recommend it. It's scary.
I'm pretty sure this was written by Joe. Can anyone confirm?
by Debbi | Nov 10, 2009 | Our Ghost, People
Who broke the freezer?
That was the hot topic around the Sandbar office last week. (Yes, we have an office. It's not your typical office, but it works.)
The freezer in question is the small one behind the bar that Dave added somewhat recently in an effort to bring back the popular frosty beer mugs. One day, it just stopped working.
The detectives on our staff tried to determine who broke it by figuring out when it last worked and who was on shift at that particular time.
Andrew created a handy flow chart on the whiteboard:
So, what do you think? Was it the ghost? Or was it Joe? The ghost has been known to pull some crazy stuff around here….but so has Joe. It's a toss up.
