U-Bar’s pint glasses are in short supply, dropping to a stock of only 500 out of the 3000-4000 that were bought for the bar just a few years ago. Weird, I wonder why? Hospitality Services Manager Adrian Lowrey told Critic Te Ārohi that he is “trying to buy some new ones at the moment,” but in the meantime, staff are grabbing empty glasses as soon as the last drop is gone to pre-empt klepto students.
“It’s amazing how many get smuggled out because they always catch quite a few,” said Adrian. “I don’t know where they stash them.” He mused that he’d “seen some pretty impressive collections in flat windows […] most have a few.”
The great pint glass extinction comes after the material and size of the pint glass was changed a few years ago (by Critic’s estimation). The new pint glasses are plastic and, based on measurements conducted by Critic, actually less than a standard pint. This fact was glaringly singled out last year when the price of pints increased from $5 to $6, in a move which had Radio One and Critic Te Ārohi staff up in arms.
In efforts to preserve pint glasses, staff are removing empty pints set down by their drinkers, theoretically providing more bar space and stemming the removal (theft) of pints. Although we don’t have any up-to-date information on whether this technique has worked, one of our staff did still manage to sneak a pint glass out on Wednesday, March 13th. They did report having to hide it in their pants for upwards of 30 minutes.
Five out of seven of the students Critic asked were in favour of some cheeky pint glass-nicking. Yet, of those asked, absolutely none of them had stolen a glass! Madeline said, “It’s a souvenir sort of thing, pretty common around here, so no problem.” Another student, Ngaio, said, “I mean, we pay the University a lot of money to be here so…”
Others were more brutal, with one (maybe) student saying, “I don’t condone stealing if that’s what you’re asking?” Mmmm okay. Her friend said, “That sounds pretty typical of an Otago University student,” confirming Critic’s suspicions that they hadn’t seen the pint night line in their life. Another pro-glasser told us, “Why would you want the glasses though, really?”
Only 390 students can be in U-Bar at one time, but student turnover means there’s been over 900 people in an evening. According to this maths, all the remaining pint glasses could then go in one foul swoop, unless Adrian has replaced the dwindling supply.