Bartenders are required to be a jack-of-all-trades. First, they’re culinary mathematicians who mix flavor profiles and textures to highlight (or disguise) the taste of liquor. On quieter nights, bartenders are attentive therapists. On rowdier nights, they can become combination bouncers/pro-wrestlers. Recently, the bartenders at Queen City Radio have added one more skill to their toolbox: lifesavers.
Over-the-Rhine’s favorite new indoor/outdoor hangout has partnered with nonprofit Women Helping Women to better prepare its staff — and regulars — for instances of sexual harassment and potential assault.
According to a study published by the National Institutes of Health, estimates suggest that 25 percent of American women have experienced sexual assault, and approximately half of those cases involved alcohol consumption by the perpetrator, victim or both.
“Being in the service industry over the past decade, I have experienced and witnessed countless incidents where management have not enforced policies to keep their guests and staff safe from sexual harassment,” says Queen City Radio owner Louisa Reckman.
Queen City Radio has a zero-tolerance policy for any kind of sexual harassment. The staff has been trained on how to sensitively handle these types of situations. Information for patrons who need help now — or may need help in the future — is detailed on posters, signs and coasters around the bar.
They’ve now also added a local version of the “Angel Shot” that went viral earlier this year. The “drink” was advertised in the women’s bathroom of a bar/restaurant in Saint Petersburg, Fla. with a simple sign that said: “Is your Tinder date not who they said they were on their profile? Do you feel unsafe or even just a tad bit weird? We’re here to help. Just go to the bar and order an Angel Shot.”
The shot was actually a code for the bartender: If you order an Angel Shot neat, the bartender will escort you to your car. An Angel Shot with ice signals to the bartender to discreetly call a taxi or Uber for you, allowing you to exit an unsafe situation. And if the Angel Shot is ordered with lime, the bartender will call the police.
Women Helping Women aided Queen City Radio with tweaking the viral concept to apply to patrons in need locally. Just ask for “Lexi” at the bar — the person, not a shot — and the staff will discreetly find out what kind of help you need without alarming the person you are with or escalating the situation.
“When we were thinking about our bar outreach campaign here in Cincy, I wanted to create something that was recognizable and easy for patrons to use, even if they might be intoxicated,” says Em Joy, community educator and program coordinator for Women Helping Women. “The name Lexi means ‘protector,’ which is what we are asking bar staff to become when a patron uses the code for help.”
Reckman is familiar with the potential darkness lurking in every bar — even the one she owns. QCR is a welcoming place, to be sure, but that alone doesn’t eliminate the social and safety issues that can happen below the surface at any nightlife destination.
“My goal as an owner is to do everything in my power to prevent these situations from escalating by educating my staff to identify this specific behavior and react appropriately,” Reckman says. “That starts with a no-tolerance policy of any type of sexual harassment and continues with training from Women Helping Women and It’s On Us (a national organization aimed at helping keep men and women safe from sexual assault).
“The message being that we will not allow or tolerate such behavior from anyone at Queen City Radio, and if someone needs our help they know how to bring it to our attention discreetly.”
Safety in a bar is not just a concern for patrons, but for the staff as well. Reckman has helped design a new initiative at Women Helping Women dedicated to protecting those who work at bars from harassment by holding management accountable.
“Some management can put guests’ needs in front of employee’s needs,” she says. Reckman cites seeing sexual harassment occur toward barstaff, such as groping, during her time in the service industry.
She has also hosted open dialogues for members of the local service industry in concert with Women Helping Women on how to make the Cincinnati bar and restaurant scene a safe and conscious environment.
Women Helping Women was founded as a rape crises program in 1973. It grew to address issues such as intimate partner violence and stalking and now serves more than 15,000 clients annually. That statistic is as frightening as it is necessary to hear.
“There is sometimes a sense of, ‘This doesn’t happen here,’ ” says Kendra Massey, the organization’s vice president of programming. “With the current political climate and recent media attention focused on sexual assault such as the Stanford rape case, we’ve experienced an increase in support and interest in our services and programs.
“I think there is a huge need for this type of work in every community.”
QUEEN CITY RADIO is located at 222 W. 12th St., Over-the-Rhine, qcrbar.com. To learn more about WOMEN HELPING WOMEN or contact the organization for help, call the 24-hour crisis line at 513-381-5610 or visit womenhelpingwomen.org.
This article appears in Apr 26 – May 3, 2017.
