Many restaurants and bars around the world now include the new trend known as “angel shot” on their menus. This is not your typical lets-get-drunk-shot. In fact, it’s not a shot at all but instead, a code for help.
Women can ask for the angel shot when a date is not working out and when a man is making them feel unsafe. Doing this allows the bartender to know they need help. Depending on the way they order the angel shot, the bartender will know how to help them.
When ordered neat, bartenders escort the customer to their vehicle. If ordered with ice, an Uber, Lyft or cab will be called for them. But if the angel shot is asked for with lime, the bartender will know to call the police.
This initiative began in St. Petersburg, Florida a few months ago but quickly spread throughout the United States and is gaining interest in Canada.
Luisa Ospina, a fourth-year student at St. Thomas University, has worked at The Cellar Pub for four years. She said this is a fantastic idea for bars and restaurants downtown, but she thinks the university pub has no need for this code shot. Her colleagues at The Cellar agree.
“We’ve never had cases in which someone gets extremely violent or harasses another person. It is usually a pretty comfortable environment.”
Ospina said if someone feels uncomfortable they immediately tell the bartender or their waitress, who know how to handle the situation.
“Most of the people who go to The Cellar, we know who they are or recognize them. And no one goes alone to The Cellar, people go with friends to sit down and chill.”
She said the atmosphere at the university pub is very different from bars downtown.
Robyn Caldwell, a fourth-year student who worked at Klub Khrome last year, personally experienced this.
“Being in a bar, men think they have almost the right to say crude things to women as well as touch and stare just because of the bar environment,” she said. “I’ve been told to take off my clothing and to ‘turn around’ so men can see my butt. And even had some people ask if they could grab my boobs and butt. At least they asked.”
Caldwell thinks the angel shot could work well at Khrome. However, she said “[Khrome] bartenders are so busy that they’d probably ignore you. The bouncers look out for the staff more than anyone else.”
Bars and restaurants that offer this escape for women post signs in women’s restrooms with instructions on how to use this code word.
