Post #704754 by swizzle on Thu, Jan 16, 2014 1:33 AM

When i was visited the U.S. in 2012 i was looked after extremely well by just about all of the establishments i went to, especially by the managers at the Kon Tiki in Tuscon and the now sadly defunct Bahooka. I have no doubt that being from Australia and that the sole purpose of my trip was to travel to as many tiki bars/restaurants as i could definitely worked in my favour.

I was more than happy to pay for any menus but fortunately had them just given to me. When i went to Trader Sam's and was handed one of the menus the first thing i asked was if they were available for sale and was told that they weren't. Needless to say i was extremely disappointed but one of the girls who was in the group i was with 'acquired' one for me. I certainly was not going to stop her but i did tell her not to, only because i didn't want anything happening to her if she was caught.

Now all i have to say is that any and all establishments that do not offer their menus, mugs, swizzle sticks, etc. for sale are FOOLS and it serves them right if things are stolen. I think it is blatantly obvious that the majority of mugs and all other ephemera from the tiki bars of yesteryear found in thrift stores and on eBay would have been 'acquired'.

If it costs $1.50 to have a menu printed, sell it for $2. You are going to please the customer, not lose money, and even for those menus that are still stolen they'd at least cover their costs and break even. And when you are talking about a menu like the one at Trader Sam's, that's just like a red rag to a bull. People are going to steal them no matter what, even if you could buy them, but if you don't even offer them for sale to start with, what do you expect.