The clock strikes 2 a.m., and the bright overhead fluorescent lights snap on in the bars, as the hordes of downtown patrons snap out of their daze. That's when downtown is the most interesting—“when the bars close at two, we’re open that extra hour, and this is where they come," says Daniel Mathers, the night manager at Lumpkin Street pizzeria Little Italy.

“There’s a wide array of things you might see after hours, after the bars close," says Seth McClurg, who's worked at Little Italy since 2006. "We've caught people pissing on the floor on game days behind the game machines we used to have in the back. I've even found people sleeping in the fetal position in the bathrooms.

"A lot of times, like tonight,  it reaches a point where it's not even like a restaurant. It's a bar that sells pizza," McClurg says around 4 a.m., after an unruly Saturday night where one individual tried to steal a dozen giant sub rolls and was chased through downtown Athens by a police officer who moonlights as a security guard. “At that point, you know, it's stupid," Mathers says.

Such incidents are fairly common during the hours leading up to closing time on weekends. "Last week, someone stole some pizza, and [the security officer and an employee] chased him a block-and-a-half to catch up to him, all over a slice of pizza," McClurg says.

Photo Credit: Joshua L. Jones

The line outside Little Italy on a recent weekend night.

After a hard night walking the streets of downtown and a little too much to drink, patrons range from the best to the worst, Mathers says. "If the bar stayed open that extra hour, the bartenders would have to deal with it,” he says. “Granted, we’re a business and we're doing our jobs, but sometimes it's difficult—it becomes more than what it has to be.”

“Most of us here have either been struck or someone has attempted to strike us for trying to remove them over an argument, and there've been times we've had to defend ourselves," McClurg adds.

Restaurants are not the only businesses that stay open to cater to the late-night crowd.

“Well, first of all, here it's a convenience store, so we get everybody, all the bars, all the restaurants, everybody comes in here at the end of the night, and they can get very chaotic,” says Felix Ahmed, the general manager of the Lay-Z Shopper on Clayton Street. “Things get very crazy in here. We have to deal with a lot of shoplifters. We have to deal with a lot of people that come in and try to pee in the aisles.”

The early-morning hours of Saturday and Sunday can be some of the busiest—and most lucrative—for downtown shops that cater to the late-night crowd, “I'd say between midnight and three, on the weekends and even during the week, they know what time we close, and it's almost like there's a shift-change going on,” Mathers says. “They know what time we close, so they will leave the bar early, and we deal with it Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights. It's not to the extent that it is on Friday and Saturday nights. But it's like I said: We get people at their best and at their worst.”

Photo Credit: Joshua L. Jones

Patrons pack into Lay-Z shopper late at night.

These late-night hubs have to serve their customers while also protecting their shops. “We have more cameras than a bank in here, and somebody is always watching you,” says Ahmed.

The Lay-Z Shopper is the only 24/7 option downtown for the basics, from toilet paper to milk. “Ever go to any convenience store in Georgia, and you find a bouncer at the door telling you, ‘One in, one out’?” Ahmed asks. “Where do you ever go to a convenience store, in Georgia, and find a guy standing on top of the coolers watching for shoplifters? And on top of that, another guy sitting on the cameras watching... traffic for me. To pay someone to watch the door—we’re not a bar. We don't even sell alcohol here.”

Running the gauntlet of a night shift downtown, night after night and year after year, the one thing the Little Italy staff is sure of is that every night will hold, "something different each day,” McClurg says, “It's not like working in a factory. It's something different. It could be the different people from different places—there's always something interesting or exciting.

“Every four years you get a new wave of kids coming, and it's enjoyable,” he says. “The food industry is not for everybody. But it is what it is. Everyone that works here now, we've been here a really long time. Daniel, the night manager, has worked here for 18 years; Matt’s been here for six. I've been doing this since 2006, so about nine years.”

The restaurant is more than a day (or night) job for McClurg. “It's actually a part of my family. My brother opened up a Little Italy in Auburn, AL, with the owner of this location,” he says, “So all of us here have worked everywhere. When a new Little Italy is starting out, we've been there to work for a little while and helped out with the family. We’ve all worked together, and we all pretty much stick together. After work, we all hang out. It's a pretty tight circle. It's a fun job.”

Photo Credit: Joshua L. Jones

Matt Hudson digs for buried treasure at Little Italy at the end of the night.

The customer relationships between the man behind the counter and the customers who pop in regularly can build into more than dollars and cents—and not always for the better.

“Let's be very honest: Without our loyal and good customers, we wouldn't be here,” Ahmed says. “The store was opened up in 2008, and I started managing in 2009. And I've been here since then. ‘Til now, pretty much every year, it’s a little bit different with the new generation that comes to UGA. I've been in Athens for a long time, Athens is a beautiful city, but lately it's been getting worse—especially the downtown area.

“In my opinion, it’s the new generation—they started getting into more trouble,” he says. “People are so inconsiderate about other people’s respect. I see a lot of people trying to cut in front of this person and that person. Why? Let's just respect each other.”

Alcohol plays a big role in the business and culture of downtown Athens, but “being drunk is not an excuse,” Ahmed says. “People try to blame all of these misguided deeds on alcohol: ‘Oh, I was drunk, I was drunk.’ Guess what, being drunk is not an excuse. This is on you; you put yourself in that situation. Being drunk is not something natural, that’s something you did to yourself. You're the one that went out and spent money doing shots, and this and that, and after that, you go to any establishment, not just here, because we’re not the only ones that have to deal with it.

“‘I'm drunk’ is not going to get you out of jail. ‘I'm drunk’ is not going to get you out of a felony charge or out of a shoplifting charge,” Ahmed says. “People need to understand and realize that we work very, very hard to make sure that when customers come here with all this chaos, they're going to get in and get out safely and happy.”