Responsibly Serving Alcohol

[Ricardo]

At various times there have been laws from liquor boards designed to avoid consuming too much alcohol, or consuming it to quickly.

For example in bars, there was a trend to sell "shooters" in test tubes. It was an interesting novelty, but I believe it became illegal because you couldn't set the tube down as you could a normal glass, and the thinking was that this prompted the customer to drink it more quickly.

There also used to be the novelty of a "yard of ale" in pubs.

Has anybody heard of local liquor laws changing to avoid over consumption of alcohol?

[shinningstar]

I haven't heard such thing in my place. All pubs in my town have no liquor laws. Hope it will be implemented here. Do you think liquor law is effective in your place Ricardo?

[crassus]

The biggest law or laws that I have heard of are the ones that hold the sellers of alcohol accountable for too much consumption. I find it ridiculous because who is to say where a person who visits a number of places in one night actually goes over the limit. In turn, some place gets in trouble and a number of people get fired after an intoxication that for all anyone knows could have occurred at home.

[Ricardo]

I think part of the solution is to avoid serving to people who are close to the limit. There is a program that servers take in this area that trains them to recognize subtle tips that people may be impaired.

Also, usually from business point of view, a bar owner doesn't want someone getting drunk elsewhere and then nursing a drink in his/her establishment.

I think the liquor laws here are effective, but should be open to review.

[QuietLunatic]

There was talk in the past year or so of enacting a law holding HOSTS at a party responsible for their guests' drinking after someone left a party, drove drunk and killed someone. However, the hosts of a party can't be responsible for the drinking someone has done before they come over, and even if they tried to keep that person from drinking in their house, they're not going to be able to sober that someone up. I think the best anyone can hope for is to grab the car keys and have a designated driver sitting around.

[Ricardo]

The legal responsibility of someone other than the drunk person can become complicated in courts.

Years ago I heard of a case of a bar owner who put a drunk into a taxi, the taxi was in an accident and the drunk sued the bar owner for putting him into the taxi.

[crassus]

I think part of the solution is to avoid serving to people who are close to the limit. There is a program that servers take in this area that trains them to recognize subtle tips that people may be impaired.

Also, usually from business point of view, a bar owner doesn't want someone getting drunk elsewhere and then nursing a drink in his/her establishment.

I think the liquor laws here are effective, but should be open to review.


My big thing is, because I am a server, that I have no real way to tell if someone has had to much. Some people it is easy to tell, while some are not. Plus like I said, what if a person that I served a couple of beers to, and was just fine when he/she left the restaurant, goes to a bar or even home, and then drinks a lot more and then gets into a big wreck. Will the alcohol get tracked back to me. From what I have heard, there is no real way to tell and it will be a coin toss as to whether or not I get fired. Naturally, I do not approve of this and think it is just not right.

[Ricardo]

I definitely agree that a server shouldn't be held responsible for what a person drinks after leaving the serving establishment.

And there have been some crazy court decisions. Have you heard of a server being charged when the person served drank to excess after leaving a bar?

[crassus]

That's the thing. How can you tell where the alcohol was actually consumed and when the person went over the limit? The only real records are the restaurant or bar receipts. From which, that doesn't prove whether the stuff sold in the restaurant intoxicated the person.

[shinningstar]

I second to that crassus!
All people who drink too much alcohol are responsible for their own consequences in life. Why blame others?

[QuietLunatic]

Unfortunately, there will always be people who want to put the blame somewhere and never shoulder it themselves. Drives me bananas.

[easternbrain]

The main problem is of accountability. What I mean is simply penalising would not affect much of the population. We have got to make people understand that they have a responsibility towards the public at large.

[Roxy]

Governmant made rules to avoid misuse but people make those rules misrule and enjoy it. I were the head a state then i would have banned the alcohol in my state specially to person below 30 yeras of age.