Some people simply wont play by the rules

The three of them weren’t an especially unlikely grouping. The man was my age, and I’m certainly not young. The two young women he was with were younger than my daughter. One seemed slightly older than the other. My guess was one woman was college age, and the other was high school age. A father with his daughters? An uncle with his nieces? Co-workers? Friends?

That last one seemed unlikely, but it certainly wasn’t off the table, until the man kissed one of them on the mouth.

“Are you guys getting drinks?” I asked, as they were a few feet back from the bar.

“Yes,” nodded all three.

“I’m going to need to see some IDs then,” I said.

And suddenly three people ordering drinks turned into two, the youngest woman now changing her mind.

After 40 years in the bar business, you start knowing just how things are probably going to go, like how someone who just ordered an alcoholic drink changes their mind when confronted with being proofed.

The older young woman seemed immediately put off. After I checked her ID, it became apparent why. Nobody is more indignant about getting ID’d than the person who just turned 21, because while the world has seismically shifted for them, the world itself barely notices the difference at all.

Drinks were made, and drinks were paid for. But I kept my eye on them, because as I said, after 40 years, I often know just how things are going to go.

Meanwhile, the rest of the night kept on unfolding, because if there’s one thing the world at large doesn’t care about, it’s each of our individual plights. The odds are greatly in favor of the sun rising tomorrow morning regardless of what happens to us individually.

A few minutes later, a server approached the service window. He was angry. And he had a right to be.

“I can’t believe that guy,” he said, his face flashing crimson.

The story came out, as stories so often do, in bits and pieces. Part of that is because during service in a restaurant you usually don’t have an extended period of time to stand around talking. I’m not sure about other industries, but the restaurant business runs on unfinished sentences and half-expressed ideas.

“I’m dying of thirst over here,” said another bar patron, interrupting, who might be dying of something, but it clearly isn’t thirst.

The server’s customer had requested a to-go cup for his margarita. And he had done so right when the server dropped off the check, which then elicited an awkward exchange.

“I’m sorry, sir, I can’t do that.”

“Why not?” asked the man.

“Because it’s against the law, that’s why,” explained the server.

And that should have been the end of that. But it wasn’t.

“But I’m a lawyer,” said the customer.

“Then you should know that,” replied the server.

“I can take a bottle of wine to go, right?” the lawyer argued.

“You can,” countered the server.

“Why not a cocktail?” he asked.

“Because,” the server said.

“That’s not an answer,” replied the lawyer, as lawyers so often do.

Businesses that have on sale liquor licenses, whether beer and wine, or hard liquor, usually have off-sale privileges as well, unless, if, for some reason, it has been stipulated during the approval process that they don’t. But that’s only on completely sealed items. For instance, if you don’t finish your bottle of wine, you can take the rest with you, as long as it has been re-corked. The same is not true of your glass of wine, or your cocktail, or your beer. If it would qualify as an open container in your car, then it’s illegal. Period. And trust me, that same conversation with a peace officer on the side of the road is going to go a lot differently than the one with your bartender or server does.

The lawyer relented when the manager explained the facts to him. But by then the entire conversation had cost the server at least part of his tip, which is an unfortunate reality in the restaurant business. When a customer says, “I don’t understand,” what they usually mean is “I’m not getting what I want,” and that is an altogether different sentiment.

Five minutes into that conversation with the server, I looked over and saw that younger woman holding the 21-year-old’s drink in her hand.

“Excuse me,” I said to her. “I need to see some ID.”

“But she’s just holding my drink,” said her slightly older companion.

“It doesn’t matter; this is a bar,” I said. “You need ID to have an alcoholic beverage in your possession, no matter what.”

The young woman became insulting and indignant. And there was a brief argument before the older man intervened and apologized profusely. In fact, he even looked a little scared.

Leaving me with these thoughts:

• A heated argument with the bartender is probably going to eventually involve the police. And there are some people who really don’t want the police involved.

• A liquor license violation doesn’t just involve the person serving the alcohol. It can involve the person buying it too.

• You can still get cocktails to go. But they must include a full to-go meal and come in a tamper-evident lid, meaning in a completely sealed and unresealable container.

• The fine for handing your alcoholic drink to a minor in a bar is $1,000 and 24 hours of community service. And we have cameras.