I have a question about underage drinking. When I was in the US a year or two ago I was asked to show ID for purchasing drinks. I proceeded to giggle thinking the bartender was joking or flirting with me as I was there for my 40th birthday. He had a very straight face and was not amused so I produced my ID quite surprised. In France it's unheard of to ask and in New Zealand where I grew up they ask only if you look under 18 (used to be under 20). My friend then told me this is completely normal and systematic across the US.
I am wondering whether only the person purchasing the drinks gets asked or whether the other people in the party are asked too. I mean by that whether a bartender is expected to systematically question whether one member of the group is under 21. Or, as this is a restaurant and open to all ages do we assume the drink served was non-alcoholic?
Bartender in Va here; technically the bartender is "supposed" to card all members of a party receiving alcoholic beverages.
Practically, that doesnt always happen.Some bartenders glance in the direction for a visual confirmation if one person is ordering for a group....... but Ive never seen one physically go to the table to request I.D.s unless one or more people obviously look under age.
Even if you obviously look 50-60 years old and I jokingly card you and you cannot produce an I.d Im not supposed to serve you by law.
Many small restaurants and bars in Va that serve alcohol do not allow anyone under the age of 21 after a certain time. I would imagine this is even more prevalent in a college town BUT people get tired towards the end of a busy shift and will sometimes let their guard down.
Corporate restaurants are totally different in that they allow people of any age to come in, at any time..... so there is quite a bit of ambiguity there and people sometimes do slip between the cracks.
A frequent ruse by underage drinkers, especially those with someone who is of age, is to have the "of age"person order drinks from the bartender and then return to a table away from the bar with the drinks.
Its then servers job to catch this and then ask for I.D. They should be ordering from the server to start with,and this pisses many of them off since it affects their tip, so this will "usually" raise a red flag.
When I was serving Ive had to ask a manager to come to the table and remove the drinks after one or more guests failed to produce an I.D .......on several occasions and for this very reason.
Not everyone is as cautious, experienced or strict about this as I was...although they should be given the fines and possibility of losing ones job IMO. 2K for first offense is a LOT of money.
Younger girls also have a tendency to get carded less when they are with older males.I dunno if its the bartender or server being worried about insulting the older male by not asking for his I.D as well or if its just laziness on their part but it happens all the time.
