Safety First

Bartenders have many responsibilities besides taking orders and mixing drinks.  This also includes ensuring the safety of our guest during their visit at our establishment.  It is interesting because people tend to put safety on the back burner once they become intoxicated.  This particular story involves instances where people have done unsafe things due to intoxication.

The first instance involves a guy and a beer bottle.  I want to make a point that we utilize plastic glassware (if that makes sense) because people tend to drop things and plastic is more durable.  This particular guy was drinking a beer and somehow it just fell out of his hand.  As if gravity had made the beer twelve pounds instead of twelve ounces.  I believe it was mostly full because it made a big mess and beer and glass was everywhere.  I will assume he could not afford a new beer because he picked up the bottom portion of the beer bottle that was still intact and drunk out of it.  I could not believe what I was seeing, his friend yelled at him not to do that and he gracefully put it back on the floor.

The second instance involves a guy and two stories up.  This event did not happen inside my establishment but in the same complex.  The story was this guy was upset because he could not go inside another bar due to dress code or something.  He told the bouncer that if he did not let him in he was going to jump off the balcony.  The bouncer still refused service, so the man jumped off the balcony that was two stories up from the lower level.  He ended up splitting his head open and had to be rushed to the emergency room.  When I finally was able to view the scene there was a big pool of blood where he landed.

The third instance involves a woman and a beer bucket.  She and her friends had finished a bucket of beer and were casually socializing.  But this particular female must have consumed too many beers or shots because she decided to use the beer bucket as her own personal trash can.  Mind you there was a “real” trash can like five feet away that I’m sure she could have made it to.  She vomited for a while and tried to continue socializing as if she had not done anything (with the bucket sitting on the bar top).  I summoned a manager, explained the situation, and she was casually escorted out.

I have tried to understand the behaviors of people while they are intoxicated and I have come to the conclusion that it is impossible.  There is no telling how much they have consumed prior or what is going through their minds at that particular time.  If you plan on drinking and having a good time, please keep in mind the safety of yourself and others.  Stay tuned on tomorrow for a story called "Freeloader."

           These stories are real accounts, so if you plan to drink and have a good time do so responsibly. Remember to call a cab or a friend because the cost of a DWI is way more than a $20 cab ride home. Also, if you plan or happen to take someone home use protection. For two reasons, one there are many STD’s floating out there and it only takes one to ruin your life or that of others. The second reason is because a $3 condom is less expensive then 18 years of raising a child.