This time I took the b.h. We brought our friend some books. As he is only allowed religious and/or educational material, I took a bag of whatever I thought would pass and let the guy behind the desk decide. It turns out that The D'Oh! of the Simpsons does in fact count as religious. Fabulous. I also brought him Eats, Shoots, & Leaves and a couple books on writing. Turns out he's going to be there another month and a half, so he will have plenty of time to read. He will alsp apparently have quite a bit of company. Twenty five UGA freshmen were arrested for underage drinking between Monday and Wednesday last week, and nine more this Monday. I guess the cops are really trying to show that they're serious this year.
I personally think the whole drinking age thing is ridiculous. When you think about the fact that these kids are old enough, at eighteen, to go to fucking war and we don't trust them with beer? It just seems silly. Not to mention the fact that they are going to drink anyway, and that drinking in a bar downtown is much safer than say, at a frat party, or in some random apartment. I'm not saying this because I want more eighteen-year-old customers, mind you. I actually hate those. They don't know what they want or how to tip and they make a mess and start fights. But at least at a bar there is somebody monitoring their level of intoxication. When i think somebody has had too much, I put a full pint of water in front of them and tell them when they finish it they can have another drink. They never do. I am polite but firm, and manage to disarm even the most ornery frat boys- or at least their friends. That's the other thing. When I can see that somebody is headed for trouble, I locate their friends and tell them to keep an eye on the situation. This can happen on their first round of drinks. Sometimes there are just people (guys, mostly) who I can tell are going to be a problem. They're looking for a fight, or too wound up for one reason or another, and I will bring them down a notch. And I consider it part of my job. It's the same with girls who are obviously drunk and suddenly find an overly friendly guy on them. I ask them if they're okay, if they need a cab, etc. I ask their friends if they know the guy and if he is okay. I don't want somebody leaving my bar and getting date-raped. I'm not saying it never happens. I'm saying that responsible bartenders (there are a lot of us, believe it or not) try to look out for people. This isn't going to happen at somebody's house.
While we're on the subject, I am also pretty frustrated at the current proposed legislation here in town regarding bars. They want door guys to get licensed. They want to fingerprint the guys who get five bucks an hour to check IDs and clean up puke. Why? Because according to our police commissioner, national statistics show that a high percentage of guys who work security in clubs are sex offenders. Well that's very interesting sir, but in this town (and every college town, for that matter) the problem seems a lot worse in the fraternity houses, and I don't see anybody proposing we fingerprint those assholes during Rush Week. I guess that's because those kids' daddies can afford legal counsel? There is no proposed license for waiters or people who work in liquor or convenience stores, by the way, even though those places get busted for serving underage kids about ten times as often.
Anyway, enough of that.
The b.h. made awesome salsa today, using up about half of the cherry tomatoes we've picked in the last two days. It has poured rain - I mean biblical, scary, buckets of rain - for about an hour both yesterday and today. I am of course thrilled, as it is good news for the garden and the drought situation. Some of our neighbors are obviously less thrilled, though. I was driving to the store today and passed a house down the road that had a very large tree lying against it. It didn't look like it had been struck by lightning, either. I think the wind just snapped it like a twig. Yikes. I eyed our two trees a bit fearfully during today's storm after seeing that.
In other news, the Condos From Hell seem to be nearing completion. They now have windows, and obviously air-conditioning, because those windows have been closed every day all day despite the temperature, and there are a lot of people working over there. No landscape or anything yet, but I will be surprised if we don't have new neighbors by October. I'll try to post some pictures soon. They're really just stupid looking. I mean, there's nothing wrong with them structurally, but they are selling for half a million dollars, and that is just ridiculous. At that price, in this area, they are basically the equivalent of a big nut house. Can't wait to see who moves in.
Okay, Ian McShane awaits. I'm off.
3 comments:
Thank you for all that - it was really interesting to read.
We've got a real problem with youngsters reeling around drunk at night in this country, and some people are pressing for an increase in the legal drinking age, presently 18. I think that's daft, because it'sa deep-rooted attitude and that's what needs to be addressed - it's the accepted thing to go out at the weekend and get totally bladdered, and this goes for an alarming number of 14-year olds and right up to idiots in their 30s.
In any case, as you say, it doesn't do anything about the ones who drink elsewhere than in pubs. A couple of years back, a young friend of mine went to a schoolfriend's house, her parents were out, various other people came round and they were all drinking. She let a boy go way too far with her and then was seriously worried she might be pregnant. I reassured her it was really unlikely, begged her to tell her parents and not drink away from home again...she was 13*. The fault was with the friend's parents who went out and left the kids.
There is also at least one pub in town that regularly serves underage drinkers. I have no idea why the police don't raid the place and prosecute. Everyone knows about it. My 19-year-old friend says she doesn't go there as she's the oldest person there and the toilets are full of vomit.
Your ways of dealing with people who've had one too many are brilliant. Really. I should warn you however, should you ever think of getting a job here, that it is not customary to tip bar staff in this country. Waiters, yes, but it wouldn't occur to anyone to tip the bartender. Sorry.
*Incredibly, she actually took my advice. Her parents were supportive and she's stopped drinking.
Even worse than requiring the doorguys to get licensed is the new proposed legislation to not let anyone work in a bar that's had 2 or more alcohol related offenses. So if you've had a DUI and a minor possession and you work in a bar, you're out. The offenses could have happened anywhere, at any time. I have no idea what the ACC gov is trying to accomplish with this new law... maybe to put most of the bar staff, and thus the bars, out of business. It's not law yet, so if a bunch of us can write to the commissioner, it might not pass.
Z- Same problem, different legal drinking age. Which means that the law has little to do with it. I think that people are just bored and don't know what else to do. And alcohol is so ingrained into our culture that I don't see it stopping. When you see the parents of these kids on game day here in Athens, you don't wonder where their behavior is learned. I don't know what the answer is, but I do know that what they're doing now is useless.
Sparky- Don't even get me started on this stuff or I will bore you to death. Alcohol is more regulated than virtually any other product or business, and it seems to get worse every year. At least now we have some commissioners with a little common sense. It also helps that they come downtown every once in awhile. It was much worse before the last election.
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