Quote:
Originally posted by KLPDaisy
I think that yes they should. If someone keeps on coming up to you all night buying drinks, you have a pretty good idea of when they get drunk and should stop serving them. Bars are private businesses and do have the right to refuse to serve someone. One of my housemates is a bartender, and what she usually does is that when really drunk girls come up to her and order drinks, she just won't put any more alcohol in them.
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This also forces iffy judgement calls on the part of the bartender - essentially you are determining liability based upon a 'skill' (reading the approximate level of danger to the person being served, using only brief inspection from across the bar) in what is essentially an unskilled profession.
It's a rough precedent to set, because while it's obvious that the bartender in this case went way too far (and was somewhat aware it was f-ed up, w/ the water shots and all), most cases will not be that cut and dry. Keep in mind that peoples' reactions to alcohol vary wildly, which is why roadside sobriety tests (which are routinely challenged) are oftentimes being replaced by BAC breath tests, etc. To ask a bartender to make this sort of judgement call, under potential penalty of law, seems a bit . . . much.
Also, think about this: while you consider your friend's actions to be liability-reducing, if they're ordering, say, Rum and Coke and she's just giving them Coke, the soda may have a dehydrating effect and contribute (in some small part) to injury. Is she liable for that? Did she know that? Of course not, because she's a bartender - not any sort of expert on body language, nursing/health care, or anything else. She can make shots. That's it. Bartender.