Good service is illegal, it seems....

[Jester]

Okay, this was one of my tables today. It was a foreign couple, but I am not going to say from where because that has nothing to do with it, other than perhaps not knowing the laws here. I am also not going to attempt to type what they said "with" their accent, but merely as it would have sounded without it. The foreign-ness of these people is not the issue here, after all.

JESTER: "Hi folks! May I start you off with something to drink?"
FOREIGN WOMAN: "Yes, I'd like an orange juice please."
Foreign Woman and Foreign Man converse briefly in foreign language.
FOREIGN MAN: "Do you have Guinness?"
JESTER: "Yes sir."
FOREIGN MAN: "May I have a Guinness please?"
JESTER: "Sure. May I see your ID please?"
FOREIGN MAN: "What?"
JESTER: "Your ID. Your identification. May I see it please?"
Foreign Man looks confused. He talks to Foreign Woman briefly in foreign language, apparently clarifying what I had asked for. Foreign Woman briefly looks through her purse, than up at me.
FOREIGN WOMAN: "Sorry. We are from [Foreign Country]. And we left our ID's on the boat. He is 31."
JESTER: "I understand. But without his ID, I cannot legally serve him an alcoholic drink."
FOREIGN WOMAN: "What if I order it then?"
By the gods, I hate when people try this logic, no matter where they're from!
JESTER: "Well, you can order it if you have your ID, of course, but he can't drink it if he doesn't have his. It's the law."
FOREIGN MAN: "I don't have it with me."
JESTER: "I'm sorry sir. May I get you something else to drink?"
FOREIGN MAN: "No." (rises to leave, looks at me sternly) "Bad service!"
JESTER: "Sir, I give very good service to everyone who comes in here. But these are the laws I have to work under. I'm sorry."
FOREIGN MAN: "This is bad service."
Foreign Man leaves in a bit of a snit, with Foreign Woman in tow.

MANAGER: "Jester, why did that couple leave?"
JESTER: "He ordered a beer and didn't have his ID. I explained the law to him, but he told me I was giving him bad service."
MANAGER: "Fuck him. Idiot. You did the right thing."
JESTER: "I know." "We don't want that kind of guy in here anyway."
MANAGER: "Exactly."

Jester 1. SC 0.

[ThePhoneGoddess]

I one time saw a foreign man throw a screaming hissy over a seeing eye dog in a restaurant. The employees tried to explain to him that they could not refuse entrance to the man with his dog, it was against the law. He finally stormed out.

Of course, I also got to see him the next morning, when I was working at the hotel desk, try to complain to the hotel manager about it. He kept going off about how it was 'unclean'. Didn't get far there, either.

[DesignFox]

Not for nothing, but... When In Rome...

If I went to another country, I certainly would follow their laws. I wouldn't throw a hissy fit at the server about it.

Ditto for the jackass complaining about the seeing eye dog. We do that in America. Deal with it, or go back where you came from!

(I can understand asking for an explanation- just...don't complain when you get it!)

[Hemily]

foreigners are always strange, i've seen americans throw hissy fits because someone in Norway, diden't know english, sorry, i'm afraid not every country speak your language.

although, here in norway, not knowing english actually IS strange.... we learn it in school...

[blas]

A lot of foreign exchange students in high school were angry that they couldn't club or drink legally here..........

One asked me how we get our alcohol, and I smirked and said "We find someone who is 21 to get it.........."

[braindead]

Those people just sucked. I will never understand the people that just don't like the answer you told them so its bad service. It irks me off. Just because you think its wrong doesn't make it so. Get off your righteous box and get the F**k over it.

[BusyBee]

From my experience, people are sucky or nice completely regardless of if they're from here... I've had people get pissed at me because I have trouble with their (strong!) accents and ask them to repeat themselves, and I've had others who are so sweet and nice I never want them to leave my store!

That said, I went on break at the PERFECT time one day! Apparently about 3 mins after I left a foreign couple came in and complained for 15 mins... And they wouldn't say anything much but that they were very unhappy.

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

I'm pretty sure the problem stems from the fact that the drinking age in Europe is far lower than it is here. Germany for example has very low drinking age but some of the strictest drunk driving laws out there to compensate.

As a friend told me, it's better in Germany to be the only sober person without a license driving than to be the only sober one in the car when the drunks are driving as the sober person would get the same penalties as the drunk driver.

M

[Jester]

While that is part of the problem that we have to deal with when carding Europeans, THIS problem stems from the fact that this guy was an asshole, equating the server (me) following the laws that he has to work under with giving him bad service.

[iradney]

Yeah, Assholians are the worst. I'd hate to visit their country - imagine what it's like there!!!

[IT Grunt]

As a friend told me, it's better in Germany to be the only sober person without a license driving than to be the only sober one in the car when the drunks are driving as the sober person would get the same penalties as the drunk driver.

M

Now that's strict. In a way though, I can see their point. It's an incentive for those who aren't drinking to get the keys and keep the drinkers from behind the wheel. If you let them do the driving, you're just as accountable as they are for letting them drive drunk.

[ThePhoneGoddess]

As a friend told me, it's better in Germany to be the only sober person without a license driving than to be the only sober one in the car when the drunks are driving as the sober person would get the same penalties as the drunk driver.

I had this experience as a teenager. I got pulled over driving some older (i.e., over 21) friends home from a bar because they were too trashed to drive, even though I didnt have a license. We all got busted, but the judge definitely noted the fact that I was driving without a license ONLY because I was the only sober person in the car and just gave me a fine. He thanked me for picking them up and told me if I was gonna be a good samaritan like that, it's fine, but I should go down to the DMV and get myself a license.

[Hemily]

laws are very diffrent in other countries than the US.

for me, it's 18 to buy cigarettes, 18 to buy weak alchohols like beer and ciders, winecoolers... 18 to get your drivers license, 20 to buy the stronger alcohol and 16 to have sex.

the laws for drunk driving is very strict, wich i'm really happy about, they set up checkpoints where they stop all cars to check for alcohol, you have to blow into a alcometer, a friend.. the idiot that he is, got in his car to drive while drunk... first thing he did entering the first corner after starting the car... was crash into a cliff, he was fined several thousand dollars, lost his drivers license for 3 years and had to go to jail for 14 days...

we get alot of foreigners here too though, the middle eastern kind... those are the rude ones...
the kind that thinks girls are worth less than men, rape girls because they dared wearing a skirt, because obviously to them... wearing a skirt is asking to get raped by a bunch of strangers, i had to chase some away, they were following my sister, all the way home, spitting on her, because she was a goth, dressed in all black, she's a tough girl though, she punched one's light out once for spitting on her

althugh, the abovementioned europeans, are the ones that give the rest of us a bad reputation, just like rednecks on vecation to europe ruin our impression of americans

"daaang... y'all ain't got no McDonalds? whadda ya folks eat?"

"actual food..."

[wagegoth]

Jester, I'm glad your manager backed you up on that.

And the guy probably would have been a s***ty tipper anyway.

[Noelegy]

Ditto for the jackass complaining about the seeing eye dog. We do that in America. Deal with it, or go back where you came from!

Strict Muslims consider dogs unclean. I believe it was the Minneapolis airport that had a problem with Muslim cab drivers refusing to pick up passengers carrying alcohol or accompanied by seeing-eye dogs.