ID tomfoolery and spare change....

[Jester]

The other night started off so pleasantly. A Miami couple came in, I served them, did a great job, and when they paid the bill, which was $24.12, they put EXACTLY $24.12 in the check presenter, and added in coins an extra $0.53. That's right. Fifty three cents. Enough for maybe an eighth of a bottle of Corona. Not even enough for a SNIFF of my favorite rum, let alone a sip. For those of you mathematically challenged, that comes to fractionally over a 2% tip.

I mentioned these wunderkinds were from Miami. Frankly, I don't know if they WERE, but they sure seemed it. Allow me to explain. Down here in the Keys, for obvious geographic reasons, we get a lot of people from the Miami area. Generally, we hate them. They are our Nunavut. There is a running joke about Florida that "the north is The South and the south is New York." This is because many Miamians are either transplanted New Yorkers, or children thereof. The major difference is this: New Yorkers can be obnoxious and rude and demanding, but they generally tip well. Miamians only have one of those traits. Take a wild guess which one?

Now, this is not meant to be offensive to anyone here who IS from Miami. I have met many wonderful people from Miami, but GENERALLY SPEAKING, the Miami folk we deal with in Key West suck big time. This is not merely my opinion, but a widely held one throughout the service industry down here.


On a lighter note.....the following story is not about an SC at all. This guy was actually pleasant and polite throughout this whole thing, but he was, as you shall see, a bit of a dumbbutt. ("Dumbbutt" is a word RW uses a lot to let someone know they are being kind of stupid, but it is not mean in a malicious way. She uses it on me. A lot. And it seems to apply to this guy as well.)

So DB asks me some questions about mojitos. Working in a rum-heavy bar and being a rum drinker myself, I have no problem answering said questions. And then....

DB: "Okay, I'll have a mojito."
JESTER: "No problem. May I see your ID please?" He looked young, 18-22ish.)
DB: "I don't have my ID with me."
JESTER: "I'm sorry, but without your ID I won't be able to serve you any alcoholic drinks."
DB: "Okay, that's cool. Do you have Pepsi products?"
JESTER: "Actually, we have Coke products."
DB: "Do you have Dr. Pepper?"
JESTER: "Nope. It just isn't your day, is it?"

At this we both laugh. And this all would have been amusing enough, but as they say on late night tv, but wait! There's more! After I serve him and his companions (one of whom I think was his mom) their drinks, we go to round 2.

DB: "Do you give military discounts?"
JESTER: "No, but we give local discounts."
DB: "Well, I'm stationed here."
JESTER: "Do you have your military ID with you?" *
DB: "Yep. Here it is."

And he hands me his military ID. I'll let that soak in for just a moment.

JESTER: "Thank you. I'll make sure to have my manager discount your bill for you. And now I know why you didn't have your ID for your drink."
DB: "What do you mean?"
JESTER: "Well it says here you were born in August of 1988. Making you 19. But I must commend you on your effort!"

At he kind of chuckled sheepishly, and his mom had to do everything she could to contain her laughter.

A coworker of mine said he was a bit of a jerk for trying to get served underage, until I reminded her that when WE were underaged, we did the exact same thing. And frankly, if someone serves him (or had served us) without proper ID, that is their problem and their fault. He is not out to get anyone in trouble, nor were we, he is merely trying to beat a somewhat retarded system and get himself a drink. As I said, I commend him for his effort.


*For a local discount, we have to see at least one local ID from the group. The only exception to this is if they're military, say they're stationed here, and only have a military ID, as many people stationed here never bother getting a local ID, for obvious reasons.

[Shabo]

Mojitos are yummy.

Valiant effort though.

[SuperB]

Now, this is not meant to be offensive to anyone here who IS from Miami. I have met many wonderful people from Miami, but GENERALLY SPEAKING, the Miami folk we deal with in Key West suck big time. This is not merely my opinion, but a widely held one throughout the service industry down here.

I know what you mean. My area feels the same way about snowboarders in the winter. Not all are obnoxious punks but that seems to be all we see.

[Tria]

And he hands me his military ID.

Okay, regardless about what I think about the current use of our military.... Even being a teetotler myself, I believe that if you are old enough to serve this country, you should be able to drink.

Odd that the voting age was lowered to 18 because of the draft and all.

[Banrion]

Okay, regardless about what I think about the current use of our military.... Even being a teetotler myself, I believe that if you are old enough to serve this country, you should be able to drink.

Odd that the voting age was lowered to 18 because of the draft and all.

But we are talking of 2 different beasts. IIRC, Drinking age is dermined on a state by state basis, whereas the voting age for a federal election falls to the federal govt, as well as military enlistment. That's not to say that the feds don't put pressure on the states to make laws that agree with the feds opinion on the matter. Just like speed limits, the speed limit is under the jurisdiction of the state, however, if the state makes the speed limit higher than what the federal govt wants they sacrifice federal funding.

[Jester]

Okay, regardless about what I think about the current use of our military.... Even being a teetotler myself, I believe that if you are old enough to serve this country, you should be able to drink.

I agree completely, and have said as much on many occasions, both here and to customers.

That being said, I still have to work under the laws that are currently in place, and will not risk my job or livelihood to serve someone I think SHOULD be allowed to be served alcohol who ISN'T allowed to be served.

Heck, I believe that anyone that serves in the military honorably should be bought a few free rounds by the government themselves! But then, I suppose the government should work on taking care of the veterans medically (see the mess at Walter Reed hospitial, etc.) before they start worrying about buying our boys and girls a 12-pack of Miller.


As for the fact that the federal government determines voting age but the states determine drinking age, that is TRUE, but I would like to point out that the federal government put IMMENSE pressure years ago on state governments to raise the drinking age to 21, threatening to cut of federal transportation funds to the states that did not comply.

Not surprisingly, pretty much every state complied.

[MadRocketScientist]

I don't know if this is still in effect, but back when I was at Camp Pendleton, just North of San Diego, we could buy beer and wine at base clubs and we could drink ourselves into a stupor with whatever we wanted, as long as we were on base.

The thinking was, they are going to drink, and they are going to go down to TJ in Mexico to do it. Better to have them get shitfaced, on base, where the military has jurisdiction, then to let them go to a foriegn country with no agreement in place to return jailed service members to the US military for dispensation.

[trunks2k]

I like how you show the true value of the a tip by showing how much alcohol it could buy

[Gabrielle Proctor]

Okay, regardless about what I think about the current use of our military.... Even being a teetotler myself, I believe that if you are old enough to serve this country, you should be able to drink.

Odd that the voting age was lowered to 18 because of the draft and all.

Here here!!! I completely agree. I would have posted the same thing if you hadn't beat me to it!

[powerboy]

Okay, regardless about what I think about the current use of our military.... Even being a teetotler myself, I believe that if you are old enough to serve this country, you should be able to drink.

Odd that the voting age was lowered to 18 because of the draft and all.

I like how you think. If they are old enough to serve, then they should be old enough to be served alcohol. Hell my cousin, who served in the Marines and what he saw. He should be able to drink. Oh wait, I think he is of age now

[reformedwaitress]

I don't know if this is still in effect, but back when I was at Camp Pendleton, just North of San Diego, we could buy beer and wine at base clubs and we could drink ourselves into a stupor with whatever we wanted, as long as we were on base.

From what I understand from some of my friends in the military, I think this might be common on ALL military bases. thought being that if they can die for the country, they can drink but you better stay on base cause if someone else catches you, we aren't covering for you.

[rerant]

I'll tell you why New Yorkers tip well: Hogs And Heffers.
NO ONE tips poorly there and gets away with it. And certainly after being berated for leaving a shitty tip by the bartender via megaphone you never make that mistake twice.

[Jester]

There are some 20 million New Yorkers, give or take. I don't think that one bar has influenced the great majority of them in their tipping habits, however awesome or popular said bar might be. Just saying.

[CancelMyService]

From what I understand from some of my friends in the military, I think this might be common on ALL military bases. thought being that if they can die for the country, they can drink but you better stay on base cause if someone else catches you, we aren't covering for you.

The bases near the Mexican border (and probably the ones near the Canadian one too, come to think about it) have a drinking age of 18 so that they don't have to deal with the embarrassment of having one of our finest doing a a Britney Spears impression in some bar in Juarez.

[Shengirl]

A drinking age of 21 is pretty silly; I agree. However, in a great deal of cases, it thankfully only inconveniences 18-20-yr-olds insofar as getting alcohol at restuarants. Even if the law says 21, a lot of people figure 18 is about normal, which is why even the RAs of freshmen will often turn a blind eye to a quiet party. I know I had my ways of acquiring booze through friends and whatnot. Still, I guess I had the luxury of living on campus rather than at home with my then less-than-understanding parents. ^^;

In either case, it's way nicer to be able to buy my own alcohol and be served all the neat stuff they have in bars and restuarants now. I love trying new things, and I'm not going to run out of things to try for a while at this rate!