More ID woes.

[Jester]

Ah yes. The bartender's favorite SC scenario, some shit about IDs. My, how we love these.

So these two foreigners walk into The Bar the other day. Start asking about rum. I start telling them about rum. They order some rum. Then I make the monumental mistake of following the law and asking them for their IDs.

Foreigner A, who was doing all the speaking, had no problem showing me his ID. I checked it, all was well, he was of age, I can serve him. Congratulations. However, Foreigner B makes no move to show me any ID. So I repeat the request.

JESTER: "I'm sorry, I still need to see his ID."
FOREIGNER A: "He doesn't have it with him."
JESTER: "Then I'm sorry, I cannot serve him."
FOREIGNER A: "But he is clearly over 21."
JESTER: "Sir, I'm sorry, but the law states that if he looks 30 or under, I have to ask for his ID. And if he does not have it, I can NOT serve him."
FOREIGNER A: "I appreciate your point of view on this....."
JESTER: "Sir, it's not my point of view. It is the law of the State of Florida. I cannot serve him without seeing his ID. Period. If I serve him without seeing his ID, after asking for it, I could get fired, and I could go to jail, neither of which I am willing to do. I'm sorry, but that is the way it is."

My point of view, my ass. First of all, if this buttnugget actually appreciated anything I said, he wouldn't argue with me. Secondly, my point of view is that I think that anyone who is old enough to ask for a drink should be able to have one. I don't, however, have the luxury of working from my point of view. Instead, I have to work under laws I don't necessarily like or agree with, but they ARE still the laws I have to work under.

So please, sir, take your friend, and your appreciation, and your "point of view," and GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY BAR!!!!

No, I'm not annoyed, not at all. Whyever would you think that?

[Dorath]

Used to get green cards and foreign IDs all the time. Some kept trying, hoping to eventually get served.

[Lingering Grin]

Hmm you're in Florida huh?

Note to self: Go to Jester's bar.


Then again, I may have already been


Also, the guy probably thought he could reason with you, what he doesn't get is there's no reasoning with drinking laws

[Lingering Grin]

Used to get green cards and foreign IDs all the time. Some kept trying, hoping to eventually get served.

Buddy of mine used to use his passport.

Would throw people for a loop, because it's not what you expect to see, but it IS a valid form of ID. so they always took it

[Gravekeeper]

"I appreciate your point of view on this....."

Hah, I know exactly what that means and can even envision the exact tone of voice. Because its the same as when I have to use "I understand the problem, but-" or "It's not that I don't understand, but-" mid call.

Its just a polite way of saying "I realize you have a problem but cannot or will not do shit about it regardless of what you say to me".

Funny that he'd be using it the other way around though. They must be slowly beginning to learn from us and are experimenting with using our own weapons against us.

They're evolving. But not in a good opposable thumbs kind of way.

[malmalthekiller]

One of my major pet peeves is when you tell a customer what the rules/laws are, and they say "I understand", yet continue to argue.

You obviously don't understand, you idiot. You can argue with me until you're blue in the face, but your cigarettes/return is not worth me losing my job.

[Locksmith_from_Hell]

Used to get green cards and foreign IDs all the time. Some kept trying, hoping to eventually get served.

What happens if someone is on holiday, and only has foreign ID? Is service still refused?

[Dorath]

What happens if someone is on holiday, and only has foreign ID? Is service still refused?

U.S. issued drivers license/ID, passport, and picture military ID are it. Everything else is no good.

[Bandit]

U.S. issued drivers license/ID, passport, and picture military ID are it. Everything else is no good.

I've had that problem in New York State once - would not even take my Canadian passport when I was 12 years older than the drinking age.

Needless to say, I just walked out the door to the place across the street to get what was needed.

And I'd recommend the same to anyone else in that situation.

B

[Locksmith_from_Hell]

U.S. issued drivers license/ID, passport, and picture military ID are it. Everything else is no good.

Ok, let's drill down here. With regards to passports, would that include passports issued by any country, or only US passports?

Please excuse the questions, just an aussie trying to wrap his head around the US requirements.

[Dorath]

I've had that problem in New York State once - would not even take my Canadian passport when I was 12 years older than the drinking age.

Needless to say, I just walked out the door to the place across the street to get what was needed.

And I'd recommend the same to anyone else in that situation.

B

Ok, let's drill down here. With regards to passports, would that include passports issued by any country, or only US passports?

Please excuse the questions, just an aussie trying to wrap his head around the US requirements.

Federal law states only picture IDs issued by the United States government are valid for alcohol or tobacco purchases. Offenses start at 14 day loss of license and potentially a fine.

[Calie]

Federal law states only picture IDs issued by the United States government are valid for alcohol or tobacco purchases. Offenses start at 14 day loss of license and potentially a fine.

From what I can read of the Bureau of ATF regulations, the Federal gov't doesn't actually regulate what forms of ID are valid - the site I read said that is left up to the state. It is also up to the states on what visual "age" to card.

I wandered through the Hawaii regs, and found that indeed they do require US gov't IDs. Well oops, I sold tobacco and alcohol on Japanese passports; then again I was trained to use them. In Hawaii I was required to card anyone who looked under 27.

Oregon law however says something about valid "state" IDs which is ambiguous as in a world sense "state" can refer to a country.

Either way, stores can also limit what IDs they accept as well - even prohibiting out-of-state but still US gov't licenses. I believe it is an issue with staff not being trained to recognize out-of-state fakes.

Dang stupid complicated rules (and frankly hard to find even on the internet). But in the end, if the store/bar says they can't accept the ID, generally they're in the right. It's not worth losing a job or going to jail over one customer's NEED for beer/smokes.

/my two cents...I'll get off my soapbox now.

[blas]

I used to get "I understand you're doing your job....but-" at the gas station when carding for ciggs or beer......and that was really hard to wrap my brain around. That was just the intro for the upcoming aggressive tail end to the passive beginning......no you DO NOT understand, you're about to chew me a new asshole for carding you.

[Lingering Grin]

Honestly, places need to get the scanners that cops use for fake ideas.

They're not expensive, (hell they're just a dummy credit card scanner anyway), but it tells you the information written on the actual magnetic strip.


So if someone hands you a card that says "John Smith: Age 24" and you scan it and it comes back "Marriot Hotel: Room 314", you know you have a problem

[prb]

Honestly, places need to get the scanners that cops use for fake ideas.

They're not expensive, (hell they're just a dummy credit card scanner anyway), but it tells you the information written on the actual magnetic strip.


So if someone hands you a card that says "John Smith: Age 24" and you scan it and it comes back "Marriot Hotel: Room 314", you know you have a problem

Adding that to a card costs around $1.

And most governments are switching to 2D Barcodes, (PDF417 format), which costs nothing if you know how they're formatted. And not every government follows the standard. My DL scans as "STATE=ON" but my brother's health card has the full info. And other DL's I've checked scan with some full info, some just STATE=ON, and it's not related to issue date either.