¶ … bartenders and their responsibility. Specifically it will discuss whether states and communities should hold bartenders responsible for the behavior of their patrons. Bartenders have become the butt of some very serious charges in many communities, because more and more states are holding them accountable for the behavior of the patrons they serve. However, bartenders should not be held accountable for what their patrons do after they leave the bar. Bartenders have no control over that behavior, and they have no way of knowing what patrons will do after they leave. Patrons are accountable for their own behavior, and they should act like adults and take responsibility for their own actions, rather than blaming them on someone else, like a bartender.
Bartenders, as most people know, work behind the bar, serving alcoholic drinks, to people in restaurants, bars, pubs, clubs, taverns and other locations all around the country. They often serve as counselors, confessors, and shoulders to lean on for many of their patrons. Recently, many states have passed laws that hold the bartender and/or owner of the bar responsible if patrons engage in dangerous or illegal behavior after they leave the bar. This is wrong for a number of reasons, and there is growing support of that sentiment.
In a lawsuit happy society, people tend to blame others for their own actions, and that is the case with laws that target bartenders. To be literal, their employers pay bartenders to serve drinks to patrons. That is their job and their main focus. It is not their responsibility to keep track of how much people drink, and what they do after they leave the bar. In fact, knowing their actions once they leave is impossible. One newspaper believes it is ultimately the patron's responsibility to take accountability for his or her own actions. The editors write, "First, it's ultimately the individual's responsibility to drink responsibly. We don't think a bar or restaurant should share the same level of responsibility" (Editors). This is true, but in a society that is lawsuit happy, people do not take responsibility, they lay the blame on others, namely the bartender who served them, and this is putting blame where it does not belong.
In many areas, courts are agreeing with the theory that bartenders are not accountable. In a case in Calgary Canada, a legal case against a bartender was dropped when the courts decided he was not responsible. An Alberta reporter writes, "Two years after a young Alberta woman died of alcohol poisoning after a night at the bar, the criminal charges against the man who served her have been dropped" (Zabjek). The bartender did have to pay a fine, which is not right, because the charges were dropped. Ultimately, the woman drank far too much, but she and her family were responsible for that. Her family should have taught her the danger of drinking too much, and she should have had the common sense to know when to stop. Dieing of alcohol poisoning means she drank an incredible amount of liquor, not just "drunk," but far over the line. She drank herself to death, and the bartender could have no way of knowing what her tolerance was or how much she consumed. Often, more than one server or bartender serves patrons, and it is difficult, if not impossible, to keep up with what patrons are consuming.
In many cases, patrons move from bar to bar, and a bartender has no way of knowing what they consumed where. The Suncoast editorial continues, "Who's to say a customer hadn't visited multiple bars in one evening or left the restaurant fine, but downed three more beers in his or her car in the parking lot before being pulled over for driving while intoxicated or becoming involved in an accident?" (Editors). There is certainly no way a bartender can know these things, or have any control over them, so bartenders should not be held responsible in these cases. They are tragic, and it is terribly sad that they occur, but the bartender is not responsible, because they cannot control another person's behavior or judgment. In the Canadian case, apparently the courts agreed. The reporter continues, "Crown prosecutor John Laluk said it would have been difficult to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Kobylka hadn't consumed more alcohol after leaving Skip's Bar that October night" (Zabjek). It is also impossible for the bartender to know that. They would have to follow each patron after they left...
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