I have been a bartender. And I understand there has to be some culpability for bartenders. Otherwise we would have over-serving happening all the time.

At the same time, it is really shitty for a person to be expected to gauge how much a person has had when they enter the bar.

Reflecting back on my days as a bartender, I know I over-served people getting behind the wheel.

Do you think bartenders should be held responsible should a patron drive off and injure someone?

Only if they are responsible for themselves knowingly serving too many drinks, anything BEFORE they came in the door is anybody's guess.

That's just it...it is easy to know when to stop serving someone. But someone walking in is hard for a bartender to know exactly where they have been and what they have had to drink.

There was this lady, Marcia, who came in every Sunday night when I bar-tended. She had her "first drink" at the bar. Well, then I learned she and her husband got lit before driving to the bar on their scooters every night. They never acted out of control or drunk, so I had no clue. But the were certainly over the limit when they left if they drank before arriving.

Another lady who worked at a nearby printing press would take many shots and when I told the bar owner I was uncomfortable serving her more than four, he said I had to.

I would NEVER bar-tend these days.

I wanna say yes, but sometimes a bartender can get so busy and lose track of who he/she is serving and how many they have served, especially if bar is packed, and other bartenders serving at the same time. But if someone is obviously had too much, bartenders need to let each other know that they have been cut off.

I don't know how the laws are worded for bartender culpability, but it is not the amount of alcohol consumed but how it is processed by the individual. Some guys can put down a six pack without even staggering while others are on the floor with two beers. Like any other drug ppl get tolerant to alcohol.

So, I would assume, unless breathalizers are required in bars, that you would just have to guage you assessment on behavior. If the person looks drunk cut him off.

RedBedroom wrote:

I have been a bartender. And I understand there has to be some culpability for bartenders. Otherwise we would have over-serving happening all the time.

At the same time, it is really shitty for a person to be expected to gauge how much a person has had when they enter the bar.

Reflecting back on my days as a bartender, I know I over-served people getting behind the wheel.

Do you think bartenders should be held responsible should a patron drive off and injure someone?

I want to say yes but I can't. How is a bartender, especially in a crowded environment supposed to keep up with every customer he/she has? If its an obvious over drinker and he/she spots it then yes they can stop serving them but I see it as a difficult situation to keep up with.

I agree that in general, no. Unless it can be proved that they knowingly served someone over the limit. And even then they should only be responsible to the people the drunk injures. Not the drunk.