Expired License, Phone Photo, and a Friend Who Will Buy for the Table
10:20 p.m. at a Waikiki bar with door staff and a house rule to scan every ID. Four men arrive together. Marcus, who says the group is celebrating his 22nd birthday, hands over a Hawaii driver's license that expired 11 days ago; he then shows a photo of his U.S. passport on his phone and says the renewal is 'in the mail.' Dev, 19, hands over a Hawaii state ID in vertical format with a birth date clearly under 21, and says he is 'just here for the birthday, I'm not drinking.' Cole, 21, has a valid Utah license and says, 'Put it all on my tab, I'm buying for the table.' The fourth man has a current Australian passport. A pitcher of beer and four glasses are already waiting at their table. The door scanner beeps through Marcus's card without comment - it checks card format, not expiration dates.
1. May you serve Marcus on the expired license plus a phone photo of his passport? Explain your reasoning and what would change your answer.
Read the worked answer
Refuse until he produces a current, valid ID he can physically hand you.
The reason is not the birth date - it is the document. An expired license is no longer valid identification, so it proves nothing about who he is today, no matter what date is printed on it. A photograph of a passport on a phone fails the same test for a different reason: you cannot feel the paper, tilt it for the hologram, check the laminate, or compare a physical photo, and images are trivially edited.
What would change the answer: a physical, unexpired U.S. or foreign passport, passport card, military ID, or driver's license or state ID from any state, with a matching photo and no signs of alteration. Then serve him.
Handle it without accusation: 'I can't take an expired one - it isn't just house policy, I can't verify it.' Offer the obvious fix: go get the passport and come back. Do not accept a second expired document, and do not accept 'my friend will vouch for me.'
2. Dev is 19 and Cole is buying for the table. What is the exposure, and how do you control the service?
Read the worked answer
Dev gets no alcohol: not a glass, not a sip, not a pour from the pitcher. The vertical format is a flag, but the birth date is the fact.
Cole is 21 and may drink, but 'I'm buying for the table' includes Dev. Furnishing liquor to a person under 21 is its own violation and exposes the house under HRS §281-101.5.
Controls that actually work: do not set a pitcher and four glasses down at a table containing an identified minor. Sell by the glass, deliver each drink to the person whose wristband matches, and recheck at delivery rather than only at the door. If you see Dev drinking, clear the table, cut the whole table off, and notify the manager. If Cole argues, refuse the round and, if it continues, close him out.
Then fix the process: the scanner flagging nothing on an expired card is a system failure. Someone at the door has to read the expiration date, every time.
3. What do you document that night, and what do you do if an ID turns out to be borrowed or altered?
Read the worked answer
Write the entry the same night: time, door, names if given, the ID type and expiration you saw, what you refused, who else heard it, and whether a manager was notified. That record is what you produce at an administrative hearing, in a decoy review, or in a civil case eight months later when no one remembers.
If an ID turns out to be borrowed or altered: do not accuse, do not grab it, do not block the door. Refuse service, call the manager, and let the manager decide whether police are called. Whether you may keep the ID depends on house policy and local practice - if you retain it, log it and hand it to the manager, and never hold a person in order to get it. A forged Hawaii ID is worth reporting, because the same document is probably in circulation.
Assume every refusal may become a decoy report or a lawsuit exhibit. Write it as if a stranger will read it.