Last Call, Two-for-One, and the Guest in the Doorway
It is 12:15 a.m. Sunday at a Portland music venue with a 1 a.m. closing. Rico, 30, enters with a group; his shirt is stained, he is swaying slightly, and he tells the door person his friends left him at the bar down the street. Security let him in because he is on the guest list. At 12:20 he orders a double vodka. A coworker shrugs: 'He wasn't served here, not our problem.' At 12:45 the manager tells the bar staff to push the last-call special - two-for-one wells until 1 a.m. - 'to clear the inventory.' Two customers are already arguing over a spilled drink, the room is at capacity, and the door staff are letting people out but not in.
1. Should Rico be served? Address the 'he wasn't served here' argument directly.
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No. The 'not our problem' argument confuses where the alcohol came from with what the server owes the guest in front of them. The refusal standard is the guest's condition at the moment of the request, and Rico arrives swaying, stained, and loud with a story about being left at another bar. He is visibly intoxicated on entry.
Serving him:
- Violates the prohibition on serving a visibly intoxicated person and creates direct exposure under Maine's civil damages statute if he is hurt or hurts someone on the way home.
- Is not cured by the security guard's guest-list decision. Letting him in was the first error; serving him would be the second.
What to do: water and food, a plain statement that no alcohol will be served tonight, keep him out of the bar queue, call him a ride, and watch him leave. If he turns aggressive, security removes him - soberly, without a scuffle. Tell the manager and log the refusal with the time and observed signs.
2. The manager's two-for-one instruction arrives at 12:45. Explain the problems and how a server should respond to a supervisor's direction to serve.
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A supervisor's instruction does not turn an unlawful sale into a lawful one. The duty to refuse rests with the person pouring and with the licensee; 'my manager told me to' is not a defense in a citation or a civil suit.
The promotion is a problem on three fronts:
- Rapid consumption: deep discounts in the final 15 minutes push guests past their limit exactly when they are about to drive.
- Hours: nothing may be served after 1 a.m.; a special that runs to the buzzer encourages drinking to the deadline and straight out the door.
- Consistency: it cannot coexist with the refusal just made at the door - the bar would be refusing one visibly intoxicated man while discounting doubles for everyone else.
How to respond: decline the doubles for anyone showing signs, do not push the promotion yourself, tell the manager in one sentence why, and if it continues, tell the licensee in writing. Record the instruction - time, exact words, who gave it. That record protects the server and is often the only thing that changes the practice.
3. Walk through the closing from 12:40 to 1:15 a.m., including what happens to Rico and what gets documented.
Read the worked answer
12:40 - last call announced. No new tabs, no doubles, no bottle service. Tell the room once, clearly. 12:45–12:55 - wind down. Water available, tabs settled, glasses collected as they empty. Staff walk the room rather than waiting behind the bar. 12:55 - stop pouring. No new drinks, no refills, no 'one for the road.' Anyone who arrived already intoxicated is refused, not grandfathered in. 1:00 - lights up, music down, doors open. Guests get a reasonable time to finish what is in front of them and leave; they do not get more alcohol. No sales or service until 6 a.m.
Rico: he should be gone long before last call. If he is outside waiting for a ride, that is fine - he does not come back in for a goodbye drink. If he tries to drive, that is a 911 call with a plate and direction.
Document: last pour time, bar cleared time, refusals with observed signs, the two-for-one instruction and who gave it, and the time the room was empty.