Last Call, Four Shots, and an Expired Georgia License
It is 1:42 a.m. on a Saturday at a Fayetteville bar holding a mixed beverage permit. Last call is announced at 1:45, and house rule is that drinks must be finished by 2:15, inside the state's 2:30 a.m. consumption cutoff. A regular in his thirties, Marcus, orders four house shots for the table. You have served him since 10 p.m.; his speech is thick, he knocked a stool over getting off it, and he has twice handed you the wrong card from his wallet. The woman beside him, who says she is 24, slides over a Georgia driver license that expired three weeks ago. A third member of the group is nursing a half-finished cocktail and asks for a plastic cup so she can take it to the car. The kitchen closed at 11; you have coffee, water, a taxi list, and a shift logbook. Security is at the door, but the room still holds about 40 people.
1. Do you pour the four shots? Walk through the decision for each person.
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Treat it as four separate decisions, not one order. Marcus first: slurred speech, a knocked-over stool, and fumbling the wrong card after four hours of service are three independent impairment indicators. Pouring him another shot is a sale to an intoxicated person under G.S. 18B-302, and being one of four drinks does not dilute it. Cut him off, offer water and coffee, and tell the manager. Then the others. The woman who says she is 24 has presented nothing valid (see below), so no. The third guest with a half-finished cocktail gets no replacement drink unless she clears a second check and can finish it in the time left. Practically: at 1:42 you have roughly 30 minutes before the house cutoff and about 45 before the state consumption deadline. A round poured at 1:44 is a round that gets drunk in the parking lot. Log each refusal with the time.
2. The woman insists her expired license is still fine because it is really her. Can you serve her?
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An expired license is not a valid ID, and the whole value of the card is that it is currently valid. North Carolina's protection for the seller depends on good-faith reliance on a valid, government-issued photo ID showing a birth date over 21; an expiration date three weeks past breaks that chain. Her explanation (she is 24 and has not renewed) may be entirely true and is still irrelevant: the card is no longer a live credential, and you cannot confirm the birth date belongs to her. Refuse the alcohol, offer food or a soda, and invite her back with a current license, state ID, passport, or military ID. Do not confiscate the card; it is her property and appears genuinely hers. Log the refusal with a brief description of the document and the time.
3. The third guest wants a plastic cup for her cocktail so she can finish it in the car. What do you do?
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Refuse the cup and be clear why. The permit does not allow alcohol to leave the premises, and a cocktail in a car is an open container for the driver as well as a violation for the business. Give her two options: finish it here before the 2:15 cutoff, or it goes down the drain. You cannot hold it in the back for her. Offer water, coffee, and a taxi from the list on the wall; if her group has a sober driver, help her find that person. Coaching works better than arguing, so give her something to do instead. Note the request and the time in the logbook and tell the manager on duty. If the group later gets loud or tries to walk out with drinks, security handles the exit, not you.