Usually I would just make noise and complain...after reading this i decided to start my own organization, called D.A.M.A.D.D(drunks against mothers against drunk driving)

see, my organization will be perfect for all members, we can raise money no matter what the outcome, have jobs forever, and in the whole process...never create anything, build anything, or help anything, here is how it will work.

1)We raise money.

2)we spout off a bunch of goals.

3) if we fail at our goals, we say "we dont have enough cash to fulfill them.

4)if by some fluke we DO achieve our goals,or our goals just sorta get met(by chance, the economy, etc) we say "we have done so much, now we need more cash for MORE goals"

5)PROFIT and jobs for our friends forever!!!!!

-/yay for scams labeled as Non-Profit

I work in the industry.

I bounce on the weekends.

I've tossed folks out for being drunk and disorderly--and I've then gone to my bartender and written them up for letting one our patrons get in that condition.

I've fired bartenders for this sort of thing as well.

I regularly toss folks for bringing in their own alcohol, which you have to do, because you have no control then on how much your patrons are drinking.

Despite this incident happening a year ago, I have to say WTF?

I love to see folks having a good time, and me and my staff try like hell to keep the party going, and that means watching out for them at times, and watching out for their friends, so they don't have to worry about it. I give out lots of free stuff to designated drivers, because those folks are making sure that my patrons get home safe, and there's no sense in making them feel excluded, they should be rewarded for taking the responsibility. You run a bar, you run a fine line in getting folks to up the tab, while making sure that you don't have folks in a state that they are going to hurt themselves, or others. You sometimes have to be the final arbiter, and when a bartender shuts you off, you might want to step back off the tirade machine, and examine what has led that bartender to take the action. Now, I know that not all club owners, and bar owners take the high road--they'll get folks as loaded as they can, take the cash, and hope like hell they don't wrap themselves around a tree, or smash head on into a car load of kids--but there IS a lot of incentive to take the high road--not just in the ethical responsibility that you have when you serve liquor, and in the hospitality business, there is a bit--but a very real financial incentive as well. Lawsuits are expensive. Insurers will cut you off at the knees, and communities will yank that liquor license faster than you can blink if they think that you're NOT taking care of folks. It keeps a lot of folks cleaner than they would normally operate.

If there is a problem on the floor, and it's because someone is drunk and out of control, I take care of the problem, or my staff does, and then we figure out WTF happened. Who dropped the ball--guy or gal behind the bar? Guys or gals on the floor who are supposed to be watching folks to see if they're getting drinks from friends, their bringing in bootleg hootch, or they're popping pills and drinks at the same time. Folks get out of control in a club--that's OUR fault, because we dropped the ball. We want you to have a good time, it's why we're there. We want to be a part of that good time, and lord knows we like to party--just check out your bartender friends' parties--BUT we also want you to come back. You're puking in the toilet or in the alley, that's not fun. You're weaving and out of control, someone is going to regulate, and that's not fun either. I can get fired up when a guy takes a swing or two, but in the end, I know if there's something brewing: we screwed up.

We didn't watch the floor, we dropped the ball, and then we have to deal with it. We can't let folks swing wild, and we have to step in to keep folks from hurting each other, and I know that I get riled if a guy is being ejected for his behavior, or a gal too--let's not forget the ladies in the audience--and there is shennigans going on because they're liquored up, we screwed up. It would be nice if folks realized that they were putting other folks at risk, and just stepped out quietly. It would be nice if folks didn't try to sneak liquor INTO a club too, and didn't pelt my bouncers with peanuts distracting them from watching out for the predatory sumbiatches who try to slip crap into gals' drinks. It would be nice if we didn't have to do all that, could just have a nice quiet night, where everyone came in, danced, had a few drinks, a few laughs, and everyone went off with a mild buzz and happy thoughts. It DOES happen most nights, but not often enough that we send our bouncers off for a night.

And that's why we have those folks on the floor. And that is WHY this particular community action has me puzzled. It shows a marked lack of respect for the patrons, and it is targeting the wrong folks. You want to bust down on folks, I hate to say it, because it draws fire on me and mine, but you have to direct that ire and that focus on the folks who control the drink supply--the clubs and the bars. You find folks who are drunk and disorderly, you regulate on the folks who are about to do someone some harm, yes, and THEN you go after the irresponsible sumbiatches who enabled them to get that way.

Singing kareoke isn't a crime. (OK, maybe sometimes, but isn't there a piece of you that just dies a little inside sometime the first time you see some fresh faced little scrub who want's to sing to his girlfriend with some cheeserock song?) Having a few drinks with your friends, in an atmosphere of conviviality, in a controlled environment in club, where folks are being watched out over is part of the hospitality business. It's what we do. Yes, we expect to be regulated, we expect to be held accountable, and this sort of sweep is bit troublesome, because it denies the club even of showing any kind of responsibility--I've taken keys, I've called cabs, I've driven folks home myself, and I've certainly helped folks who made a mistake in their estimation of their own tolerance, and I've shut folks off, or at least slowed them down if I think they're edging over the precipice of control. I do my damndest to make sure my patrons are having a good time, and are going to go home safe, and it's spooky from this end of the business to see the police taking that control from my, or my fellows' hands. It shows a marked lack of trust, and it shows a disturbing thread of misplaced prevention. That's a police department that is telling the club owners that they don't think they're doing their job--and maybe this place wasn't, but you take it to the owner, not haul out a patron, who isn't near a car yet. It supposes guilt before the fact.

They see a fella weaving, getting ready to get into his car--you've got probable cause. Go to town. Then find the owner of the club that let that poor bastard out with keys in his hands, and string him up too. It's harsh, but it will certainly help club owners and bar owners learn their lesson that you can't let get into that condition. You're job at a club is give folks a place to party, safely. You fail in that, and let folks go out drunk as Templers, then you NEED to be held accountable. But to premeptively do so? This is a sign of community with a troubled police force--and that is often a sign of a city government that has some serious problems about their role in the community.

I work hard to work with the police in my community. I work damn hard to have a good relationship with them, and that makes things easier on me and mine, and on them too. There are a lot of club owners and managers that do the same. This is a slab in the face of those folks who do work hard to run good clubs and good bars. It also makes me not want to open up a club, and fork over good tax money to this community. Feh.

hubiestubert
Yeah...what he said

AsianMan:
1. this happened almost one year ago
2. the police were pretty much roundly criticized for their actions
3. it never happened again

Really don't see why this is that big a deal right now


yes, being from nova, I knew this was from almost a year ago, and happened here, when I read the headline. I was just as disbelieving as everyone else in the area at the time, and yes, everyone was like "wtf?!". it never did happen again. it was a stupid move, and of the politics that prompted this action we'll probably never really know.

drinking and driving should land you in jail. period. it's stupid; it's not just your life you're taking into your hands, it's innocents, and their families. as far as I am concerned, if you're dumb enough and selfish enough to drink and drive, just get it over with and kill yourself at home. you'll be doing us all a favor.

however, MADD really has gotten out of control. the police around here really took a beating for this. who knows if this was done just to secure a generous donation? maybe one of the cops with a bit of authority knew his ex hung out there after dumping him? it was a load of crap, and this is ancient history in D.C.

technicolor-misfit
Perhaps I wasn't clear enough in my original post. The times I've stumbled home from a variety of places I've always been with other people who have relayed the information back to me that I was loud and unruly. So I commonly associate stumbling with loudness just based on personal experience. It's the noise that I feel in most places should be the major indicator, not so much the walk

sib--Nope, but I toss back suds there fairly often. Cheap beer, and a good crowd. It's the secret lair of a lot of the NoHo rock stars--that and the Eagle's Lodge now that folks have figured out that a $20 membership can get you performance space for another $20 bucks a night. Between the Eagle's and Harry's, you've got a scene starting to creep back.

I like DAM better:

DAM - Mothers Against Dyslexia