![]() ![]() ![]() MacDonald said she and the rest of the bartending staff at The Brown Jug are certified by Training for Intervention Procedures - another state-approved program that provides alcohol service education. “You don’t want to lose a customer, but you don’t want someone to get sick,” MacDonald said. Katie MacDonald, a bartender at The Brown Jug on South University Avenue, said that balancing business and safety is an issue. “We don’t want to have people here that are too drunk in here,” Pangborn said. According to Pangborn, Charley’s staff - including bouncers, bartenders and managers - may cut off about 30 intoxicated patrons on a busy night. Kyle Froelich, the night manager at Charley’s, said the bar doesn’t have a specific policy for cutting off intoxicated patrons, but employees use their discretion.Ĭharley’s head bartender Michael Pangborn said patron safety is a “constant thing” on his mind. “I’ve never seen anybody get thrown out.” “I probably should have been cut off a couple times and have not been,” Zita said. University Law School student Matthew Zita, who is friends with O’Rourke and was at BTB Friday, said he agrees that bars don’t intervene when they should. “I would say that around here, in the undergrad area, they are much more unlikely to cut off someone, and I’ve seen many people that should be cut off that are not cut off,” O’Rourke said. School of Public Health graduate student Christopher O’Rourke was at BTB Friday night and said “there’s a strong divide” between the South University Avenue bars, where undergraduate students frequent, and Main Street bars, where graduate students tend to go. He said he also talks to friends of the intoxicated customer and the management at Good Time Charley’s - a bar located beneath BTB - to make sure the patron is cared for and does not seek drinks downstairs. As part of his TAM training, Wilson said he gives intoxicated patrons water and time to sober up before leaving. ![]() While police use breathalyzers to measure a person’s level of intoxication, bar employees can only use their own judgment.īTB provides a party bus to transport patrons home. “They kind of put it on my shoulders.”Ī new drunk driving law took effect over the weekend, which increased legal consequences for drivers caught with a Blood Alcohol Concentration above 0.17. Cutting off patrons is a “touchy process,” Wilson said. According to Wilson, BTB serves about 150 patrons on a busy night and the staff cuts off alcohol service to about a dozen of those patrons for being intoxicated. “There really isn’t a law that says how to do it,” Puck said.īrad Wilson, the bar manager at BTB Cantina - the only 18 and older bar on South University Avenue - said he is TAM certified. ![]() While there is no state-mandated curriculum that teaches alcohol safety and use, Puck said TAM teaches its students how to enforce Michigan state law. Classes are taught in a classroom, and certification must be renewed every three years. David Puck, education coordinator at TAM, said the curriculum focuses on the clinical effects of alcohol. One state-approved program is Techniques for Alcohol Management. Bush said at least one certified staff member must be in the bar at all times, but he or she can be certified by several different state-approved programs. Shannon Bush, Liquor Control Commission district supervisor for Lansing, said a commission database tracks the certification of bartenders and bar managers within the state. However, the commission has no defined guidelines detailing how bar owners and managers should enforce liquor provisions. Though bartenders are mandated by Michigan state law to “cut off” these excessively drunk customers, owners and managers of South University bars say they largely navigate the enforcement guidelines themselves.Įvery bar and restaurant with a liquor license is regulated by the Michigan Liquor Control Commission. ![]()
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