According to SmartServe Ontario, their aim is “to provide a standard method of delivering a responsible service training certificate program to all individuals in the province of Ontario who serve or work where alcohol beverages are sold and served.” Are the regulations too lenient or do they infringe on bar proprietors’ rights to turn a profit? Does SmartServe do enough to guard against unsafe activities caused by intoxication?
If one were to look at the laws regulating the serving of alcohol in licensed establishments, one would think that, if properly enforced, they would be more than sufficient to curb the undesirable effects of public intoxication. Anyone who has taken the SmartServe exam knows that a server is legally required to observe any behavioural signs of intoxication before serving (as well as during the patron’s stay), and upon serving, is supposed to keep track of how many drinks are consumed in any given time period and then relate that to the person’s sex and body weight. Servers , who are legally required to have their SmartServe in Ontario, should also know that they are just as liable as the establishment in the case that a patron’s intoxication causes harm to him/herself or to others after leaving the restaurant.
However, as much as servers should know these responsibilities, anyone who has ever gotten their buzz on in a Toronto bar or club knows that these rules are never followed. Why? I’m not sure. The police do not rigidly enforce these particular regulations. No bar, restaurant, or club is going to stop serving intoxicated guests. These rules are only really enforced by lawsuits, which don’t occur as often as is necessary to curb the effects of public intoxication in a meaningful way.
I spent the summer employed at one of the greasy corporate restaurants at Yonge and Dundas Square. We had pukers, we had drunks, we had belligerent customers, but nobody was ever asked to leave until they started disturbing other guests. The tips were too good and the consequences were too slight.
But really, would you want such strict laws to be properly enforced? They would be enough to ruin any good night on the town. You would never be able to get drunk in a bar in Ontario, and that is a prime experience of being a student, or even just a young person. Perhaps that’s why the rules aren’t enforced: even the cops know they’re too harsh.
I think drinking and driving will never be reduced sufficiently until the laws recognize both a person’s right to get drunk (to a reasonable degree) and assign responsibility in a way that does not hamper a restaurant’s ability to serve alcohol to responsible patrons. But perhaps that’s just wishful thinking.
- Alan Jones
Some people seem to think that Smart Serve does not do enough to prevent people from getting intoxicated, or driving drunk. Regulate more, they say. Make the bar owners pay for the sins of their customers! Whatever happened to individual freedom and individual responsibility? If one is old enough to drink, one is old enough to know that excessive alcohol consumption can be detrimental to both oneself and to others.
Proprietors must deal with the commercial realities of running a bar. Smart Serve is technically used to prevent customers from getting “intoxicated.” If that rule were strictly observed, it would be tantamount to running a brothel where you had to prevent customers from reaching orgasm. Intoxication is why you’re there. Right off the bat, bar owners (and more importantly, harried frontline staff like waiters and bartenders) have to awkwardly balance customer service and legal responsibility.
Now, bar owners and staff profit from drinking, so I concede that they should bear a higher burden then say, someone hosting a house party. As it is now, staff are required to watch for the signs of (severe) intoxication, taught how to calculate and predict how many drinks the customer will take to get there, and required to stop serving alcohol to that customer.
SmartServe is a quick and simple way to get this information to new staff, and make sure that people have at least looked it over before they start work in the industry. You have to make this sort of regulation accessible and affordable if you want it to become the standard. Yes, some employers and staff will continue to bend and break the rules, just as they do in every regulated industry.
However, that is neither the fault nor the purpose of SmartServe. Liquor inspectors, police and the courts (civil and criminal) have the job of catching and determining the appropriate punishment for those bars or restaurants that skirt the rules. Unfortunately, people will find ways of getting intoxicated regardless of the regulations, and there will always be drunk driving and other stupid and dangerous behaviour.
Dumping more responsibility on the bar and restaurant industry is pointing the finger at the wrong place! You know your limit, you should know when you’ve hit it, and you have no excuse for your behaviour as a result.
- Martha Weiner
According to SmartServe Ontario, their aim is “to provide a standard method of delivering a responsible service training certificate program to all individuals in the province of Ontario who serve or work where alcohol beverages are sold and served.” Are the regulations too lenient or do they infringe on bar proprietors’ rights to turn a profit? Does SmartServe do enough to guard against unsafe activities caused by intoxication?
If one were to look at the laws regulating the serving of alcohol in licensed establishments, one would think that, if properly enforced, they would be more than sufficient to curb the undesirable effects of public intoxication. Anyone who has taken the SmartServe exam knows that a server is legally required to observe any behavioural signs of intoxication before serving (as well as during the patron’s stay), and upon serving, is supposed to keep track of how many drinks are consumed in any given time period and then relate that to the person’s sex and body weight. Servers , who are legally required to have their SmartServe in Ontario, should also know that they are just as liable as the establishment in the case that a patron’s intoxication causes harm to him/herself or to others after leaving the restaurant.
However, as much as servers should know these responsibilities, anyone who has ever gotten their buzz on in a Toronto bar or club knows that these rules are never followed. Why? I’m not sure. The police do not rigidly enforce these particular regulations. No bar, restaurant, or club is going to stop serving intoxicated guests. These rules are only really enforced by lawsuits, which don’t occur as often as is necessary to curb the effects of public intoxication in a meaningful way.
I spent the summer employed at one of the greasy corporate restaurants at Yonge and Dundas Square. We had pukers, we had drunks, we had belligerent customers, but nobody was ever asked to leave until they started disturbing other guests. The tips were too good and the consequences were too slight.
But really, would you want such strict laws to be properly enforced? They would be enough to ruin any good night on the town. You would never be able to get drunk in a bar in Ontario, and that is a prime experience of being a student, or even just a young person. Perhaps that’s why the rules aren’t enforced: even the cops know they’re too harsh.
I think drinking and driving will never be reduced sufficiently until the laws recognize both a person’s right to get drunk (to a reasonable degree) and assign responsibility in a way that does not hamper a restaurant’s ability to serve alcohol to responsible patrons. But perhaps that’s just wishful thinking.
- Alan Jones
Some people seem to think that Smart Serve does not do enough to prevent people from getting intoxicated, or driving drunk. Regulate more, they say. Make the bar owners pay for the sins of their customers! Whatever happened to individual freedom and individual responsibility? If one is old enough to drink, one is old enough to know that excessive alcohol consumption can be detrimental to both oneself and to others.
Proprietors must deal with the commercial realities of running a bar. Smart Serve is technically used to prevent customers from getting “intoxicated.” If that rule were strictly observed, it would be tantamount to running a brothel where you had to prevent customers from reaching orgasm. Intoxication is why you’re there. Right off the bat, bar owners (and more importantly, harried frontline staff like waiters and bartenders) have to awkwardly balance customer service and legal responsibility.
Now, bar owners and staff profit from drinking, so I concede that they should bear a higher burden then say, someone hosting a house party. As it is now, staff are required to watch for the signs of (severe) intoxication, taught how to calculate and predict how many drinks the customer will take to get there, and required to stop serving alcohol to that customer.
SmartServe is a quick and simple way to get this information to new staff, and make sure that people have at least looked it over before they start work in the industry. You have to make this sort of regulation accessible and affordable if you want it to become the standard. Yes, some employers and staff will continue to bend and break the rules, just as they do in every regulated industry.
However, that is neither the fault nor the purpose of SmartServe. Liquor inspectors, police and the courts (civil and criminal) have the job of catching and determining the appropriate punishment for those bars or restaurants that skirt the rules. Unfortunately, people will find ways of getting intoxicated regardless of the regulations, and there will always be drunk driving and other stupid and dangerous behaviour.
Dumping more responsibility on the bar and restaurant industry is pointing the finger at the wrong place! You know your limit, you should know when you’ve hit it, and you have no excuse for your behaviour as a result.
- Martha Weiner
According to SmartServe Ontario, their aim is “to provide a standard method of delivering a responsible service training certificate program to all individuals in the province of Ontario who serve or work where alcohol beverages are sold and served.” Are the regulations too lenient or do they infringe on bar proprietors’ rights to turn a profit? Does SmartServe do enough to guard against unsafe activities caused by intoxication?
If one were to look at the laws regulating the serving of alcohol in licensed establishments, one would think that, if properly enforced, they would be more than sufficient to curb the undesirable effects of public intoxication. Anyone who has taken the SmartServe exam knows that a server is legally required to observe any behavioural signs of intoxication before serving (as well as during the patron’s stay), and upon serving, is supposed to keep track of how many drinks are consumed in any given time period and then relate that to the person’s sex and body weight. Servers , who are legally required to have their SmartServe in Ontario, should also know that they are just as liable as the establishment in the case that a patron’s intoxication causes harm to him/herself or to others after leaving the restaurant.
However, as much as servers should know these responsibilities, anyone who has ever gotten their buzz on in a Toronto bar or club knows that these rules are never followed. Why? I’m not sure. The police do not rigidly enforce these particular regulations. No bar, restaurant, or club is going to stop serving intoxicated guests. These rules are only really enforced by lawsuits, which don’t occur as often as is necessary to curb the effects of public intoxication in a meaningful way.
I spent the summer employed at one of the greasy corporate restaurants at Yonge and Dundas Square. We had pukers, we had drunks, we had belligerent customers, but nobody was ever asked to leave until they started disturbing other guests. The tips were too good and the consequences were too slight.
But really, would you want such strict laws to be properly enforced? They would be enough to ruin any good night on the town. You would never be able to get drunk in a bar in Ontario, and that is a prime experience of being a student, or even just a young person. Perhaps that’s why the rules aren’t enforced: even the cops know they’re too harsh.
I think drinking and driving will never be reduced sufficiently until the laws recognize both a person’s right to get drunk (to a reasonable degree) and assign responsibility in a way that does not hamper a restaurant’s ability to serve alcohol to responsible patrons. But perhaps that’s just wishful thinking.
- Alan Jones
Some people seem to think that Smart Serve does not do enough to prevent people from getting intoxicated, or driving drunk. Regulate more, they say. Make the bar owners pay for the sins of their customers! Whatever happened to individual freedom and individual responsibility? If one is old enough to drink, one is old enough to know that excessive alcohol consumption can be detrimental to both oneself and to others.
Proprietors must deal with the commercial realities of running a bar. Smart Serve is technically used to prevent customers from getting “intoxicated.” If that rule were strictly observed, it would be tantamount to running a brothel where you had to prevent customers from reaching orgasm. Intoxication is why you’re there. Right off the bat, bar owners (and more importantly, harried frontline staff like waiters and bartenders) have to awkwardly balance customer service and legal responsibility.
Now, bar owners and staff profit from drinking, so I concede that they should bear a higher burden then say, someone hosting a house party. As it is now, staff are required to watch for the signs of (severe) intoxication, taught how to calculate and predict how many drinks the customer will take to get there, and required to stop serving alcohol to that customer.
SmartServe is a quick and simple way to get this information to new staff, and make sure that people have at least looked it over before they start work in the industry. You have to make this sort of regulation accessible and affordable if you want it to become the standard. Yes, some employers and staff will continue to bend and break the rules, just as they do in every regulated industry.
However, that is neither the fault nor the purpose of SmartServe. Liquor inspectors, police and the courts (civil and criminal) have the job of catching and determining the appropriate punishment for those bars or restaurants that skirt the rules. Unfortunately, people will find ways of getting intoxicated regardless of the regulations, and there will always be drunk driving and other stupid and dangerous behaviour.
Dumping more responsibility on the bar and restaurant industry is pointing the finger at the wrong place! You know your limit, you should know when you’ve hit it, and you have no excuse for your behaviour as a result.
- Martha Weiner
