“It is the duty of the seller to question any person who, from
their physical characteristics, appears to be underage. Before selling
beer or intoxicating liquor to any youthful appearing person, they must
present a valid photo driver’s license, chauffeur’s license, or state of
Ohio identification card correctly identifying their age.”
Even though I’m (almost) 40 I am still carded pretty much all the time. However, I’ve never had my license questioned or been denied service because I speak and act like a 40 year-old. I don’t know, it’s at least possible that attitude might be some people’s problem with why they don’t get served.
Mine too, but i do know people who’ve been turned away in the US when all they could provide for ID was a foreign passport and a foreign driver’s license. Of course, over here in the center of the universe, the idea that other governments might be just as good as American governments in providing IDs never crosses some people’s minds. It’s good enough to get through customs and immigration, but the front door of a bar.
As some folks in this thread have already noted, the problem can even afflict Americans themselves, as some establishments are leery of taking out-of-state driver’s licenses. A friend of mine was once turned away from an establishment for just this reason. You’d think that a bar in Philadelphia, which is within 30 minutes drive of Delaware, Maryland, and New Jersey, would have a vested interest in learning and accepting the licenses of at least those three states.
The level of paranoia about this in some places in the US is amazing. It also leads to circumstances in which the people working in the establishment are not even allowed to engage in the sort of mental reasoning and logic and common sense that most 7-year-olds have. I’ve been to places where you were turned away if you had no ID, no matter whether you looked borderline teenaged or borderline geriatric.
As far as the law goes, i’m not interested in looking up the drinking laws of each state, but i’d be very surprised if there were no allowances or scope in the laws for a good faith effort to ensure the person’s age. In many areas of law, people are excused from making a mistake is they are shown a false document and it is determined that a reasonable person would have thought the document to be authentic.
If a bartender were handed both a driver’s license and a passport that showed no obvious signs of tampering of forgery, and gave the person a drink based on those IDs, i find it hard to believe that any responsible DA would even consider pressing charges against the bartender or the establishment. Of course, cops and DAs have been known to make even dumber decisions than ID checkers in bars, so i could be wrong.
Exactly. 
Not sure what sort of conversations you’re getting into with people who check IDs. The extent of my conversations with such folks is usually in the order of:
“I need to see some ID”
[hands over ID]
“OK”
And that’s it.
Again, I would argue that’s not a requirement, inasmuch as there’s no penalty for failing to request ID.
I know of one Princeton professor who was refused wine in a restaurant due to such nonsense.
Interestingly, this doesn’t rule out foreign driving licences as valid ID, but does rule out passports, of any country. :dubious:
I don’t think it does, necessarily. This isn’t the actual text of the law (which is here), but rather a plain-language interpretation of it.
I take it to mean, “If you have any doubt, don’t serve them.”
When I lived briefly in CA, I didn’t yet have a CA license. I was refused service more than once because the liquor store owner or bartender had <i>never heard of the state of Rhode Island</i>. I had a gas station owner threaten to call the cops on me when I tried to buy smokes because I not only had a “fake license from a fake state”, but my car’s license plates must also have been fake because they were also from this mythical land I called “Rhode Island”.
I wish I was kidding. In both cases with being refused alcohol I asked them to look RI up in that book of licenses they keep behind the counter, I just got derisive snorts.
Entertaining is attempting to gain access to a bar or airport in the US using Quebec-issued ID, which in addition to being damn fake furrin ID is also in French. I had to point out where the birthdate was (hint, it’s the prominent three groups of two-digit numbers, the middle one of which is not greater than 12).
I also question the business of asking when I graduated from high school, since I graduated from high school when I was 15 (Quebec HS only goes up to grade 11).
Ahh, that explains a lot. 
Well obviously, the conversation starts when they have a question. Such as:
“I need to see some ID”
[hands over ID]
(looks hard at me) “Ummm…no way.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“You don’t look…”
(conversation ensues)
One time they asked for further ID and I showed them my Professional Engineer’s wallet card. For some reason, they thought that my non-photo un-laminated paper wallet card was sufficient supporting proof. :dubious: Maybe they were worried I would find a sudden “structural problem” and condemn the place…now there’s a trick. “Give me a pinot noir, dammit, or I’ll question the yield strength of that wide-flange beam up there - yes, that ‘widowmaker’ right there in the ceiling…and (sniff sniff), do I smell radon? Or is that just the ‘Axe Effect’ I keep hearing you kids talk about?” 
If they’re that dumb, I’d love to see them try and figure out how I was born in the eighteenth month of the year (However, being an EU-style card, it will be recognised and understood by officials anywhere from Finland to Portugal without any problem.)
I recall one time I had to take my passport back and open it at the necessary page, because they were flicking through it from the front and getting very confused.
Actually, I think it does. From your link:
(A) As used in this section and section 4301.611 of the Revised Code:
(1) “Card holder” means any person who presents a driver’s or commercial driver’s license or an identification card to a permit holder, or an agent or employee of a permit holder, for either of the purposes listed in division (A)(4)(a) or (b) of this section.
(2) “Identification card” means an identification card issued under sections 4507.50 to 4507.52 of the Revised Code.
(3) “Permit holder” means the holder of a permit issued under Chapter 4303. of the Revised Code.
(4) “Transaction scan” means the process by which a permit holder or an agent or employee of a permit holder checks, by means of a transaction scan device, the validity of a driver’s or commercial driver’s license or an identification card that is presented as a condition for doing either of the following:
(a) Purchasing any beer, intoxicating liquor, or low-alcohol beverage;
(b) Gaining admission to a premises that has been issued a liquor permit authorizing the sale of beer or intoxicating liquor for consumption on the premises where sold, and where admission is restricted to persons twenty-one years of age or older.
Oops. Forgot to include the title of the preceding text:
4301.61 Transaction scans to check the validity of driver’s or commercial driver’s license or identification card.
And upon further thought, they may only accept state issued driver’s licenses and id’s* because * they are equipped to allow “transaction checks” to confirm their validity.
Heh. You could use it as an opportunity to regale them with tales of your travels.
“My burly and hirsute friend, I see you are admiring my stamp from Mexico. Ah yes, I remember that trip well. Most of all, I remember a woman - or goddess. Does not every woman contain a goddess, if a man be so bold as to draw her out? On the volcanic beach one moonlit night, I saw a vision rise from the waves, and come to lay with me, wordlessly, on the sand. And although I knew not of her name, and she not of mine, we made passionate love under the full moon, our cries of passion mingling with the sound of the waves and gunfire from the Zapatista rebels in the jungles nearby. In the morning I woke, alone, but knowing the true peace and happiness of having an empty soul filled. You know of what I speak, do you not, my friend? Ah, indeed, you too are a man of the world, my brother in arms. Here, I kiss you as only a European can without being thought of as - how do you say? Ah!, yes, ‘gay’. Now, I shall enter your establishment, and should you wish to take a break, I will buy a pina colada for you, and tell you of another time, another country, and another woman…for there have been so many…”
Well, I wasn’t so much as arguing against the plausibility of **Shagnasty’s ** point (though, yeah, I do wonder about the likelihood of the scenario that he raises) as I was providing an explanation for why I (and, though I didn’t say so, perhaps other people) choose to carry my passport at all times.
And no, I can’t see the failed logic of my “argument”. Could you be more specific, please?
Or is your point that both my driver’s license and my passport could be lost/stolen simultaneously?
It’s even better in Wisconsin! If I sell a six-pack of beer to someone who is legally of age, having checked his ID and everything, and then he gives that beer to someone underage and that underage person gets in an accident and kills someone, guess who’s responsible.
Go on, guess!
:rolleyes:
It’s the stupidest shit I’ve ever heard in my life. One of the things I miss about Vegas is how laissez-fair they are in comparison to the rest of this country. I was quite shocked when I moved and discovered I could no longer buy Everclear in convenience stores.
You could use it to drive.
Exactly. Unless you’re traveling in a foreign country, you have no need to carry around your passport. Please don’t tell me you routinely carry around your SS card, too…