truthseeker
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I was in a well known Dublin city centre pub last night and my attention was drawn to the fact that they have installed 2 beer taps on each table (Guinness and Carlsberg), so patrons can pull their own pints. There is a digital readout that shows the amount of money being clocked up and it seems to be the case that when you are done you get a staff member to check the read out and then you pay the amount due.
Im all for personal responsibility but I was a little shocked at how easy it was for someone who might not have been served at the bar (for being too drunk to stand up for example) to keep pouring themselves pints. It was a busy place so it would have been easy to miss someones inebriated state if they were in the middle of a group pulling their own pints - unsupervised access to alcohol as it were.
The other thing that struck me was that in an off licence for example you have to hand over the money before getting the booze whereas in this situation you could literally drink any amount you wanted and only after you'd had your fill was anyone going to look for money - Ive no idea how the situation is handled if it turns out the guy lying under the table only has a fiver on him when the read out shows he has consumed a far larger monetary value of drink.
All in all I just felt it was a little too easy for people to abuse such a system. No one in our group partook of it, the waitress seemed surprised we would rather go to the bar and order drink in the 'normal' way.
Anyone else any thoughts on the subject? Perhaps its the 'norm' in a lot of places and it was just my first time to see it.
Im all for personal responsibility but I was a little shocked at how easy it was for someone who might not have been served at the bar (for being too drunk to stand up for example) to keep pouring themselves pints. It was a busy place so it would have been easy to miss someones inebriated state if they were in the middle of a group pulling their own pints - unsupervised access to alcohol as it were.
The other thing that struck me was that in an off licence for example you have to hand over the money before getting the booze whereas in this situation you could literally drink any amount you wanted and only after you'd had your fill was anyone going to look for money - Ive no idea how the situation is handled if it turns out the guy lying under the table only has a fiver on him when the read out shows he has consumed a far larger monetary value of drink.
All in all I just felt it was a little too easy for people to abuse such a system. No one in our group partook of it, the waitress seemed surprised we would rather go to the bar and order drink in the 'normal' way.
Anyone else any thoughts on the subject? Perhaps its the 'norm' in a lot of places and it was just my first time to see it.