Thursday
Sep012011
Idiocy in North Carolina: The Time I Couldn't Get a Drink in Pineville
Thursday, September 1, 2011 at 1:59AM
On our way from Orange County, CA, to Myrtle Beach, SC, we spent the night in a small suburb of Charlotte, NC called Pineville. We arrived at the hotel at around 9pm, and headed out for an evening meal. Fortunately, Tona Romas was located just across the way from the hotel, and so it was to there we went.
All was going well, we had a very nice meal-with two free appetisers because of our stay at the hotel- and our waiter was polite, friendly and efficient. What more could you ask for from a meal in a restaurant? Well, it just so happened they had Newcastle Brown on draught, so my Granddad and I thought we'd have beer.
The waiter goes round the table and we order. Then he asks for my ID. OK sure, not a problem. It's their job to ask and they could get fired for not checking, and it's no longer a problem to me! I got asked for ID when buying a lottery ticket, for which you have to be age 16, so looking 21 is perhaps a little difficult, though I hate to admit it.
Anyway, I pull out my UK drivers license and hand it over. The waiter quizzically looks at it, and then tells me he has to show all foreign ID to his manager. Again, fair enough. It is somewhat unique, and if that's the rule they have, so be it. I expected his manager to have more skill in recognising foreign ID, and for her to just approve it.
Not to be. The waiter returned and told me they couldn't except this, and that I needed a passport. Now I've never had any trouble whatsoever with my driver's license as a form of ID, across the length and breadth of the country, until here. However, seeing as how the hotel was just across the road, I opted not to argue, but just to go and get my passport.
I returned in a few minutes, and handed my passport over to the waiter. Still he couldn't except this, without checking with his manager. Off he toddled, and returned 5 minutes later only to inform me that he could not except the passport because it had expired. This being the passport I had just entered the US with and flew with that very day. Immigration and TSA officers had approved it...
It seemed he was looking at an expired visa of mine. I proceeded to show him the correct photo ID page (just like in a US passport) and off he went back to this still unseen manager. I felt sorry for the waiter, you could see he clearly just wanted to accept it, but he was following protocol to the letter. That his manager didn't come over to the table to settle the matter there should have shown her incompetence to us then and there.
But it didn't, and we sat and waited for another ten minutes before we decided to give up. We walked into the back to find the manager simply stood, mouth agape, staring at my passport. Thinking what, I really have no idea! Did she think she was some kind of fraud expert? Was it in a foreign language to her? Was she checking if I was the guy in the photo?
Well no, that can't be true, since she never came over to even see what I looked like.
The incompetence was absolutely shocking! We stood there and asked what the problem was, and she couldn't tell us. So we took the passport, obviously extremely annoyed, and said we'd go elsewhere, and to forget the order. I should point out that half of the order had already been poured, including one beer.
A good manager would surely have tried to stop us leaving, and have us spend however much one, and maybe two rounds of four drinks cost in her establishment. A better manager would have apologised profusely for the mix up, and perhaps credited us with a free drink. Alas, neither of these things happened.
That she had two forms of legitimate ID, with matching names, pictures, and birthdates made no difference to her. That I went all the way to the hotel to get my passport should surely have proved my seriousness, and indicated that I wasn't just trying to get a cheeky illegal beer. It couldn't possibly have gotten more legitimate and legal!
What did this manager think? That the police were going to come in a raid her restaurant and convict her of serving someone underage.... in this small little suburb? Or did she think I was in for a wild night of underage drinking with a 50 year old, and two senior citizens?
It was just terrible, and put a big dampener on the night.
We left, and went to another bar down the road. One quick look, and driver's license accepted. And it wasn't like we had a meal there either.
Still, I suppose it's better than the more recent time, when the bar lady couldn't find my date of birth on my license, and so eventually gave up and assumed I was military!
All was going well, we had a very nice meal-with two free appetisers because of our stay at the hotel- and our waiter was polite, friendly and efficient. What more could you ask for from a meal in a restaurant? Well, it just so happened they had Newcastle Brown on draught, so my Granddad and I thought we'd have beer.
The waiter goes round the table and we order. Then he asks for my ID. OK sure, not a problem. It's their job to ask and they could get fired for not checking, and it's no longer a problem to me! I got asked for ID when buying a lottery ticket, for which you have to be age 16, so looking 21 is perhaps a little difficult, though I hate to admit it.
Anyway, I pull out my UK drivers license and hand it over. The waiter quizzically looks at it, and then tells me he has to show all foreign ID to his manager. Again, fair enough. It is somewhat unique, and if that's the rule they have, so be it. I expected his manager to have more skill in recognising foreign ID, and for her to just approve it.
Not to be. The waiter returned and told me they couldn't except this, and that I needed a passport. Now I've never had any trouble whatsoever with my driver's license as a form of ID, across the length and breadth of the country, until here. However, seeing as how the hotel was just across the road, I opted not to argue, but just to go and get my passport.
I returned in a few minutes, and handed my passport over to the waiter. Still he couldn't except this, without checking with his manager. Off he toddled, and returned 5 minutes later only to inform me that he could not except the passport because it had expired. This being the passport I had just entered the US with and flew with that very day. Immigration and TSA officers had approved it...
It seemed he was looking at an expired visa of mine. I proceeded to show him the correct photo ID page (just like in a US passport) and off he went back to this still unseen manager. I felt sorry for the waiter, you could see he clearly just wanted to accept it, but he was following protocol to the letter. That his manager didn't come over to the table to settle the matter there should have shown her incompetence to us then and there.
But it didn't, and we sat and waited for another ten minutes before we decided to give up. We walked into the back to find the manager simply stood, mouth agape, staring at my passport. Thinking what, I really have no idea! Did she think she was some kind of fraud expert? Was it in a foreign language to her? Was she checking if I was the guy in the photo?
Well no, that can't be true, since she never came over to even see what I looked like.
The incompetence was absolutely shocking! We stood there and asked what the problem was, and she couldn't tell us. So we took the passport, obviously extremely annoyed, and said we'd go elsewhere, and to forget the order. I should point out that half of the order had already been poured, including one beer.
A good manager would surely have tried to stop us leaving, and have us spend however much one, and maybe two rounds of four drinks cost in her establishment. A better manager would have apologised profusely for the mix up, and perhaps credited us with a free drink. Alas, neither of these things happened.
That she had two forms of legitimate ID, with matching names, pictures, and birthdates made no difference to her. That I went all the way to the hotel to get my passport should surely have proved my seriousness, and indicated that I wasn't just trying to get a cheeky illegal beer. It couldn't possibly have gotten more legitimate and legal!
What did this manager think? That the police were going to come in a raid her restaurant and convict her of serving someone underage.... in this small little suburb? Or did she think I was in for a wild night of underage drinking with a 50 year old, and two senior citizens?
It was just terrible, and put a big dampener on the night.
We left, and went to another bar down the road. One quick look, and driver's license accepted. And it wasn't like we had a meal there either.
Still, I suppose it's better than the more recent time, when the bar lady couldn't find my date of birth on my license, and so eventually gave up and assumed I was military!
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