Policy re: Junior Players
- Thread starter TeamCastillo
- Start date
Very complicated issue
I read a lot of the thread but honestly not every single post. I do know here in St Louis, the county is divided into 90 different municipalities. Every single one has different laws concerning minors and their presence in places with alcohol. They also may change from time to time depending on who is the mayor or alderman at the time and how much you contributed to the policemans ball. Everything is politics. I have had to be strict as hell on minors and curfew at times and could be lenient at others. If the police chief or the mayor comes in and gives me a warning. Every single one gets thrown out. Please note...We do NOT even have a liquor license. I am sure if we did the pressure would be even higher. Every small town or local police force treats it differently depending on what is popular or not popular at the time. One kid gets hurt in a bar and suddenly every bar is on notice to be shut down if it makes the nightly news. I do think it is a priveledge NOT a right for a minor to be in a place that is serving alcohol. If a business owner is risking his liquor license just one tiny bit..he is doing that minor a HUGE favor. And he should be treated as such. When I minor says a single word to me about why I need his business...he is barred for life on his FIRST offense. Yes I am serious about this. I dont need my local police force giving me a $500 fine (first offense fine) and I am making $3 in pool off the kid for him being there late. I am taking all the risk and any minors and their parents need to acknowledge that. If parents want me to do them a favor it is just that...a favor. One of our biggest % of players is high school and college kids that are underage. About 40% of our business I would estimate. They need a lot of guidance and discipline in order for them to be welcome and in order to make sure that I am following all the rules and politics of my city. It is a constant battle for us to balance everything...but the $income made vs the risk has to always be a major deciding factor. Chapperones do not mean that a child being in a pool room is satisfying the law. Especially if they are not at a dinner table. When you have grey areas of the law like that; many owners/managers will err on the side of caution.
I read a lot of the thread but honestly not every single post. I do know here in St Louis, the county is divided into 90 different municipalities. Every single one has different laws concerning minors and their presence in places with alcohol. They also may change from time to time depending on who is the mayor or alderman at the time and how much you contributed to the policemans ball. Everything is politics. I have had to be strict as hell on minors and curfew at times and could be lenient at others. If the police chief or the mayor comes in and gives me a warning. Every single one gets thrown out. Please note...We do NOT even have a liquor license. I am sure if we did the pressure would be even higher. Every small town or local police force treats it differently depending on what is popular or not popular at the time. One kid gets hurt in a bar and suddenly every bar is on notice to be shut down if it makes the nightly news. I do think it is a priveledge NOT a right for a minor to be in a place that is serving alcohol. If a business owner is risking his liquor license just one tiny bit..he is doing that minor a HUGE favor. And he should be treated as such. When I minor says a single word to me about why I need his business...he is barred for life on his FIRST offense. Yes I am serious about this. I dont need my local police force giving me a $500 fine (first offense fine) and I am making $3 in pool off the kid for him being there late. I am taking all the risk and any minors and their parents need to acknowledge that. If parents want me to do them a favor it is just that...a favor. One of our biggest % of players is high school and college kids that are underage. About 40% of our business I would estimate. They need a lot of guidance and discipline in order for them to be welcome and in order to make sure that I am following all the rules and politics of my city. It is a constant battle for us to balance everything...but the $income made vs the risk has to always be a major deciding factor. Chapperones do not mean that a child being in a pool room is satisfying the law. Especially if they are not at a dinner table. When you have grey areas of the law like that; many owners/managers will err on the side of caution.
cueandcushion said:
Craig,
We asked if it were a liquor license issue - there wasn't any liquor we could see in the place. We didn't get an answer. As far as we can tell - although we didn't get an answer on this either - it wasn't a non-liquor related municipal rule either. It appears to be entirely the owner's own rule and at his own discretion. And even he posted on his own website that the rule goes into effect at 6PM, not 2 in the afternoon when we were there. So although you make good points, I'm not sure they apply here. We're not talking about compliance with municipal regs or municipal pressure. Neither is this a case of insolence or lack of supervision of the minor. And we were in fact *in* compliance with the rule as posted - and still we were confronted in a hostile manner.
In any case, the rule itself, although it caused the issue, is not really the problem - although no rational reason for it has been shown so far. The problem is the poor handling of what transpired. As rackmsuckr put it...
rackmsuckr said:1. Ernie could use better management skills by:
A. Publicising his policy for underage kids
B. Cluing in his staff and TD on his aforementioned policy
C. Letting people know about the policy when they call in
D. Making it fair by enforcing it equally to all underage players
(or allowing both players to remain, as players.)
E. Taking you and your husband aside to break the news (or better yet allowing you all to stay!)
F. Offering something in return for your inconvenience, as it is his fault that you even showed up.
G. Not resorting to cursing
H. Being generally more friendly and cognizant of future impacted business and bad publicity.
Regardless of the specific rule in question, Ernie could have done all of those things, and did none of them.
It's not about having rules. It's about doing business respectfully.
Thanks,
MD
I already posted on your orignal thread. As I mentioned I don't think that room owner will stay in business for long...