I ask this as my 53 year old brother in law entered a cocktail lounge sober last Thursday, sober, between 5 and 530 pm. He drank steadily the entire time. A couple of hours into his decline he was joined by and older woman and her daughter. As "odd" as it may sound he was able to tell my sister, the daughter was "incredibly good-looking". However, he cannot recall driving off the road, totaling his truck , the new fishing boat and trailer he was towing, or any interaction with law enforcement until they were removing the handcuffs at his front door. The police reports states he was not jailed "due to his level of intoxication".
Two hours after arrest he registered .283 on breathalyzer (sp?) , he blew a .306 on the first one.
In an obviously futile, yet good hearted attempt to give my sister a break from her troubled marriage and the constant stress of an alcoholic husband, she paid for both of them to fly to Vegas for a week.
*** For attempted brevity, hopefully you won't mind if I refer to my brother in law as "Sam" and my sister as "Sue".****
My nephew, the son of Sue and Sam was to meet Sam at 7:00 pm this same evening. I know not where or why. When Sam was still a no show at 9:00, the son called Sue at her hotel in Vegas. Sue could only think of one place he would go as he very rarely takes that first drink away from home, knowing he won't be able to stop and he was very scared about getting a DWI. Sue called the one establishment Sam might be at. First she spoke with 2 people in the restaurant, there was no paging system, so Sue gave a detailed description of Sam down to what he would have ordered to eat and the brand of beer he drinks. No, he had not been in the restaurant, so they transfered her call to the bartender in the lounge, Sue told the bartender what she had told the waitresses. The bartender said that business with customers seated at the bar had been steady all night, so he had not been out waiting tables, and Bud lLight draft had been pretty popular that hot day. As he was no help he had Sue speak to the cocktail waitress. She came on shift a 3 and had been the only cocktail waitress working. She listened to the description, etc that Sue gave her, and without hesitation (my sister has the speaker of her cell on so my mother overheard the entire call), told Sue that" there wasn't any guy that came close to looking like that in thereright at that moment and there had not been any guy close to that description the entire day and she was super sure of that as she started work on the floor a 3 sharp and she remembers all her customers."
Credit card recipts found on Sams person and in his wallet showed he had been there since about 5pm and 2 minutes before my sister made that call from Vegas he bought another round of tequila shots and Bud Light Draft backs for himself and his new lady friends. Two hours following that,he left that bar(once again a couple of receipts show he drank up until the time he left. The time on the very last one was 22:25.) and did not get more than 1-2 miles down the highway,. Says he does recall trying to stop his truck because he could he was going to pass out ..."again" and at 22:48 the police report states he blew a .306.
I know Sam will cowboy up and accept responsibility for all he is responsible for.
But when a customer is reaching their limit isn't that when the place that is selling the liqour has to take responsibility and refuse to serve them anything else but perhaps coffee and offer to call a cab? Sue called that place so if Sam was there their son could pick him up and get him home safely.
Obviously I could go one ad nauseum, but I will spare you. Please answer my question . Thank you so much
