It's not my fault if you're drunk

So, SmartServe, or as I call it, SchmuckServe, is the Ontario Government's way of "training" me to serve alcoholic beverages. Now, let's be very clear about something. In no way do I agree with the fact that policing your alcohol intake is my responsibility. If I'm responsible for your actions after I give you alcohol, then the gun seller is responsible for your shooting deaths, the convenience store clerk who sold you the cigarettes is responsible for your cancer, and the (government controlled) liquor store is responsible for your alcoholism.


But lets talk about the course itself. To call this a course is like calling a made-in-China-princess-halloween-costume a "ball gown". It is like calling a popcorn fart a symphony. It is like calling Miracle Whip, mayonnaise. What we have here is a 2-3 hour course. That's it. Two to three hours. About the same amount of time it takes to get tired of your dinner guests once the table has been cleared. Within this short time period, you will be "trained" in "...safe and responsible practices...". It is only a government employee who could create a package, complete with a workbook and accompanying DVD, that uses up 2 to 3 hours of your valuable time just to say, "If this drunk customer kills someone with their car, you could be held responsible because some other drunk hired a really good lawyer once upon a time." And then, to make matters worse, the government itself makes this training MANDATORY and then makes everyone pay to take it.

But here's my favourite thing... I can take the training on-line by myself, and then, at the end of the 2 or 3 hours, I CAN GIVE MYSELF THE TEST!


So what we really have here is a knee-jerk reaction to a legal system out of control. This "training" is little more than propaganda, a fascist-like handbook for those who are expected to run scared by the threat of possible, future litigation. In short, this course is simply some bureaucrats' way of saying, "Can't sue us, we gave everyone training. Nya, nya."




SmartServe is the impotent indoctrinating the indolent. Or is it the other way around?