Picture this, you have woken up late on a Saturday morning and everything seems to be out of order. You look for your phone, your wallet and other valuables, but to no avail, they're all gone. You have a throbbing headache and a terrible nausea. In fact, you can't even recall what happened the previous day! Simply put, a hangover has engulfed every part of your body, mind and soul. Who's to blame? Is it your buddies who took you out and spoilt you with those adult's beverages for a weekend? Do you blame the guy who took advantage of your situation and stole your valuables, or do you blame the bartender who over served you?
Well, if you're a woman you might have the bartender to thank. According to a study that was conducted in three Norwegian cities, bartenders are more likely to over-serve drunken women than men.
According to the study, male and female actors aged between 20 and 30 years were involved. While pretending to be overly drunk, the actors together with the researchers visited 153 drinking joints in three major Norwegian cities: Oslo, Trondheim and Bergen.
The actors made a total of 425 attempts to purchase alcohol from the bartenders and 347 attempts were successful, representing 82% of all the attempts.
If the actor was a lady and in an establishment that was kind of poorly lit, there was a 95% likelihood of being over served. However, this rate decreased to 67% if the actor was a male and the time was before midnight.
Predisposing factors
The study showed that the probability of being over served increased if:
- The patron was a female
- Majority of the patrons in the joints were clearly intoxicated
- The music in the bar was overly loud
In the United States, and many other parts of the world, it is a criminal offence for bartenders to serve people who appear intoxicated. In January last year, two Oklahoma bartenders were charged for allegedly serving an already intoxicated pilot who was later hit by a car while crossing the road. While it is obvious that breaking these laws is prevalent across the world, convictions related to them are usually very low.
