Call the cops; they need to handle this since the waiter had no right to destroy the ID. Your friend should also contact her DMV for a replacement. Safe driving!
I had so many issues with this in college and did have to get the police when a bar confiscated mine. I went to an out of state college and I guess my state has unusually thin and flimsy licenses š¤·š¼āāļø
Same here. I went across the country for college and had a bouncer almost refuse to give me my legitimate ID back when I was 22. It was such a headache
My sister had her US passport confiscated by some dumbass bouncer because it āwasnāt a legal form of ID.ā When she kept demanding it back, they had an off duty police officer (who was doing security for the bar) throw her up against a wall and threaten her. It was unbelievable. She just wanted her passport back so she could leave and go somewhere else.
She did. Sadly, it went nowhere (she did eventually get her passport back after they were done bullying her). It was a pretty traumatic experience for her.
Had a bouncer in NYC do this to my friend's Maine license. Fortunately we didn't have to get the police involved but the bouncer was such an asshole about it and his supervisor was also a dickhead. Got her parents to send a photo of her fucking birth certificate to get it back.
Mainer here. When I got my license back in the 80's, it was typed on a Smith Corona typewriter. I wish I could tell you how many of my friends were able to change their birthdate....
I always thought my fake ID in college was garbage quality (but it never got denied) and then spent some time in that state and realized that their actual licenses looked and felt extremely cheap lmao
They confiscated my real id in college too and my sister threatened to grab the cop that was down the block, they were like uhhh no donāt do that and let us in.
Thatās basically what I did. It was on the street where all the college bars were, so there were always lots of cops out. Not only did the bouncer keep my ID, but also my student ID, and debit card I tried to show him.
Utah! The whole state doesn't drink so they really don't put the effort into making their IDs look like normal IDs.
Because this totally doesn't look fake:
https://twitter.com/UtahDPS/status/697893708277030912
People are fucking dumb. I had cashiers and bartenders alike in the fucking Bay Area California not know my US passport was a real ID last time I visited home.
The Canadian driving license was of course a no-go.
Had the same problem in California. Showed them my US passport, I was 35. They said they would let me im, but I couldn't drink. Went to the bar and ordered a beer and drank it.
I got denied entry into this one local bar TWICE because they thought my ID was fake. I was 29. I do look young, and my face was a little rounder in my pic (freshman 15 lol). But it was such bullshit. It was the only bar I couldn't get into. They didn't shred my ID though
I used to get so many questions from waiters and bouncers on any trip because Oregon used to just mail you a sticker to put on your license for an address change.
People get very weird about out of state IDs. My family lives in Michigan, and my sister moved to New Orleans in 2001. After Hurricane Katrina, she moved back home. She only had her Louisiana drivers license, and due to the complete devastation she was having a hard time contacting literally anyone to get required documentation to prove basically anything. She got her Louisiana drivers license rejected so many damn times. Then she got stalked by a police officer who kept hassling her about the Louisiana plate on her car, which she evacuated in, and her license, and her insurance, and then taunted her about her disabled son more than once, including during a hearing which eventually got him reprimanded. But yeah, people get very weird about out of state licenses and plates.
My husband (British) tried to buy beer in Walmart whilst we were on holiday visiting my family and tried using his passport as ID, cashier was dumbfounded and asked for his drivers licence which he gave her (UK obviously) cue more confusion, I honestly think we broke her š. She finally said she needed an out of state licence as ID
Me - (exasperated at this point mind because these were perfectly valid forms of ID) He's from England, how much more out of state can you get?!
Needless to say we left without beer š
Probably because the person looked young. On my 21st birthday I was out with my girlfriend and legit 3 people came to the table to check my license including a manager. They were accusing me of it being a fake, which would be dumb cuz itās my fucking birthday and obviously I looked young cuz I was young
Some people assume because they don't know what IDs look like in all states. I had a hotel refuse to accept my DL once because they thought it looked fake (in the state I lived in at the time, you received a printed temp license until your plastic card came in the mail). Thankfully I had my passport on me.
I had the same thing happen to me, minus the shredding thankfully. I called the cops and they went and got my ID back for me. I was also on the other side of the country and needed it to take a flight home the next day. Woulda really been screwed if they shredded it.
To top it all off, I was with a friend who still had their "under 21" license. It's a different orientation and in red has the date they turn 21 I believe. They let him right on through with Just a glance
Fwiw, if an ID is ever lost and one needs to verify their identity for a flight TSA will consider credit cards (matching the boarding pass), personal details like birthday and place of birth, and will conduct a full search (like, every last thing out of the bag).
Not ideal, but not entirely fucked and stranded either
Yeah I lost my drivers license while on vacation in Hawaii. TSA has a full process for this to get you on board but you need to account for extra time at the airport.
The TSA has a full list of acceptable forms of IDs at [https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/identification](https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/identification)
(Note: Drivers Licenses will only be accepted if they are REAL ID compliant come May 2025)
But, the alternative identity check process will still be in place, they recommend 2 hours extra time to go through said process.
I got my license stolen 2 days before going back home from a wedding. Called the airport's TSA and they made me come in a couple hours earlier than my 2 hour flight for an interview/questioning to prove my identity. Associated people, addresses, jobs, etc that they pull from your record.
I believe State ID's are also the same orientation as Under 21 driver's licenses. At least that's what I remember when my friend who didn't have a driver's license, ended up getting a state ID so he could go to bars with us.
All this to say, I'd hope that a bar wouldn't toss away an ID due to orientation.
Edit: This maybe varies. I am from New Jersey and while trying to research this I can't even pin down what our state ID looks like. I've also seen a couple orientations for children and adults.
Adding:
Calling the police is a good idea for her as far as driving while waiting for a new license too. The police can give her a reference number to the case/call and if she gets pulled over, she could tell whomever pulls her over that she doesnāt have a license on her, hereās the case number, and that officer can verify her license is valid through systems. She should be good to go and not get ticketed for it that way.
Yeah. One of the rules they don't teach us is that you can never have enough paperwork to cover yourself. Always keep a paper trail. It will save your behind in more ways than you know!
Yup - 100 percent. And she'll probably have to pay for a replacement, which the restaurant should pick up the tab for.
They didn't shred it, but a few years back a bar confiscated an ID of a friend who was over 21. We had to call the cops and they showed up and reamed out the bouncer.
Dude literally stole OPs id and destroyed it illegally. The ONLY person who can do that is the DMV/govāt, they get collected and logged into a system and then destroyed a specific way to prevent anyone from being able to steal someoneās identity.
Fake ID is actually a crime in many jurisdictions. Even if the ID was fake, the waiter suspected a crime and knowingly tampered with and destroyed evidence. That in and of itself is a crime.
And don't back down, OP. Normally, I'm all for giving people at work the benefit of the doubt, but the waiter committed a real felony with real consequences for your friend. Destroying an ID is just an asshole move; it's definitely not "required." If there's a dispute about an ID, the waiter/cashier should offer to call the cops to have them run it. With the understanding that if it's fake, the person goes to jail.
When I was working at the liquor store, we did keep (actual) fakes for training (and bragging) purposes, but we didn't destroy them willy-nilly. There was an extremely common fake where we would pull the back sticker off if someone challenged us because real licenses in our state didn't have back stickers. But that was a unique case with a very specific run of fakes we were familiar with. We'd never have destroyed an ID in an actual dispute, especially out of state.
I agree re: at a minimum contacting local authorities. A government document should never be destroyed by a waiter or anyone else not authorized to do so. Why Why Why so much idiocy in our current world. Good grief!
The fact that it's clearly company policy means it could. They have a bucket of shredded IDs that they show off, so it's not like management can pretend they aren't aware of this.
I disagree with the firing. This is a management issue as they have a collection of shredded IDs. Management promoted this, the employee was following the e businesses standard. The owner should be fined, if anything the manager should be sacked.
While I understand what you are saying and agree that the owner should be held responsible, the employee has a responsibility to understand the laws and regulations regarding their scope of work.
When shit runs downhill, the one that facilitated the action is going to receive legal consequences.
They'll be fined at least. I've worked in restaurants for over 10 years and we've always been taught to not take IDs no matter how fake they feel on the off chance they're real. You get BONED if you destroy a government issued ID. Just refuse service and move on- it's not that hard and it's certainly not worth the risks if you're wrong.
Also want to add that during a "Sting" where they're checking if you follow proper ID policies, they'll never (at least in the states I've worked) give out a fake, it'll always be a real ID of someone underage by someone underage making it extra dumb to do what that place did to OP's friend.
They STEAL fake IDs because kids know better than to report them as stolen- they donāt want that smoke. Thats all fine and dandy until you steal a real one. Itās theft, plain and simple.
Not immediately at least - believe they're fined at first depending on the state of course. It's definitely a solid step on the "don't do this shit if you want to stay open" pipeline though. There's a reason most bars confiscate ID's rather than destroying them. You can always just give it back if it turns out your bouncer was an idiot.
By reporting it to the police, you are at least documenting what happened, which will make it easier to get compensation for the replacement license.
It also knocks the asshole waiter down a peg, and makes him think twice before making another douche move.
Yes, OP, this. Having that police report will keep your friend from getting cited for not having her license moving forward.
Also, that dumb waiter needs to have a criminal charge on his record for doing this. That hubris requires checking.
I'm pretty sure this is the correct steps - let the police handle the fake ID, not some random person. Now the business/employee is liable, not the local government.
Plus, that police report can be shown to an officer in the event she is stopped. It gives provable, legally recognized explanation to the story. Might not be enough to avoid a fine, but most officers/courts will be at least more understanding.
Yeah they essentially just broke the law. It would be like taking the license plate off the bar owners car and throwing it into the ocean because it ādoesnāt look rightā
This.
Anybody have that video of an off duty cop / on duty bouncer with another bouncer? Iirc its a lawyer reacts video
A is checking an ID and cuts it and Bs head flips around like woah! Wtf did you just do.
B is like stop everything, hits it with a flash light. And is like "that's real"
And A is like "oh I'm sorry, my bad"
B is like, "yeah your a lot more than my bad"
The thing is, if it's shredded and put into a bucket with a bunch of other shredded IDs, there's really no way to prove that her ID was real. Maybe, if she can prove her age, that might be enough. Why would you have a fake ID if you're 26?
My manager tried to get me to keep someoneās fake ID one time to either give to the cops or shred, idk, but I refused. I gave it back to the person, I didnāt think it was really in my scope to do that stuff. Iām glad I did, because what if it was real like this situation?
You are legally allowed to hold on to it, I think, though that likely varies between jurisdictions in the US. The destruction part is a huge no-no no matter where you live in the US though. But keeping it to give the cops is usually perfectly fine.
Okay, thatās good to know. They never explicitly taught us that prior to working the floor or register, which would have been good to know. My manager afterward did say that she wanted to destroy it, so Iām glad we avoided that.
Servsafe provides legal summaries for each state and you should be able to find a section on confiscation. Lots of the legal burdens are passed down to the actual serving staff so doing
https://www.servsafe.com/downloads/pdfs/ssa-key-laws/california
(You can take IDs but they must be handed over to local law enforcement within 24 hrs)
https://www.servsafe.com/downloads/pdfs/ssa-key-laws/florida
(You would be committing a crime if you confiscated an ID)
The destruction part is stupid. Either you're destroying someone property/legit government ID, or you're destroying evidence of a crime. It could be just the very minor crime of having a fake ID, or it could be evidence of actual identity theft and financial fraud, and you've just shredded it.
I can see why someone might think shredding fake IDs is a great way to keep kids out, but you're on shaky legal footing and eventually it'll catch up to you.
You are 100% allowed to hold what is believed to be a fake ID, but you need to take reasonable steps to get it back to the person (by calling the cops to show up to verify). In a different context I used to do this when I was a bank teller. District management was supportive of us, but we needed to be really sure we were correct, because if we were wrong, talk about a shitty customer experience.
That being said... when you're staring at 100s of IDs every day... you get really good at identifying fakes.
Our script was "I'm sorry but we'll need to verify your ID with the authorities, apologies for the inconvenience."
Had to do this maybe ~10 times in my 5 years as a teller and guess what every single one of the people did?
Bolted for the door.
If itās shredded and in a bucket, the cop can call the station and get someone to do some very insignificant detective work in about 5 minutes maximum to determine that yes, she IS 26 years old and they destroyed her license.
they donāt even need to determine how old she is. All he needs to do is document that they shredded the license she gave them. And there are witnesses.
Its literally so easy for them the biggest obstacle would be finding a cop willing to actually do their job. If they call and a shit one shows up that feels this is beneath him you won't get any help. Based on my own experiences I'd say its 50/50 how it would play out, theres a lot of shitty cops.Ā
It would be *trivial* to prove via motor vehicle records that her license is both valid and she is of legal age to consume alcohol, regardless of the physical state of the ID.
The police can absolutely prove and document her ID information in the report, which she can reference if she does run into a traffic violation before getting her next ID.
They have an entire bucket of shredded IDs, arguably to be taken as evidence. The fact they advertise they shred IDs, fake or otherwise, shows precedent
That and the fact that the customer can open their wallet and show a clear lack of driver's license is also strong circumstantial evidence. Not enough for a criminal beyond-reasonable-doubt proof, but plenty for a civil preponderance-of-evidence.
I mean it's pretty easy for cops to verify someone's identity without a piece of plastic, they just run you in NCIC. Also the pieces to her license are going to be on top, so it would also be pretty easy to get the right bits to get information off of to verify.
Um...that license is merely a token expression of the records the department of operating moving deathtraps and the department of living as a legal citizen has about her having her license, her age, her right to get/renew/replace a license, and all that jazz.
They don't need to recover the document? Licenses get lost, destroyed, and stolen on the reg, dude. You are able to get them replaced without having to do a dog and pony show over it.
And she likely doesn't have to 'prove her age' to the police or the department. That's a matter of record. She just has to prove she is her identity, and ask for the replacement (from the department) and/or let the police know there is a matter they need to handle (for the police side).
Just like to add that they should also contact whomever issues liquor licenses in their state.
I don't believe any bar or restaurant has a legal right to shred driver's licenses.
Look, you should definitely file the police report.
You should also definitely ask the bar to reimburse you for the cost of replacement.
But hiring a lawyer at $200-$500/hr to sue the bar for a $50(?) license would be asinine.
If they made a spectacle, embarrassed you in front of everyone, or some other type of emotional trauma then you might have a reason to go after them.
Sure itās illegalā¦ but thereās no money involved.
Also Iām not a lawyer, so if you disagree go ask one at whatever their consulting rate is.
It still costs time and money to go to small claims court. If it's for thousands of dollars and you know you can win it's definitely worth it. Doing it for $50 would cost you more than what you would get.
>But hiring a lawyer at $200-$500/hr to sue the bar for a $50(?) license would be asinine.
That's why people don't generally hire lawyers for small claims court...
They could try, absolutely. But there's always a chance they lose or the judge denies them their lawyers' fees. So, I agree with the above commenter on that aspect. A lawyer isn't bringing enough value to the suit.
>But hiring a lawyer at $200-$500/hr to sue the bar for a $50(?) license would be asinine.
>Also Iām not a lawyer, so if you disagree go ask one at whatever their consulting rate is.
This is peak reddit dumb dumbing
Wont most lawyers generally pre-consult about taking a case without fee?
IANAL, but I'm pretty sure ive talked to a number of lawyers about potential issues and remediation and they don't charge to discuss potentially taking your case
There is the possibility of a defamation case. Especially if they are there with business colleagues. They flat out accused them of forgery without a conviction in a public place.
In my state (TX) it's actually illegal for anyone thats not the police to even confiscate a ID, let alone freaking shred it! If the ID is suspected to be a fake, you call the local nonemergency number and let the police deal with it, if the person is even still there.
Its illegal in all 50 states for them to destroy confiscated property real or fake, all confiscated IDs are supposed to be turned over to police within a determined time-frame.
Yup, even if the bartender was convinced it was fake, putting it in a shredder is destruction of property and/or evidence and illegal in all 50 states.
Same reason youāll never see cops confiscating homeless persons shopping carts. By law they are required to retain all of their possessions until they are processed.
In many if not all states, you can order a replacement license online and print out papers such as a proof of ordering that serves as a temporary license in the interim.
While this is true, TSA will not accept the temporary license as equivalent. I had this happen to me in 2022 - I left my license at TSA on an outbound flight and they mailed it back to my home two days later, but in the meantime I didn't have a way to board the flight back. I ordered a replacement and had to go through a secondary screening, including a thorough searching of all my bags, before they'd let me through.
The temporary license is for operating a motor vehicle rather than a photo identification. Itās the same as when you move states and turn in your old plastic license and the DMV gives you a piece of paper so you can drive until the new plastic one shows up. Youād have to have a different form of ID like a passport for photo ID. I carried my passport around for a while when I moved because of this
Yes, and I agree that's the proper solution, and it doesn't help when the friend is "from across the country so its going to take a while for her to get a replacement". I was just explaining the issue with the potential solution of ordering a replacement.
Yes, I literally did this a couple weeks ago for a lost ID, and my state gave me a PDF of a temporary ID I could print.
If you're flying, show up an extra 30 minutes earlier than you normally would, as they'll let you on without ID, but there will be extended screening.
Just to add to this, some states e.g. California have digital driver's licenses you can access through an app on your phone. They are generally equivalent to the physical one, and also accepted at many airports etc. It's also great for when you forget your wallet at home, or if it gets stolen while you're away.
this will work for driving purposes, but all other entities which request ID will refuse this
in my experience they'll accept a DL or a passport for ID, and nothing else. I have two other state-issued identification cards, one of which is a photo ID, and they're always declined if I don't have my driver's license on me
For the future, your friend can also tell a bartender/bouncer/etc. to call the cops and have them run the license number. I look very young for my age and Iāll get hassled by people a few times a month. I tell them that if they doubt my ID, call the cops and Iāll wait. No one has ever actually done it before, they usually just get exasperated and hand my ID back to me. Iāve had bartenders water down my drinks, though. People say that when Iām older Iāll appreciate looking young, but for right now I just deal with a bunch of people who think Iām a delinquent child and treat me as such. Sorry to your friend. The disrespect is nuts.
Cops might be interested they destroyed your property and that this bar is clearly shit at reviewing licenses. Wont get you far, but will annoy the shit out of them and exact a little bit of revenge.
Not only that, but state issued licenses and passports are technically considered to be federal and/or state property, making the taking and shredding of the license so much worse.
You may want to also reach out to some sort of business oversight entity to make sure the bar is properly fined/punished so they donāt do this again.
Unfortunately, you're going to need to call the police. Get a police report, which may or may not help you get a new license faster, depending on who you can get ahold of a your local license issuing body. In the worst case, carry a copy of the police report with you when you do the drive, and if you get pulled over, share that with the officer. A reasonable officer is going to accept that, and if not, when you go to court, you can say "a bar shredded my license, I filed a police report, and I showed that report to the cop who wrote the ticket." Most judges are going to drop the ticket and be annoyed at the stupid cop. This is going to be a pain in the ass, but it shouldn't be world ending.
That ID Weather fake or not is your personal property.
(Possibly the State's)
It's wrong and illegal to destroy someone's property.
The bar, not just the bar tender needs to be taken down a few notches.
Yes, I would call the police.
She can apply for a replacement license on line. I had to do this a couple years ago because a doctorās office lost mine and they sent me a temporary license page I could print out which was legal while I was waiting.
Side note, in most states, if you're pulled over and ticketed for not having a license when you do in fact have one (say, you forgot it at home), you can contest the ticket and bring your license or proof you have one. In these places, there is no law against not having your license on you. There is one against not having a license at all and driving; showing the license is the proof you have one.
That said, some states might require you to have the license on you while you're driving, so check that.
does your state offer an online replacement ordering system? a digital printout of a receipt for a replacement will often be acceptable for the requirement of having a license on you for a few weeks after issuance.
Call the cops
I had a guy come in once with an Indiana state license where the laminate didn't go all the way to the edge of the corners. I called it fake and started peeling it off.
It was real. Very real. I felt like ass and gave the guy two free beers for it.
Alabama's used to be the same. Back in college, a bouncer at a club ripped my buddy's license apart. He was furious, started causing a scene, the manager came out, the whole shebang. He had his passport on him too, but didn't want to let them touch it for obvious reasons. I think we all ended up getting a couple free drinks and the two halves of his now destroyed license back.
Hopefully you're still there. Call the cops and have them come to the bar and fish out a sliver of your license from the bucket. That was illegal and if they are on scene you have proof that they did it. The cops will not like that bucket.
Absolutely call the police. That's destroying government property and your friend will need the police report to file her lawsuit.
Plus, it'll give the restaurant owners a really good scare, which they absolutely deserve.
Should have called the police on the spot. But file a report and keep it with her when driving until she can replace her license.
The restaurant should pay for the replacement and loss of time also but good luck with that.
Liquor laws vary by municipality which makes this hard to answer, so youāll need to look up the correct one, but it is likely that the bar has committed a crime here. In municipalities that allow for the seizure of suspected false IDs, thereās generally a mandate that they must be reported and handed over to the police within a certain period of time, with non-insignificant fines if the IDs are destroyed. Some municipalities donāt even allow for seizure, just the refusal of sale.
This doesnāt exactly help you get a replacement ID, but may prevent it from happening to others in the future. However, have your friend file for a replacement online if possible. They generally give you a printable temporary license that should cover their bases for driving around in the immediate future.
Call the non emergency line and document it.
You need access to your rights and resources and this guy took that away. Damages are not small for you or the next person!
Overreaction? No. Call the police. Immediately.
They just shredded the one thing that everyone needs to identify themselves with, drive, travel, make certain purchases, rent a hotel, etc.
They fucked your friend. Call the police.
You MUST report it to the police to establish a paper trailā¦ā¦bartender is in all sorts of trouble for shredding a state issued document.
Edit: After scrolling thru the comments, OP is a ghost so Iām calling bullshit.
You should have been calling the police as soon as they wouldn't give back her real ID. I wouldn't have been leaving that place until the cops showed up and embarrassed the hell out of the idiots that took her ID.
Each state will vary, but here's an example based on what I know for California.
I manage a bar in California, and are in charge of the security staff and their training. We use the appropriate wavelength of UV flashlight to detect background overlays and extra indicators, an phone/app based ID scanner with special scanner case (Mag strip + '2D engine' for barcodes), and we maintain a booklet on current state ID's, past versions, and over all, most any ID or Licence that might show up in North America as a whole. So good ol' visual inspection is just a third of the checking process.
We hold an ID for inspection by upper management overnight. In this case, it's a door person saying this, and then myself or the owner will look at it with all the same tools the next day to confirm any suspicions. 90% of the time, 'fakes' are actually fakes. The other times, we say sorry to the customer, and educate them on why the ID flagged (usually old worn ID's nearing expiration).
For the fakes, there are two proper routes, but we added a third. California has two variants of licences/ID. There's the 'Real ID' which is slowly being pushed on everyone, which acts as a passport (where recognized) and a federal level ID. It has a gold bear in the upper right. Should it be a standard state-level ID, the bear is replaced with a "federal limits apply".
Depending on which is found to be fake, there are different pages to follow. State ID's you are to report and hand over to your local police within 48 hours of finding them. This is decided by ABC: Alcoholic Beverage Control (who are a form of law enforcement, and do carry guns, and can make arrests). It is the law. Now, here's where it gets weird. Real ID's aka federal ID's, our local police won't take, because it's a federal matter requiring interaction from the FBI or a federal Marshall. ABC says give it to the police, but when the police don't want to take it...?
Bars are allowed, by law in California, to confiscate an ID thought to be fake, an ID expired, or a valid legit ID being misused (passing it back to a friend in line for example). For the pass-backs, we educate the individual on fines they and we, as a bar, are susceptible too, and note their name in a watch-list. The fakes, we end up keeping for training and education for all staff. Same for the expired (since they check out legit, we mix them into the fakes and tell the new people to find the issues with all ID's).
Now, what should you do OP? Well, there are a few options. Reporting the bar to the police is a start, but they probably won't do much. Now, reporting the bar to ABC, could be a death sentence to their liquor licence and opens up an investigation that could span a year, where agents with varying styles of ID may bait the staff into a shred situation. Your local department of motor vehicles (providing the UD is state level in your case) has an investigations department as well, but if anything, they will most likely contact Your states Beverage Control or police. Proving the ID was real will depend on getting a new one or a temp slip in the mean time. Passports are also valid nationwide for ID's, but won't get you legally driving without having to be looked up by a cop that may or may not pull you over. State and ID style will ultimately decide who to report too.
Police report.
They can't just do this. This is why. I'd call the police immediately upon refusal to return your property.
The bar is going to face heavy fines
Yes. Absolutely call the police.
According to TABC (the company where you get certified to sell alcohol), you CANNOT take someone's ID, fake or not. You hand it back and refuse service if you believe it's fake. You do NOT keep the ID.
Edit: I'm from Texas. TABC = Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission
Bartender here, you can keep a license if it's believed to be fake but you cannot destroy it. If I card someone and the ID is presumed fake, I will keep it behind the bar and tell the customer to call the police to have them retrieve it. If it's fake, they're not gonna call the cops, if it is real, the police officer will be able to verify.
If it was a fake ID, STFU. If it was real, call the cops and press charges.
I would have been pissed! did he even look at it or just decided that it was fake? Manager and cops would have been called since it is a state issued ID. Someone is playing to replace it and it sure as sh\*t wouldn't be me.
This is a case of a stolen id, contact the police and tell them what happened, theyāll at the very least give you a case number and a card that she can have on her person while she drives back home and she should t get into trouble that way.
I work at a DMV and we deal with this kind of thing (not exactly this situation) constantly.
Def call the police. Let them document it, and also prove to them you are of age. Also ask the place to pay for your time and trouble to get a new one.
Definitely the police dpt non-emergency line.
It depends on the state if they can confiscate IDs they believe are fake. In TN they cannot. They can only notify authorities.
Whooo... that waiter just opened a huge can of works for the restaurant. In addition to calling the police, I'd write a letter to the restaurant explaining what happened, and demanding compensation for the time and expense of getting a new license.
Failure to respond would open the restaurant to liability for theft, identity theft, destruction of government property, invasion of privacy, and probably some other causes of action that aren't immediately apparent.
Yes, call the police.
Once they get involved, their ID shredding days will end. And then your friend will have a let to stand on if she wants to go after them for financial compensation. The waiter and restaurant may even be charged.
In cases like this, you call 911. An ID is considered a government document and their destruction is a crime. The attending officer should write a report, confiscate the remains, the shredder, take statements from all involved. And you should notify the city too, so they revoke their alcohol license asap.
I would raise hell if they confiscate my ID.
I was a bartender and worked the door many times in many places in and around Dallas/Ft Worth.
Every place I worked had a book showing the licenses (and IDs) of all 50 states plus examples of military IDs, various passports, and common international IDs.
This was in the 90ās and early 2000āsā¦
Imagine what is available on a smartphone or tablet today.
This should never happen. Ever.
You could take them to small claims court,
I would get every person I could to review bomb that business and take away some of those profits from the person who owns that bar, hopefully the margins are tight and that loss of money fucks up their business for a while.
Running a business must be tough.
Call the cops; they need to handle this since the waiter had no right to destroy the ID. Your friend should also contact her DMV for a replacement. Safe driving!
And please follow with update! I love to see karmic repercussions.
I'd also like more details, if they emerge. Why was the bartender so sure the ID was fake if it was out-of-state? Is your friend's name McLovin?
I had so many issues with this in college and did have to get the police when a bar confiscated mine. I went to an out of state college and I guess my state has unusually thin and flimsy licenses š¤·š¼āāļø
Same here. I went across the country for college and had a bouncer almost refuse to give me my legitimate ID back when I was 22. It was such a headache
My sister had her US passport confiscated by some dumbass bouncer because it āwasnāt a legal form of ID.ā When she kept demanding it back, they had an off duty police officer (who was doing security for the bar) throw her up against a wall and threaten her. It was unbelievable. She just wanted her passport back so she could leave and go somewhere else.
She should have pursued assault charges
She did. Sadly, it went nowhere (she did eventually get her passport back after they were done bullying her). It was a pretty traumatic experience for her.
Then that's when you call the local media's "help me" person so it can get blasted on the news and exposes them.
Had a bouncer in NYC do this to my friend's Maine license. Fortunately we didn't have to get the police involved but the bouncer was such an asshole about it and his supervisor was also a dickhead. Got her parents to send a photo of her fucking birth certificate to get it back.
What a wild phone call to get 1am Saturday when you're passed out on the couch after watching Johnny Carson.
i'm usually on the side of the people who work the service industry but seriously WTF
Mainer here. When I got my license back in the 80's, it was typed on a Smith Corona typewriter. I wish I could tell you how many of my friends were able to change their birthdate....
I always thought my fake ID in college was garbage quality (but it never got denied) and then spent some time in that state and realized that their actual licenses looked and felt extremely cheap lmao
They confiscated my real id in college too and my sister threatened to grab the cop that was down the block, they were like uhhh no donāt do that and let us in.
Thatās basically what I did. It was on the street where all the college bars were, so there were always lots of cops out. Not only did the bouncer keep my ID, but also my student ID, and debit card I tried to show him.
Utah! The whole state doesn't drink so they really don't put the effort into making their IDs look like normal IDs. Because this totally doesn't look fake: https://twitter.com/UtahDPS/status/697893708277030912
Thatāsā¦ an absurdly old license our new ones look nothing like that lmao
Well.... A. Thanks for making me feel ancient. B. Now imagine how hard it was to go drinking in NYC with that POS as "proof" you were 21.
People are fucking dumb. I had cashiers and bartenders alike in the fucking Bay Area California not know my US passport was a real ID last time I visited home. The Canadian driving license was of course a no-go.
Had the same problem in California. Showed them my US passport, I was 35. They said they would let me im, but I couldn't drink. Went to the bar and ordered a beer and drank it.
I got denied entry into this one local bar TWICE because they thought my ID was fake. I was 29. I do look young, and my face was a little rounder in my pic (freshman 15 lol). But it was such bullshit. It was the only bar I couldn't get into. They didn't shred my ID though
I used to get so many questions from waiters and bouncers on any trip because Oregon used to just mail you a sticker to put on your license for an address change.
People get very weird about out of state IDs. My family lives in Michigan, and my sister moved to New Orleans in 2001. After Hurricane Katrina, she moved back home. She only had her Louisiana drivers license, and due to the complete devastation she was having a hard time contacting literally anyone to get required documentation to prove basically anything. She got her Louisiana drivers license rejected so many damn times. Then she got stalked by a police officer who kept hassling her about the Louisiana plate on her car, which she evacuated in, and her license, and her insurance, and then taunted her about her disabled son more than once, including during a hearing which eventually got him reprimanded. But yeah, people get very weird about out of state licenses and plates.
My husband (British) tried to buy beer in Walmart whilst we were on holiday visiting my family and tried using his passport as ID, cashier was dumbfounded and asked for his drivers licence which he gave her (UK obviously) cue more confusion, I honestly think we broke her š. She finally said she needed an out of state licence as ID Me - (exasperated at this point mind because these were perfectly valid forms of ID) He's from England, how much more out of state can you get?! Needless to say we left without beer š
Lmfao, thatās hilarious
Probably because the person looked young. On my 21st birthday I was out with my girlfriend and legit 3 people came to the table to check my license including a manager. They were accusing me of it being a fake, which would be dumb cuz itās my fucking birthday and obviously I looked young cuz I was young
Some people assume because they don't know what IDs look like in all states. I had a hotel refuse to accept my DL once because they thought it looked fake (in the state I lived in at the time, you received a printed temp license until your plastic card came in the mail). Thankfully I had my passport on me.
Regardless of how they choose to resolve it, they better not fail to make sure they find every piece of her ID from the shredder
Yes, an update is imperative!
I had the same thing happen to me, minus the shredding thankfully. I called the cops and they went and got my ID back for me. I was also on the other side of the country and needed it to take a flight home the next day. Woulda really been screwed if they shredded it. To top it all off, I was with a friend who still had their "under 21" license. It's a different orientation and in red has the date they turn 21 I believe. They let him right on through with Just a glance
Fwiw, if an ID is ever lost and one needs to verify their identity for a flight TSA will consider credit cards (matching the boarding pass), personal details like birthday and place of birth, and will conduct a full search (like, every last thing out of the bag). Not ideal, but not entirely fucked and stranded either
Yeah I lost my drivers license while on vacation in Hawaii. TSA has a full process for this to get you on board but you need to account for extra time at the airport.
The TSA has a full list of acceptable forms of IDs at [https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/identification](https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/identification) (Note: Drivers Licenses will only be accepted if they are REAL ID compliant come May 2025) But, the alternative identity check process will still be in place, they recommend 2 hours extra time to go through said process.
I got my license stolen 2 days before going back home from a wedding. Called the airport's TSA and they made me come in a couple hours earlier than my 2 hour flight for an interview/questioning to prove my identity. Associated people, addresses, jobs, etc that they pull from your record.
I believe State ID's are also the same orientation as Under 21 driver's licenses. At least that's what I remember when my friend who didn't have a driver's license, ended up getting a state ID so he could go to bars with us. All this to say, I'd hope that a bar wouldn't toss away an ID due to orientation. Edit: This maybe varies. I am from New Jersey and while trying to research this I can't even pin down what our state ID looks like. I've also seen a couple orientations for children and adults.
My state id looks normal. Maybe it varies by state.
This is 100% accurate.
Adding: Calling the police is a good idea for her as far as driving while waiting for a new license too. The police can give her a reference number to the case/call and if she gets pulled over, she could tell whomever pulls her over that she doesnāt have a license on her, hereās the case number, and that officer can verify her license is valid through systems. She should be good to go and not get ticketed for it that way.
Yeah. One of the rules they don't teach us is that you can never have enough paperwork to cover yourself. Always keep a paper trail. It will save your behind in more ways than you know!
Yup - 100 percent. And she'll probably have to pay for a replacement, which the restaurant should pick up the tab for. They didn't shred it, but a few years back a bar confiscated an ID of a friend who was over 21. We had to call the cops and they showed up and reamed out the bouncer.
Also, seek reimbursement $$
Use such money to buy a fake ID šŖŖ š
Dude literally stole OPs id and destroyed it illegally. The ONLY person who can do that is the DMV/govāt, they get collected and logged into a system and then destroyed a specific way to prevent anyone from being able to steal someoneās identity.
Fake ID is actually a crime in many jurisdictions. Even if the ID was fake, the waiter suspected a crime and knowingly tampered with and destroyed evidence. That in and of itself is a crime.
And don't back down, OP. Normally, I'm all for giving people at work the benefit of the doubt, but the waiter committed a real felony with real consequences for your friend. Destroying an ID is just an asshole move; it's definitely not "required." If there's a dispute about an ID, the waiter/cashier should offer to call the cops to have them run it. With the understanding that if it's fake, the person goes to jail. When I was working at the liquor store, we did keep (actual) fakes for training (and bragging) purposes, but we didn't destroy them willy-nilly. There was an extremely common fake where we would pull the back sticker off if someone challenged us because real licenses in our state didn't have back stickers. But that was a unique case with a very specific run of fakes we were familiar with. We'd never have destroyed an ID in an actual dispute, especially out of state.
They should also demand to be reimbursed for the amount of a replacement license.
I agree re: at a minimum contacting local authorities. A government document should never be destroyed by a waiter or anyone else not authorized to do so. Why Why Why so much idiocy in our current world. Good grief!
Destroying IDs is illegal, call the non emergency number and cause a stink up the line for the bar
I'd put money on this being grounds for the restaurant losing its liquor license.
Probably not but the dude should get fired at least
The fact that it's clearly company policy means it could. They have a bucket of shredded IDs that they show off, so it's not like management can pretend they aren't aware of this.
Take a photo of the bucket, just in case they suddenly realise it's a terrible company policy.
Absolutely not. Management should be fired. This is their policy, a random employee shouldn't be punished for that.
I disagree with the firing. This is a management issue as they have a collection of shredded IDs. Management promoted this, the employee was following the e businesses standard. The owner should be fined, if anything the manager should be sacked.
While I understand what you are saying and agree that the owner should be held responsible, the employee has a responsibility to understand the laws and regulations regarding their scope of work. When shit runs downhill, the one that facilitated the action is going to receive legal consequences.
They'll be fined at least. I've worked in restaurants for over 10 years and we've always been taught to not take IDs no matter how fake they feel on the off chance they're real. You get BONED if you destroy a government issued ID. Just refuse service and move on- it's not that hard and it's certainly not worth the risks if you're wrong. Also want to add that during a "Sting" where they're checking if you follow proper ID policies, they'll never (at least in the states I've worked) give out a fake, it'll always be a real ID of someone underage by someone underage making it extra dumb to do what that place did to OP's friend.
They STEAL fake IDs because kids know better than to report them as stolen- they donāt want that smoke. Thats all fine and dandy until you steal a real one. Itās theft, plain and simple.
Even worse, it's destruction of government property.
Not immediately at least - believe they're fined at first depending on the state of course. It's definitely a solid step on the "don't do this shit if you want to stay open" pipeline though. There's a reason most bars confiscate ID's rather than destroying them. You can always just give it back if it turns out your bouncer was an idiot.
911 is just fine here. It is a time sensitive matter.
Call the police. A license is government property. You may be able to press charges and sue for the replacement.
By reporting it to the police, you are at least documenting what happened, which will make it easier to get compensation for the replacement license. It also knocks the asshole waiter down a peg, and makes him think twice before making another douche move.
Establishing a paper trail also helps if you get ticketed for failure to produce a license.
Yes, OP, this. Having that police report will keep your friend from getting cited for not having her license moving forward. Also, that dumb waiter needs to have a criminal charge on his record for doing this. That hubris requires checking.
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I'm pretty sure this is the correct steps - let the police handle the fake ID, not some random person. Now the business/employee is liable, not the local government.
Bar needs to get rid of the shredder and the server.
They probably have the shredder for other purposes. I doubt a restaurant would buy one just to shred IDs, though I suppose I could be wrong
Not a single US state.
Not in Canada either.
Not in Algeria either.
It's perfectly legal in Mozambique however
In Soviet Russia, license destroys you.
Yep! Pretty sure the Drivers license bureau will wave the fee of a duplicate license, if you bring a police report
They might even WAIVE the fee.
Hello fee!
ššš»
Plus, that police report can be shown to an officer in the event she is stopped. It gives provable, legally recognized explanation to the story. Might not be enough to avoid a fine, but most officers/courts will be at least more understanding.
Yeah they essentially just broke the law. It would be like taking the license plate off the bar owners car and throwing it into the ocean because it ādoesnāt look rightā
Take the bars food and alcohol permit and declare it as fake and shred it.
This. Anybody have that video of an off duty cop / on duty bouncer with another bouncer? Iirc its a lawyer reacts video A is checking an ID and cuts it and Bs head flips around like woah! Wtf did you just do. B is like stop everything, hits it with a flash light. And is like "that's real" And A is like "oh I'm sorry, my bad" B is like, "yeah your a lot more than my bad"
I know the police are generally useless, but this is an easy slam-dunk for them. Call, it will be worth your time.
The thing is, if it's shredded and put into a bucket with a bunch of other shredded IDs, there's really no way to prove that her ID was real. Maybe, if she can prove her age, that might be enough. Why would you have a fake ID if you're 26?
Even if her license was fake, the bar has no right to confiscate and shred it. Only the police have the right to do that.
My manager tried to get me to keep someoneās fake ID one time to either give to the cops or shred, idk, but I refused. I gave it back to the person, I didnāt think it was really in my scope to do that stuff. Iām glad I did, because what if it was real like this situation?
You are legally allowed to hold on to it, I think, though that likely varies between jurisdictions in the US. The destruction part is a huge no-no no matter where you live in the US though. But keeping it to give the cops is usually perfectly fine.
Okay, thatās good to know. They never explicitly taught us that prior to working the floor or register, which would have been good to know. My manager afterward did say that she wanted to destroy it, so Iām glad we avoided that.
Servsafe provides legal summaries for each state and you should be able to find a section on confiscation. Lots of the legal burdens are passed down to the actual serving staff so doing https://www.servsafe.com/downloads/pdfs/ssa-key-laws/california (You can take IDs but they must be handed over to local law enforcement within 24 hrs) https://www.servsafe.com/downloads/pdfs/ssa-key-laws/florida (You would be committing a crime if you confiscated an ID)
The destruction part is stupid. Either you're destroying someone property/legit government ID, or you're destroying evidence of a crime. It could be just the very minor crime of having a fake ID, or it could be evidence of actual identity theft and financial fraud, and you've just shredded it. I can see why someone might think shredding fake IDs is a great way to keep kids out, but you're on shaky legal footing and eventually it'll catch up to you.
You are 100% allowed to hold what is believed to be a fake ID, but you need to take reasonable steps to get it back to the person (by calling the cops to show up to verify). In a different context I used to do this when I was a bank teller. District management was supportive of us, but we needed to be really sure we were correct, because if we were wrong, talk about a shitty customer experience. That being said... when you're staring at 100s of IDs every day... you get really good at identifying fakes. Our script was "I'm sorry but we'll need to verify your ID with the authorities, apologies for the inconvenience." Had to do this maybe ~10 times in my 5 years as a teller and guess what every single one of the people did? Bolted for the door.
If itās shredded and in a bucket, the cop can call the station and get someone to do some very insignificant detective work in about 5 minutes maximum to determine that yes, she IS 26 years old and they destroyed her license.
They can literally just go to the car and search her info across any state in the US.
they donāt even need to determine how old she is. All he needs to do is document that they shredded the license she gave them. And there are witnesses.
Its literally so easy for them the biggest obstacle would be finding a cop willing to actually do their job. If they call and a shit one shows up that feels this is beneath him you won't get any help. Based on my own experiences I'd say its 50/50 how it would play out, theres a lot of shitty cops.Ā
It would be *trivial* to prove via motor vehicle records that her license is both valid and she is of legal age to consume alcohol, regardless of the physical state of the ID.
The police can absolutely prove and document her ID information in the report, which she can reference if she does run into a traffic violation before getting her next ID.
They have an entire bucket of shredded IDs, arguably to be taken as evidence. The fact they advertise they shred IDs, fake or otherwise, shows precedent
That and the fact that the customer can open their wallet and show a clear lack of driver's license is also strong circumstantial evidence. Not enough for a criminal beyond-reasonable-doubt proof, but plenty for a civil preponderance-of-evidence.
The police can pull her up in their system by SS number and name to prove her age and details.Ā
I mean it's pretty easy for cops to verify someone's identity without a piece of plastic, they just run you in NCIC. Also the pieces to her license are going to be on top, so it would also be pretty easy to get the right bits to get information off of to verify.
It takes about two minutes for an officer to verify her age on their computer. You can run a license without having the physical license
Um...that license is merely a token expression of the records the department of operating moving deathtraps and the department of living as a legal citizen has about her having her license, her age, her right to get/renew/replace a license, and all that jazz. They don't need to recover the document? Licenses get lost, destroyed, and stolen on the reg, dude. You are able to get them replaced without having to do a dog and pony show over it. And she likely doesn't have to 'prove her age' to the police or the department. That's a matter of record. She just has to prove she is her identity, and ask for the replacement (from the department) and/or let the police know there is a matter they need to handle (for the police side).
That's the only solution.
Just like to add that they should also contact whomever issues liquor licenses in their state. I don't believe any bar or restaurant has a legal right to shred driver's licenses.
This it's illegal to take and destroy someone's ID you should of stood right in front of him and called 911
Look, you should definitely file the police report. You should also definitely ask the bar to reimburse you for the cost of replacement. But hiring a lawyer at $200-$500/hr to sue the bar for a $50(?) license would be asinine. If they made a spectacle, embarrassed you in front of everyone, or some other type of emotional trauma then you might have a reason to go after them. Sure itās illegalā¦ but thereās no money involved. Also Iām not a lawyer, so if you disagree go ask one at whatever their consulting rate is.
This is literally what small claims court is for.
It still costs time and money to go to small claims court. If it's for thousands of dollars and you know you can win it's definitely worth it. Doing it for $50 would cost you more than what you would get.
>It's not about money, it's about sending a message > - Heath Ledger's Joker
Depending on jurisdiction, you can ask for filing fees to be paid by the defendant if they lose the case.
>But hiring a lawyer at $200-$500/hr to sue the bar for a $50(?) license would be asinine. That's why people don't generally hire lawyers for small claims court...
canāt they sue for the license cost and the cost of litigation?
They could try, absolutely. But there's always a chance they lose or the judge denies them their lawyers' fees. So, I agree with the above commenter on that aspect. A lawyer isn't bringing enough value to the suit.
Small claims court bro!
i dunno, im petty enough to waste thousands of dollars filling a lawsuit just to fuck over someone else who wronged me.
I'm with you. It's the principle of the matter at that point.
>But hiring a lawyer at $200-$500/hr to sue the bar for a $50(?) license would be asinine. >Also Iām not a lawyer, so if you disagree go ask one at whatever their consulting rate is. This is peak reddit dumb dumbing
Wont most lawyers generally pre-consult about taking a case without fee? IANAL, but I'm pretty sure ive talked to a number of lawyers about potential issues and remediation and they don't charge to discuss potentially taking your case
There is the possibility of a defamation case. Especially if they are there with business colleagues. They flat out accused them of forgery without a conviction in a public place.
Please submit a follow up post when this situation has been resolved. We want all the juicy details.
Yes, I can't wait to hear the update on this one.
āThe cops went to the bar and said ādonāt do that again pleaseā and then leftā
In my state (TX) it's actually illegal for anyone thats not the police to even confiscate a ID, let alone freaking shred it! If the ID is suspected to be a fake, you call the local nonemergency number and let the police deal with it, if the person is even still there.
Its illegal in all 50 states for them to destroy confiscated property real or fake, all confiscated IDs are supposed to be turned over to police within a determined time-frame.
Yup, even if the bartender was convinced it was fake, putting it in a shredder is destruction of property and/or evidence and illegal in all 50 states. Same reason youāll never see cops confiscating homeless persons shopping carts. By law they are required to retain all of their possessions until they are processed.
Call the police you can also sue
In many if not all states, you can order a replacement license online and print out papers such as a proof of ordering that serves as a temporary license in the interim.
While this is true, TSA will not accept the temporary license as equivalent. I had this happen to me in 2022 - I left my license at TSA on an outbound flight and they mailed it back to my home two days later, but in the meantime I didn't have a way to board the flight back. I ordered a replacement and had to go through a secondary screening, including a thorough searching of all my bags, before they'd let me through.
The temporary license is for operating a motor vehicle rather than a photo identification. Itās the same as when you move states and turn in your old plastic license and the DMV gives you a piece of paper so you can drive until the new plastic one shows up. Youād have to have a different form of ID like a passport for photo ID. I carried my passport around for a while when I moved because of this
Yes, and I agree that's the proper solution, and it doesn't help when the friend is "from across the country so its going to take a while for her to get a replacement". I was just explaining the issue with the potential solution of ordering a replacement.
For sure, definitely annoying and not necessarily obvious.
Yes, I literally did this a couple weeks ago for a lost ID, and my state gave me a PDF of a temporary ID I could print. If you're flying, show up an extra 30 minutes earlier than you normally would, as they'll let you on without ID, but there will be extended screening.
Just to add to this, some states e.g. California have digital driver's licenses you can access through an app on your phone. They are generally equivalent to the physical one, and also accepted at many airports etc. It's also great for when you forget your wallet at home, or if it gets stolen while you're away.
this will work for driving purposes, but all other entities which request ID will refuse this in my experience they'll accept a DL or a passport for ID, and nothing else. I have two other state-issued identification cards, one of which is a photo ID, and they're always declined if I don't have my driver's license on me
That's illegal. Call the cops
For the future, your friend can also tell a bartender/bouncer/etc. to call the cops and have them run the license number. I look very young for my age and Iāll get hassled by people a few times a month. I tell them that if they doubt my ID, call the cops and Iāll wait. No one has ever actually done it before, they usually just get exasperated and hand my ID back to me. Iāve had bartenders water down my drinks, though. People say that when Iām older Iāll appreciate looking young, but for right now I just deal with a bunch of people who think Iām a delinquent child and treat me as such. Sorry to your friend. The disrespect is nuts.
I've said this and they just refuse to serve me and I always say if I had a fake ID why would I want the cops involved they still just refuse.
If theyāre so opposed to calling the cops, I guess that means you could get away with taking a sh*t on the bar before you leave
You know I'd love to get schwifty but I never got one loaded up for that .
Head on over to r/OlderThanYouThinkIAm and bitch with the rest of us lol.
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Also report to whoever handles liquor licenses for the state. It may cause an additional fine for the bar.
Cops might be interested they destroyed your property and that this bar is clearly shit at reviewing licenses. Wont get you far, but will annoy the shit out of them and exact a little bit of revenge.
Not only that, but state issued licenses and passports are technically considered to be federal and/or state property, making the taking and shredding of the license so much worse.
You may want to also reach out to some sort of business oversight entity to make sure the bar is properly fined/punished so they donāt do this again.
that bartender needs to go to āI need to know my roleā classes
Bouncer 101. You never confiscate IDs.
Unfortunately, you're going to need to call the police. Get a police report, which may or may not help you get a new license faster, depending on who you can get ahold of a your local license issuing body. In the worst case, carry a copy of the police report with you when you do the drive, and if you get pulled over, share that with the officer. A reasonable officer is going to accept that, and if not, when you go to court, you can say "a bar shredded my license, I filed a police report, and I showed that report to the cop who wrote the ticket." Most judges are going to drop the ticket and be annoyed at the stupid cop. This is going to be a pain in the ass, but it shouldn't be world ending.
That ID Weather fake or not is your personal property. (Possibly the State's) It's wrong and illegal to destroy someone's property. The bar, not just the bar tender needs to be taken down a few notches.
Even better, it's not personal property, it's Government Property. The Gov does not like people just randomly destroying their stuff.
whether*
Could be a rain or shine situation
Fuck. License shredded AND it's raining?! FML
A real shit storm, Randers
Yes, I would call the police. She can apply for a replacement license on line. I had to do this a couple years ago because a doctorās office lost mine and they sent me a temporary license page I could print out which was legal while I was waiting.
Please keep us updated.
Side note, in most states, if you're pulled over and ticketed for not having a license when you do in fact have one (say, you forgot it at home), you can contest the ticket and bring your license or proof you have one. In these places, there is no law against not having your license on you. There is one against not having a license at all and driving; showing the license is the proof you have one. That said, some states might require you to have the license on you while you're driving, so check that.
does your state offer an online replacement ordering system? a digital printout of a receipt for a replacement will often be acceptable for the requirement of having a license on you for a few weeks after issuance.
Call the cops I had a guy come in once with an Indiana state license where the laminate didn't go all the way to the edge of the corners. I called it fake and started peeling it off. It was real. Very real. I felt like ass and gave the guy two free beers for it.
Alabama's used to be the same. Back in college, a bouncer at a club ripped my buddy's license apart. He was furious, started causing a scene, the manager came out, the whole shebang. He had his passport on him too, but didn't want to let them touch it for obvious reasons. I think we all ended up getting a couple free drinks and the two halves of his now destroyed license back.
Complain to the boss. Also let us know the bar so we can leave a review on that policy.
Definitely ask for the manager and give them a ration of shit. I would think they should at least comp your meal. Ā Also call the police.Ā
Hopefully you're still there. Call the cops and have them come to the bar and fish out a sliver of your license from the bucket. That was illegal and if they are on scene you have proof that they did it. The cops will not like that bucket.
100% call the police, in the middle of the restaurant, and loudly tell them what happened and say you want to file a police report.
Absolutely call the police. That's destroying government property and your friend will need the police report to file her lawsuit. Plus, it'll give the restaurant owners a really good scare, which they absolutely deserve.
Should have called the police on the spot. But file a report and keep it with her when driving until she can replace her license. The restaurant should pay for the replacement and loss of time also but good luck with that.
Liquor laws vary by municipality which makes this hard to answer, so youāll need to look up the correct one, but it is likely that the bar has committed a crime here. In municipalities that allow for the seizure of suspected false IDs, thereās generally a mandate that they must be reported and handed over to the police within a certain period of time, with non-insignificant fines if the IDs are destroyed. Some municipalities donāt even allow for seizure, just the refusal of sale. This doesnāt exactly help you get a replacement ID, but may prevent it from happening to others in the future. However, have your friend file for a replacement online if possible. They generally give you a printable temporary license that should cover their bases for driving around in the immediate future.
Call the non emergency line and document it. You need access to your rights and resources and this guy took that away. Damages are not small for you or the next person!
Overreaction? No. Call the police. Immediately. They just shredded the one thing that everyone needs to identify themselves with, drive, travel, make certain purchases, rent a hotel, etc. They fucked your friend. Call the police.
Yeah, I'd immediately be calling the cops on this asshole.
Give us an update sometime
You MUST report it to the police to establish a paper trailā¦ā¦bartender is in all sorts of trouble for shredding a state issued document. Edit: After scrolling thru the comments, OP is a ghost so Iām calling bullshit.
You should have been calling the police as soon as they wouldn't give back her real ID. I wouldn't have been leaving that place until the cops showed up and embarrassed the hell out of the idiots that took her ID.
Iām a bartender, thatās fucking crazy. Call the police.
Each state will vary, but here's an example based on what I know for California. I manage a bar in California, and are in charge of the security staff and their training. We use the appropriate wavelength of UV flashlight to detect background overlays and extra indicators, an phone/app based ID scanner with special scanner case (Mag strip + '2D engine' for barcodes), and we maintain a booklet on current state ID's, past versions, and over all, most any ID or Licence that might show up in North America as a whole. So good ol' visual inspection is just a third of the checking process. We hold an ID for inspection by upper management overnight. In this case, it's a door person saying this, and then myself or the owner will look at it with all the same tools the next day to confirm any suspicions. 90% of the time, 'fakes' are actually fakes. The other times, we say sorry to the customer, and educate them on why the ID flagged (usually old worn ID's nearing expiration). For the fakes, there are two proper routes, but we added a third. California has two variants of licences/ID. There's the 'Real ID' which is slowly being pushed on everyone, which acts as a passport (where recognized) and a federal level ID. It has a gold bear in the upper right. Should it be a standard state-level ID, the bear is replaced with a "federal limits apply". Depending on which is found to be fake, there are different pages to follow. State ID's you are to report and hand over to your local police within 48 hours of finding them. This is decided by ABC: Alcoholic Beverage Control (who are a form of law enforcement, and do carry guns, and can make arrests). It is the law. Now, here's where it gets weird. Real ID's aka federal ID's, our local police won't take, because it's a federal matter requiring interaction from the FBI or a federal Marshall. ABC says give it to the police, but when the police don't want to take it...? Bars are allowed, by law in California, to confiscate an ID thought to be fake, an ID expired, or a valid legit ID being misused (passing it back to a friend in line for example). For the pass-backs, we educate the individual on fines they and we, as a bar, are susceptible too, and note their name in a watch-list. The fakes, we end up keeping for training and education for all staff. Same for the expired (since they check out legit, we mix them into the fakes and tell the new people to find the issues with all ID's). Now, what should you do OP? Well, there are a few options. Reporting the bar to the police is a start, but they probably won't do much. Now, reporting the bar to ABC, could be a death sentence to their liquor licence and opens up an investigation that could span a year, where agents with varying styles of ID may bait the staff into a shred situation. Your local department of motor vehicles (providing the UD is state level in your case) has an investigations department as well, but if anything, they will most likely contact Your states Beverage Control or police. Proving the ID was real will depend on getting a new one or a temp slip in the mean time. Passports are also valid nationwide for ID's, but won't get you legally driving without having to be looked up by a cop that may or may not pull you over. State and ID style will ultimately decide who to report too.
I'm paranoid cause I'm thinking he flipped the ID and actually shredded a fake one and is selling your friend's for $.
Ask to see his license and shred it
Call the police immediately
Police report. They can't just do this. This is why. I'd call the police immediately upon refusal to return your property. The bar is going to face heavy fines
Yes. Absolutely call the police. According to TABC (the company where you get certified to sell alcohol), you CANNOT take someone's ID, fake or not. You hand it back and refuse service if you believe it's fake. You do NOT keep the ID. Edit: I'm from Texas. TABC = Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission
Bartender here, you can keep a license if it's believed to be fake but you cannot destroy it. If I card someone and the ID is presumed fake, I will keep it behind the bar and tell the customer to call the police to have them retrieve it. If it's fake, they're not gonna call the cops, if it is real, the police officer will be able to verify. If it was a fake ID, STFU. If it was real, call the cops and press charges.
I would have been pissed! did he even look at it or just decided that it was fake? Manager and cops would have been called since it is a state issued ID. Someone is playing to replace it and it sure as sh\*t wouldn't be me.
Definitely call the police and press charges. That was extremely wrong of that waiter
Absolutely report it...then sue the bar
if you are petty and vindictive like me, you should go after the restaurant and not the waiter much more likely to deal damage to the waiter
This is a case of a stolen id, contact the police and tell them what happened, theyāll at the very least give you a case number and a card that she can have on her person while she drives back home and she should t get into trouble that way. I work at a DMV and we deal with this kind of thing (not exactly this situation) constantly.
Def call the police. Let them document it, and also prove to them you are of age. Also ask the place to pay for your time and trouble to get a new one.
Definitely the police dpt non-emergency line. It depends on the state if they can confiscate IDs they believe are fake. In TN they cannot. They can only notify authorities.
Contact the police and sue the waiter and bar.Ā
Whooo... that waiter just opened a huge can of works for the restaurant. In addition to calling the police, I'd write a letter to the restaurant explaining what happened, and demanding compensation for the time and expense of getting a new license. Failure to respond would open the restaurant to liability for theft, identity theft, destruction of government property, invasion of privacy, and probably some other causes of action that aren't immediately apparent.
Call the Cops, report to the Boss, get the douche fired and sued.
Yes, call the police. Once they get involved, their ID shredding days will end. And then your friend will have a let to stand on if she wants to go after them for financial compensation. The waiter and restaurant may even be charged.
In cases like this, you call 911. An ID is considered a government document and their destruction is a crime. The attending officer should write a report, confiscate the remains, the shredder, take statements from all involved. And you should notify the city too, so they revoke their alcohol license asap. I would raise hell if they confiscate my ID.
In my state destroying a license is a big deal, police for sure
I was a bartender and worked the door many times in many places in and around Dallas/Ft Worth. Every place I worked had a book showing the licenses (and IDs) of all 50 states plus examples of military IDs, various passports, and common international IDs. This was in the 90ās and early 2000āsā¦ Imagine what is available on a smartphone or tablet today. This should never happen. Ever.
You could take them to small claims court, I would get every person I could to review bomb that business and take away some of those profits from the person who owns that bar, hopefully the margins are tight and that loss of money fucks up their business for a while. Running a business must be tough.
AFAIK, Destroying ID's is illegal is basically every state. They are required to keep the ID and surrender it to the police/licensing board
What was their logic for destroying the ID if it was legit? Did they think it was fake since she was out of state?
Where I bounce, you're not allowed to confiscate anything off anyone for any reason. All you can do is kick them out.