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Imagine falling asleep in a bar's restroom, then waking up to find you're locked in the place
By adamg on Fri, 07/18/2014 - 11:53am
Around 4:45 a.m. on April 17, a 911 dispatcher picked up the phone to hear a somewhat frantic woman on the other end - calling from the inside of An Tain on India Street downtown, where she found herself locked in. Firefighters and police were dispatched and were able to talk the woman through opening the door from the inside.
According to police, the woman, after five or six beers and a shot of harder stuff, went into the restroom around 12:45 a.m., went into a stall and fell asleep.
That was good for a citation for over-serving an intoxicated patron and failing to completely clear the premises and a trip to the Boston Licensing Board for a hearing earlier this week. The board voted yesterday, however, that the bar was not to blame.
At the hearing, the bar's owner said the woman did not appear at all drunk that night - and that because she was large, the bartender didn't see anything wrong with the number of drinks she'd been served. Also, the bartender saw the man with whom the woman had come in leaving at closing and assumed that meant she had left as well. After closing time, he knocked on the door of the women's room, got no response and assumed that meant it was empty.
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Comments
I understand the issue with a
I understand the issue with a male employee checking the women's bathroom, but I feel like if they knock on the door and get no response they really should at least open the door and give it a cursory check. Someone could be asleep, as in this case, or could have OD'd on something and be passed out, or worse.
This.
Isn't a major point of checking the restroom at closing to make sure no one is passed out or dead in there? If there's no response, then peak in and look for any feet under the stall. I do think the whole being dragged before the board thing was a bit much, but that's just SOP, I guess... But they couldn't look in? And the board didn't verbally correct this lapse in judgement. Sheesh.
Another reason is for loss
Another reason is for loss prevention. Particularly in department stores, shoplifters have been known to hide out in restrooms or other hidden areas and help themselves to merchandise once the store closes. What's to stop someone in a bar or club to hide in the bathroom and help themselves to the liquor after closing?
Yup, my first thought was how
Yup, my first thought was how I'd be sipping some free hangover cure before I even considered how I was going to get out of the joint ;)
The reason this was brought before the
Licensing Board is quite simple. As Mel Brooks said in Blazing Saddles:
I agree
A visual check is needed. A knock is useless to a deaf or HoH patron.
how long
how long til people get their mads elevated because they referred to the woman as "large"
2 and 25
two hours, 25 minutes and counting...
Hmmmm
I prefer the word 'thick' as opposed to 'large'. If unsure, always fall back on 'big boned'.
Large != Fat
Serena Williams is large. She is not fat.
This is
a why you should quit drinking story maa'm.
"Imagine"?
"Imagine"?
Adam, you say that like it hasn't happened to at least a few of us before.
How drunk do you have to be
to need instructions from firefighters and police on how to open a door?
Perhaps I am ignorant in the ways of bar doors. I can't think of much between a key-only deadbolt, in which case you'd be screwed, and some sort of lock that you turned. Perhaps you'd set off a burglar alarm or leave the door unlocked behind you, but under the circumstances that wouldn't be your problem.
No lights
Probably close to 100% darkness in there. Can't see anything, scared, drunk, easy to see why she needed help.
That was my thinking
I also figured she must have gotten scared in the dark or was afraid of setting off an alarm and being arrested by the police thinking she's trying to rob the place.
But still.... Use your phone as a flashlight and some common sense. It's pretty unlikely (and illegal) for the place to have used locks in which you need a key just to get out. If I pass out on a restaurant toilet I'd want as few people as possible to know once I finally woke up.
Firefighters and police were
I wonder if she was truly locked in was perhaps in some state of inebriation where she couldn't figure how to get herself out.
I ask because I believe there is some sort of law, code, whatever that states establishments must provide the ability to allow a way out of the building even after hours. This is in case there's a fire and there is still people inside. I know the place where I work at one time had placed a chain and padlock on the inside of one of the emergency exit doors and locked it after hours to prevent break ins. Then back quite a while ago, a fire broke out overnight. Needless to say the FD was not to happy about finding the padlocked door. The company ended up being fined. The FD stated as I did above, that if there was some straggler still in the building he or she would have no way of getting out.
Because...
...emergency doors work for firefighters as well as patrons, if things go awry.
"Firefighters and police were dispatched and were able to talk the woman through opening the door from the inside."
Got to admit, that is funny.
Rest Room
Good decision.
The bar made a reasonable effort.
I say she abused the term "restroom"
ISD needs to make a visit
So....nobody at An Tain cleans the bathroom at the end of the night before they lock up?
Gross.
Look on the bright side: it
Look on the bright side: it wasn't the Back Bay Station restrooms.
It happened to me
But I didn't call for help. Just helped myself to food and drink then left. I was even allowed to smoke in the establishment.
Fire code?
It shouldn't be possible to get locked into a restroom at all.
Locked in
She was locked inside the establishment, not its restroom.
Wow.. Just wow.. This woman
Wow.. Just wow.. This woman really needs to never drink again.. She cannot handle such a task
She needs to not drink with that guy
The one who very well may have roofied her.
Don't know what planet you live on - this sounds like drugged drinks to me.
5-6 Beers + Shot(s)
Maybe she was drugged but I know I'd be out like a light if I had that much to drink in a short amount of time.
It's possible the guy left annoyed thinking she walked out on him. Who paid the tab?
Blame the victim
You people are all wackos.
Well, there's precedent...
http://youtu.be/Lf1Gdr3vvPQ?t=9m38s