Tweet after the fold because some people read this site at work and the Tweet has bad language words.
This is vexing on a few levels. First off, the (genius) kid’s selling root beer. Second, even if it was actual beer he’s not drinking it, is he? Third, sheesh, even if you disagree with the second point at least make a stab at talking to his parents first, because they’ll gently explain the first bit to you and then you won’t look like a sykes in front of the cops.
Actually, strike that: getting embarrassed like that is a great punishment. Really drives the point home. Never mind.
FWIW, Regarding your second point, in (at least) some jurisdictions, someone under 21 can’t possess alcohol, with a really loose definition of “possess”. For instance, at my local grocery store, the high-school aged cashiers were required to have an over-21 employee (or the customer – it’s a small town) scan and bag beer (and this was back when 3.2 was the only stuff the store was allowed to sell).
All that said … Yeah, calling the cops was a stupid over-reaction. That the kid used that sign for marketing in SLC, UT, really tickles my sense of the absurd. That’s funny, right there.
It’s Utah, which has some of the weirdest liquor laws on the books. Such as for the longest time, bartenders MUST mix their drink behind a partition so that their customer cannot see how it’s being mixed.
Huh. I am wondering:
1) Is this to restrict even the knowledge of how to mix a drink because even that knowledge is viewed as salacious?
or
2) Is this a union thing to protect the jobs of bartenders?
#1.
Utah is one of the more hostile states for unions.