La Plata, MD – It was one of those nights at the Hard Times Café bar in Waldorf.
Bartender Laura Maria Villegas had just checked the identification of everyone at the bar, she told the Charles County Board of License Commissioners (Liquor Board) Thursday, Sept. 8.
In between two new customers sat at the bar.
“I was about to finish happy hour,” Villegas told the board. “I had a full order of drinks in my hand and tables I was serving. I had already carded everyone. I just took their orders. It’s not an excuse. They are very strict on that. It was my mistake.”
“We were doing a compliance check in the Smallwood area of Waldorf,” Cpl. Travis Yates told board members.
Yates said an undercover, underage cadet ordered a Corona and the bartender never asked for an identification.
“I made contact with the bartender and informed her she had sold alcohol to a minor,” Yates added. “She told me she had worked there for seven years. She said the restaurant’s policy is to ID everyone under 40. She was crying the entire time. She was upset about what she had done.”
Hard Times owner John Constantin told the board that everyone at his place of business was TAM certified.
“Our policy is to have certification for everyone,” Constantin said. “The policy of the store is the not accept vertical licenses.
“Since this happened, everyone has been recertified, retrained with new certification,” he added.
“Everyone in our store except the cook is certified,” Constantin said, who said he had just gotten home from the business when he got the phone call.
Villegas retained her job, he said.
When questioned about the policy, Constantin said the policy was to card everyone.
“There is a history of compliance,” attorney Isaac McAdams told the board. “They seem to do a very good job. This was human error. There was a group of people. She checked all their IDs. She had thought they were part of the group she had already checked.”
Liquor board Chair Pamela Smith pounced on Villegas’ statement that policy was to card anyone under 40 and questioned the discrepancy.
“She’s still employed,” Smith said. “That’s a problem. Your message isn’t getting across. If she’s been with you seven years and she thinks it’s a different policy, you have a problem.”
“Some people get mad at me because I card them all the time,” Villegas said. “We have a meeting every day.”
“I tend to think this establishment is a good and beneficial part of the community,” McAdams argued. “The policies were very good before and have been re-upped. The management of Hard Times is very serious about this.”
Board Member Steve Howe suggested a fine of $750 for the establishment, a $50 fine for the server with three days held in abeyance, unanimously accepted and approved.
Contact Joseph Norris at joe.norris@thebaynet.com