Bartenders as street-level bureaucrats: theorizing server practices in the nighttime economy

Abstract

Most Western countries have laws that prohibit the serving of alcohol to intoxicated and underage patrons in nightlife venues such as pubs and nightclubs. Despite laws and the implementation of server training programs, several studies have shown that intoxicated patrons are still likely to be served. This think-piece article attempts to shed new light on the tendency among bartenders to overserve patrons. Based on a selective review of the literature, we argue that future research on bartenders is in need of theoretical development and guidance as well as more rigorous crossnational comparisons. We propose that Michael Lipsky's theory of street-level bureaucrats can deepen our understanding of bartenders and their serving practices. Bartenders may be conceptualized as street-level bureaucrats whose jobs are characterized by continuous interactions with different citizens asking for their attention and services. We argue that, just like street-level bureaucrats, bartenders have to deal with numerous people and their demands, and must make swift decisions based on their own discretion. Bartenders are encouraged by their managers to sell as much as possible, but at the same time they are supposed to obey the law against overserving alcohol to intoxicated and underage patrons. Previous research provides many examples of how bartenders develop shortcuts and bend rules in order to make their jobs more manageable and deal with the contradictory pressures they experience. The paper provides theoretical tools to understand how and why bartenders develop routines that are different from those intended by policy makers.

Alcohol and drug use among staff at licensed premises in Norway

“…Experience from Sweden of collecting data from this group of staff suggested that using a postal survey would result in a low response rate [18]. Staff at drinking establishments can be hard to reach [20], and there are no comprehensive registers of individuals employed at licensed premises. In addition, few of them are members of unions, and staff turnover is high [18, 21].…”

“Gjesten har aldri rett” – Bartendere på hippe utesteders forståelse av yrket

“…Mens andre studier har vist hvordan bartendere kan være under press fra ledelsen for å selge mye alkohol ( Buvik & Tutenges 2017 ), fortalte bartenderne i denne studien at det manglende kravet om mersalg gjorde at salgssituasjonen opplevdes som friere. At Norge i utgangspunktet har en streng alkohollov som forbyr alkoholreklame og tilbud på alkohol, kan gjøre at norske bartendere i mindre grad enn internasjonale kolleger opplever dette presset.…”

“…En hovedvekt av bartenderstudier er kvantitative og fokuserer på problemorienterte forhold (Buvik & Tutenges, 2017). Studiene fokuserer i hovedsak på negative forhold som overskjenking (Buvik, 2013;Buvik & Rossow, 2015;Goodsite, Klear, & Rosenberg, 2008;Leo, 2013;Reiling & Nusbaumer, 2006), seksuelle overgrep og trakassering (Bråten & Øistad, 2017;Graham et al, 2014;Powers & Leili, 2016), bartenderes høye alkoholkonsum og illegale rusbruk (Buvik, Bye, & Gripenberg, 2018;Kjaerheim & Mykletun, 1995;Larsen, 1994;Norström, Sundin, Müller, & Leifman, 2012) eller bartenderes rolle på utesteder med mye vold (Graham & Homel, 2008;Hobbs, Hadfield, Lister, & Winlow, 2002).…”

“…En dansk studie viser at 57 prosent av bartenderne i utvalget hadde blitt kjeftet på, 25 prosent hadde blitt truet, mens 14 prosent hadde opplevd at kollegaer ble angrepet ( Tutenges, Bøgkjær, Witte, & Hesse, 2013 ). Bartendere kan også betraktes som bakkebyråkrater som skal balansere alkohollovens bestemmelser mot ønsket om å skape profitt ved å selge mest mulig ( Buvik & Tutenges, 2017 ). Flere land har derfor iverksatt opplæringsprogrammer av bartendere for å redusere overskjenking og skjenking til mindreårige.…”

Sumptuary administration: How contested market actors shape the trajectory of policy when regulated under fragmented governance

“…When a bartender checks patron I.D. 's to ensure that they are old enough to drink (Buvik & Tutenges, 2018), or an exotic dancer polices the physical conduct of clientele (Price-Glynn, 2010), the state has essentially deputized a nongovernment actor to ensure that the spirit of a sumptuary law is carried out. This partnership is also the bedrock for a unique form of decoupling, one that pits the intention of policies to restrain problematic consumption against the motivation to maximize revenues.…”