Sunday, April 26, 2009

Michigan Sunday Liquor Laws Suck

The past two Sundays I've been at the grocery store prior to noon and had alcohol in my cart and realized it was prior to noon so I was going to be denied (in case you didn't know, you can't buy alcohol in the state of Michigan from 2am to 12noon on Sundays. I guess it makes sense to keep the drunks from getting drunker, but what about all the other days of the week?

So on Tuesday early 2am no more alochol sales are allowed. I'm ok with this. But then I'm assuming they go back on sale when the store opens back up the next day. Some stores 8am, some 9am, etc. This seems to work fine 6 days a week. It makes sense because 6 or more hours is probably enough time to let the drunks sober up. But now take Meijer for example, open 24 hours a day. At 2 am Tuesday they stop selling. But what time does it go back on sale? 5am 6am? 8am? I don't know the answer to this question, but I do know it is not Noon.

I completely understand shutting down the bars at 2am agree with it, because if you're out that late usually trouble is on its way. But what about the poor guy who was looking for a case of Labatt on the way home from church for the afternoon BBQ? I mean, now he stops at the store. Then he waits in line and the clerk rejects him reminding him of the law. Meanwhile the baby in the backseat is crying and his wife is hella pissed at him b/c the baby is crying. So he comes back out from the store drives home with no beer. Now it is after noon, and he must drive back out to the store to buy the beer. This easily wastes a half hour of drive time, plus the frustration factor is huge.

My anger with this law goes back a long way. Circa 2001, I was headed out to Jenny's house on the lake in Hamburg and planned on stopping at the party store on my way out there. At 11:45 I stopped for a case of Blue Light and was denied. My dilemma was that it is a 15 minute drive from the party store to her house. Do I drive to the house and then drive back out to the store? Waste of time. So I decided to wait it out. I browsed the chip aisle and did whatever I could to kill a few mins. Of course I put the beer back in the fridge to keep it cool. So at noon straight up I tried to buy it again. The girl said, I only have 11:55. But my watch said noon, the clock on the wall said noon, her phone said noon, but the cash register said 11:55. WTF! I was very mad.

I told her, we all know it is noon, it is a stupid law anyway, please just sell me the beer. She said no.

So I said, look, I will give you cash and you can keep the change and just wait 5 mins THEN ring it up and we're all good. She said No.

So I said, look, the cash register doesn't know what you're ringing up. You just punch in the price and I give you the money. It not like it knows I am breaking the law by trying to buy beer before noon on Sunday!

So I said, look, why don't you fix the damn clock on register real quick to reflect the actual time, and then sell me the beer? She said, I don't know how.

So like a wimp, I paced back and forth victim of a stupid law, and victim of a goon clerk not able to set the clock of a cash register.

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