New course for responsible alcohol service shouldn't be online, bartender says

A Winnipeg bartender has concerns about a new, mandatory course on responsible service for Manitobans who serve or sell alcohol.

Don Vosterssays he's worried the message about safe servicewon't get through to participants who take the new Smart Choices courseonline. Vosters has worked in the restaurant industry as a server, manager and bartender for the past 30 years and is currently a bartender at Carlos and Murphy's on Osborne Street.

"It's just like doing a correspondence course. Some people are very good at doing correspondence courses, some people will be open book while doing this test and not filter any of the knowledge through," Vosters said.

"There's no discourse, there's no seminars or anything. So there's not getting feedback from other people to gather some more learning, some more perspective on the issues."

Participants can also chooseto take at home on paper and in-class sessions are available.

Smart Choices was launchedon Jan. 2.It combines the previous Serving it Safe program, which was mandatory for servers but not liquor retailers, and a problem gambling program by Addictions Foundation of Manitoba.

• Manitobans who work with alcohol served mandatory training

The course also includes training to helpprevent sexual assaults, which Vosters said he supports.

"I think it's a good idea. I think it's something most bartenders would take as a responsibility just upon themselves anyway," he said.

"The fact that people are held accountable is never a bad thing."

American applauds training program

An American woman is applauding the inclusion of sexual assault prevention training.

Earlier this year, Monica Kenyon was at a bar in Los Angeles, Calif., when she sawa man slip something into a woman's drink and flagged it to her server as well as the victim.

• How three friends foiled a suspected date rape attempt

Serving staff brought the woman a different drink but left the original glass on the tableand stalled the diners politely until police arrived, Kenyon said.

"The way that that staff jumped into action, it was like they had done it a million times. They were flawless," Kenyon told CBC on Thursday.

She said knowledge of how to deal with sexual assault attempts like that one should be widespread for people in the service industry.

"I think every restaurant should get trained on it. I think every bar should get trained on it. It's something that happens more than people realize," Kenyon said.

"If people can start paying attention and preventing it, intervening to prevent this from happening, so many lives would be saved."