To preface this, I worked at this rundown bar in the South in a college town that hires majority 18-23 y/o staff because they have no problem working late shifts and constantly getting fucked over by management and getting their hours cut from having “too much labor.” My coworker was 19 and started in November and worked on and off due to her school schedule and she took off for a few weeks before coming back to work full time. At the interview, the general manager usually asks to see some form of ID in order to make sure he knows who's of legal drinking age and who isn't yet. In her case, for whatever reason she didn't have an id to show him but 4/5 bartenders/managers that worked knew she was underage and whenever she'd 'jokingly' ask for a drink they'd tell her no. One day, she came in off the clock and asked the only bartender who hadn't really seen her or knew she was underage to make her a margarita and he did. And she paid. She went outside to drink it in front of the cameras and went home. She didn't think anything of it because she paid for it and drank it but the next day she came in, the bartender who gave her the drink asked if she was 21 and she said no. They still made her work the rest of her shifts for the week and immediately fired her at the start of the following week for “taking advantage of the bartender for not knowing she was underage,” but the bartender kept his job. In the text he sent us, the general manager said he didn't want anyone to knowingly or otherwise consume alcohol on the premises and he find out because it puts all our jobs in jeopardy. She took issue with the fact that if what she did was so heinous, why didn't they fire her upon finding out? Why make her close 3 nights in a row and then fire her, or frame it like she took advantage of the bsrtender when he should've been reprimanded for making her the drink as well. There's also been times where other bartenders have offered underage staff drinks without knowing they were of legal age, but this instance was the straw that broke the camel's back. She framed it as a joke which really didn't help her case because she'd been known to ask other bartenders for a drink and they'd just tell her no. She fucked around and found out, and they didn't hesitate to turn against her when the time came. But that's how most mom and pop restaurants do, right? They protect their own, labor is so easily replaceable and staff get paid $3.50/hr so they lost virtually nothing except a potential lawsuit by using the bartender's ignorance as a scapegoat.