Shot Girls: Easy money or danger in the making?
Here’s an interesting conundrum: underage young women working in bars (but not exactly for the bar) buying bottles of mixed liquor and reselling them as shots to patrons in the bar. The so-called :shot girls” buy the liquor and then pocket the profits from their sales. The Hartford Courant this week explores this questionable method of increasing liquor sales.
I see several problems with this scenario. First, they are underage - 18, 19, 20 - and admittedly they drink shots that patrons purchase for them. Hello! Red flag issue. I know that plenty of underage women and men drink, even in bars, but it compromises their safety for sure. Second, it encourages patrons to drink more. While I am sure that from an economic standpoint for the bars and liquor companies it’s a virtual windfall, but what about the inebriated guy stumbling home vomiting? Or what about the foolish person who gets behind the wheel. According to the article:
The laws that assign liability when intoxicated customers injure themselves and others weren’t written with shot girls in mind. In states that require training for bar employees, the requirements for freelance shot girls are less clear.
I searched the topic on Google and came up with a really raw and interesting look at the practice by the Columbia News Service. Here’s an excerpt:
Wearing skimpy outfits, they are ogled, propositioned and groped; they may get into fights with jealous women or with other shot girls competing for business in the same cramped space; and by the end of the night, they’re guaranteed to be covered in a sticky mess of sweet alcohol. But for shot girls, it’s almost always worth it: In a few hours they can earn hundreds of tax-free dollars.
Shot girls are essentially entrepreneurs. Unlike bartenders and bouncers, shot girls don’t usually work for clubs and bars. Instead, they buy a tray of shots from the bar and resell them–ostensibly at the same price–keeping the tips for themselves. But out on the floor, some women dispense their shots at higher prices, especially for female customers who aren’t as likely to reward their flirtatious sales technique with a tip.
I am sure that for the shot girls it can be a very lucrative and easy way to make money, particularly during those college years when work, school and social lives fight for attention. I am just not sure I agree with the practice of using underage girls (regardless of the law here in Connecticut that says you can serve alcohol at age 18).
