undercover

When I was 16, I was approached by a cop while getting gas. Now, when a cop approaches anyone, their first reaction has got to be, "what did I do?" Don't lie, you have all thought it. Anyway, I hadn't done anything that I knew of and what he ended up asking me made me feel full of power. He asked me to help him bust bars for underage drinking--undercover. I felt so cool that he asked me! All I had to do was go to a few bars and restaurants with him throughout the day and order alcohol. How hard could it be? The officer proceeded to tell me that I also would get paid by the hour. The way I heard it? I got paid to talk, eat, and order beer.

When I go out to eat with my mom, on occasion, the waitress will end up reading me the drink menu because I look older than I am. So I thought that this was going to be a breeze. WRONG! The first waiter laughed at me and said come back in 5 years. It ended up being a common theme at the next 3 restaurants I went to. I felt stupid for even trying. I was constantly getting laughed at for thinking I could order alcohol, especially in the bars! Finally, we went to this local bar out in Washington. It looked like a little run down shack, and was apparently know for selling to minors. The rule with the officer and I was that I would walk in first and grab us a table and menus. Then he would come in later. When he finally came down and sat, we ordered our food and I asked for the drink menu. The bartender actually brought it back to me! when I placed my order for a Miller Light, she asked to see my I.D. and I thought for sure I was busted. What happened next shocked both of us.

This bartender was a 5 foot nothing, bleach blonde, tattooed girl who seemed like she didn't care
about anything, but she was super sweet. when she took my I.D. from me, she held it up to the light, squinted, and said, "alright one miller light coming up!" Uh, WHAT?  Highlighted on my license in florescent yellow, are the dates for when I turn 18 and 21. How did she not see it? Or did she even look. If you were going to fake reading my license, I would make it look a little more believable than what she had done. She ended up getting herself a fine of $150 and then the entire institution got fined another $500 for selling to a minor. This equaled to a lot of paper work, which meant more hours on the job, which meant more money. I was completely fine with that! What a way to end that day!

After everything was said and done, that was our one and only bust, but it was so much fun to be apart of something like that. Since then I have been asked to continue on helping them with their alcohol stings, and something about it just makes me feel like I am in charge. I love it.