Because of coronavirus outbreaks that have been attributed to bars and restaurants, the State of Michigan will require these establishments to get the name and phone number of every customer.
The state is claiming that there are 12 outbreaks directly connected to bars and restaurants and it wants the customers’ names and numbers in order to track them — if necessary — for purposes of contact tracing.
“Our frontline servers have already had trouble dealing with masks and mandates and mandating masks,” [Scott Ellis, executive director of the Michigan Licensed Beverage Association] said. “We did de-escalation training and all kinds of other things to help with that and now we’re taking to the next level. We have to gather someone’s personal information?”
He added, “I think when you’re going to sit down at a restaurant you just don’t expect someone to take your name and number because you’re coming to have a drink or a burger.”
We wish all the good luck to Michigan in getting customers to give their personal information to total strangers at a bar. Women, especially, must be thrilled with this mandate.
Justin Winslow, president and CEO of the Michigan Restaurant and Lodging Association, said in a statement the contact tracing mandate doesn’t match “existing science and data” that shows “minimal transmission” from dining at restaurants: only about 2% of cases the state is investigating, according to Winslow, FOX 17 reported.
Establishments could be fined $1,000 for not following the order, according to FOX 17.
What are these health bureaucrats thinking? Maybe they should get the damn names and phone numbers themselves. And the date and time the customer was there. Maybe they even want to know what they drank, how many shots they had, and how much was the bill.
The drunk police are on the prowl.
If customers do not want to give that information they can be refused service.
“You accept it when you’re ordering out it’s just something you have to do and then how many people don’t want to give it when they order out and how truthful is it? We don’t know,” said Ellis. “And I think when you’re going to sit down at a restaurant you just don’t expect someone to take your name and number because you’re coming to have a drink or a burger.”
Not to put too fine a point on it, but this is sheer lunacy. Some of those poor servers are going to be lucky if they don’t get bashed in the face a couple of times a night. What would your reaction be to someone wanting your name and phone number for tracking purposes? This after you had been waiting a good while because the government says there can only be so many people inside a bar or restaurant.
But it’s for our own good so buck up, Michigan.
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