And now a word from the Bartender . .

Mixed blessing: "The bar culture changed when bartenders came face-to-face with legal action. Cases involving drunk customers going out and killing people with out-of-control vehicles sobered up the entire industry.

'Years ago it was more freewheeling,' Careys says. 'Nobody gave a damn about getting a DUI. The cops would pull you over and tell you to go to sleep for a while and get on home,' she said.

Now bartenders must pay attention to whether a customer has had one too many. Carey tells her students to slow down service to a customer who is getting drunk, or offer them coffee or something to eat.

How do you know if someone has reached their limit? 'They start slurring their words or they light two cigarettes at one time,' she says.

A technique Carey has used in the past is to take a customer's keys if they are laying on the bar. Then she asks the patron if she can call them a cab, and she gives the keys to the cab driver. If someone's really unruly, the last resort is to call the cops."