Pretty alchy, stumblin' down the street,
Pretty alchy, the kind you don't want to meet...
Pretty Alchy - Me (sung to the tune of "Pretty Woman")
So I go into Publix (the one near my house at Lake Fredrica) this morning after I get out of work and I'm about to grab a selection of brewed beverage from the beer case when an employee spots me and (nicely enough) tells me I can't buy it 'till 9:00 am. The same rejection I got a week ago at the Publix at Conway Plaza about a mile away. In both cases they say it's "the law" and in both cases, it was NOT a Sunday.
I've long had a frustration with the alcohol sales laws here in Central Florida on Sunday. On any other day of the week, you can buy beer and wine starting at 7:00 am. (Not sure if that applies to hard liquor as well since I haven't tried it and besides, since liquor is sold only in liquor stores in Florida, what liquor store would be open at 7:00 am?)
On Sunday, well, it all depends. Seminole County has no Sunday specific law so it's treated like any other day...7:00 am start time. Orange County, it seems, allows each community to set their own standards. So, for instance, the Publix at Lake Fredrica Plaza near me is in unincorporated Orange County so it allows 7:00 am Sunday sales whereas the Walmart in the SAME PLAZA happens to be on the west edge of the plaza and falls in the boundaries of the City of Orlando so it makes you wait according to the Orlando City Ordinance which prohibits sales until 12:00 noon. So I've literally had situations where I forgot about this rule and was turned away at one store only to WALK to another and buy from there.
Shit like this drives me crazy. It's bad enough I struggle with almost every decision to buy alcohol in the first place because of my long history of problems with it. But as probably many addicts can agree to, there's nothing that fires up the drive to "use" as much as some stranger telling you what you can and can't do according to them.
Well I called the management at Publix shortly after my disappointing rebuff and they confirmed that there is no "law" or store policy against the sale of beer and wine on any day but Sunday during their business hours (since they open at 7:00) So again I was misinformed by an employee at Publix.
This seems too coincidental to have happened at two different Publix stores and that the employees both said the restriction was 9:00 am. Nothing I could find on the internet could confirm any new laws in this regards. The only thing I found is that last November it seems some web sites announced that Sunday sales in Orlando may move to an earlier time than 12:00 pm, I think one site said it would be 9:00 am.
Is that what these employees are confused by? Did they hear the news that Orlando was moving alcohol sales to 9:00 and didn't hear it was only on Sunday and don't realize that "The City of Orlando" doesn't legally apply to all areas that are called "Orlando?"
I'm not sure and I don't really care but instead of being potentially embarrassed by some idiot no-doubt Southern Baptist, Bible thumping, temperance-inclined Publix employees who hear what they want to hear, I'll just "stumble my way down the street" and buy elsewhere. Then I'll come back, bust through their automatic doors, a 12-pack under each arm and flip my head at the nearest cashier...
"Hi, remember me? I was in here and you wouldn't sell to me?...BIG MISTAKE! Big! Huge!"
Pretty alchy, the kind you don't want to meet...
Pretty Alchy - Me (sung to the tune of "Pretty Woman")
So I go into Publix (the one near my house at Lake Fredrica) this morning after I get out of work and I'm about to grab a selection of brewed beverage from the beer case when an employee spots me and (nicely enough) tells me I can't buy it 'till 9:00 am. The same rejection I got a week ago at the Publix at Conway Plaza about a mile away. In both cases they say it's "the law" and in both cases, it was NOT a Sunday.
I've long had a frustration with the alcohol sales laws here in Central Florida on Sunday. On any other day of the week, you can buy beer and wine starting at 7:00 am. (Not sure if that applies to hard liquor as well since I haven't tried it and besides, since liquor is sold only in liquor stores in Florida, what liquor store would be open at 7:00 am?)
On Sunday, well, it all depends. Seminole County has no Sunday specific law so it's treated like any other day...7:00 am start time. Orange County, it seems, allows each community to set their own standards. So, for instance, the Publix at Lake Fredrica Plaza near me is in unincorporated Orange County so it allows 7:00 am Sunday sales whereas the Walmart in the SAME PLAZA happens to be on the west edge of the plaza and falls in the boundaries of the City of Orlando so it makes you wait according to the Orlando City Ordinance which prohibits sales until 12:00 noon. So I've literally had situations where I forgot about this rule and was turned away at one store only to WALK to another and buy from there.
Shit like this drives me crazy. It's bad enough I struggle with almost every decision to buy alcohol in the first place because of my long history of problems with it. But as probably many addicts can agree to, there's nothing that fires up the drive to "use" as much as some stranger telling you what you can and can't do according to them.
Well I called the management at Publix shortly after my disappointing rebuff and they confirmed that there is no "law" or store policy against the sale of beer and wine on any day but Sunday during their business hours (since they open at 7:00) So again I was misinformed by an employee at Publix.
This seems too coincidental to have happened at two different Publix stores and that the employees both said the restriction was 9:00 am. Nothing I could find on the internet could confirm any new laws in this regards. The only thing I found is that last November it seems some web sites announced that Sunday sales in Orlando may move to an earlier time than 12:00 pm, I think one site said it would be 9:00 am.
Is that what these employees are confused by? Did they hear the news that Orlando was moving alcohol sales to 9:00 and didn't hear it was only on Sunday and don't realize that "The City of Orlando" doesn't legally apply to all areas that are called "Orlando?"
I'm not sure and I don't really care but instead of being potentially embarrassed by some idiot no-doubt Southern Baptist, Bible thumping, temperance-inclined Publix employees who hear what they want to hear, I'll just "stumble my way down the street" and buy elsewhere. Then I'll come back, bust through their automatic doors, a 12-pack under each arm and flip my head at the nearest cashier...
"Hi, remember me? I was in here and you wouldn't sell to me?...BIG MISTAKE! Big! Huge!"