Category: Alcohol Awareness

April is Alcohol Awareness Month – Get TAM® Certified

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TAM_Course_2018Every day, almost 30 people in the United States die in motor vehicle crashes that involve an alcohol-impaired driver. This amounts to one death every 50 minutes (CDC). As a TAM Card® holder, you can do your part to help cut that number in the future. You have the skills to promote safe beverage service and minimize the chances that someone will be over served and get behind the wheel.

At TAM® of Nevada, we like to promote responsible service year-round. Spread the message that April is Alcohol Awareness Month, and this is a great opportunity to further reflect on safe service choices and showcase your training.

Alcohol Awareness Month was founded by the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD) and further sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). This national date is an opportunity to raise awareness about alcohol abuse, reflect on consumption, and encourage people to make healthy choices.

This month we encourage you to visit our website or our office to renew or obtain your official TAM® Card. In addition to our regularly scheduled TAM® Classes available in Las Vegas six days a week, the TAM® course is also available online 24/7. Additional special offerings and scheduled events in April include:

  • Final exams are offered at our Las Vegas office and several other locations across Nevada, as a convenience to our online customers. View our exam schedule to find the option that works best for you.
  • Alcohol awareness class and final exams for online students will be available in Mesquite at the Virgin River Hotel Casino on Wednesday, April 17th. This event is repeated the third Wednesday of every month.
  • Class will be offered in Spanish in Las Vegas on Thursday, April 18th at 10:00am. Walk-ins are welcome. This event is repeated the third Thursday of every month.

How will you promote safe choices this April?

The Brunch Crowd – Five Tips for Safe Beverage Service in the Daytime

Published on by TAM of Nevada1 Comment

Brunch Service with AlcoholLate morning on a sunny Sunday, and who doesn’t love the idea of brunch? Offering brunch service is a great opportunity for restaurants to reach their client base and offer a unique selection of menu items and beverages. But remember, just because it’s the daylight hours, that doesn’t mean servers should be any less vigilant about safe beverage service. Bloody Marys and mimosas are standard brunch fare, and day drinking can still lead to over-intoxication. Here are a few tips that servers can keep in mind to help keep things safe, and make sure their customers still have a great experience.

  1. If customers are drinking, promote low-proof beverages or mocktails to go with their meals. A mimosa with orange or pear juice is a popular choice for brunch service. For recipe ideas for brunch-themed mocktails, head to the Martha Stewart website.
  2. Customers should eat and stay hydrated if they are consuming alcoholic beverages. If customers want to linger after their meal and continue beverage service, try suggesting a special brunch appetizer or snack to go with their beverages. Food helps keep alcohol in the stomach for a longer period of time which means that it will be absorbed into the bloodstream at a much slower rate. Try offering an appetizer to go with their drinks. A simple, “Would you like to try some of our brunch crostini or chips and salsa to go with your cocktail?” is always a good tactic.
  3. With each drink order, also offer to bring your guests a glass of ice water. Offering water is one of the easiest ways to help customers stay hydrated. That goes doubly for brunch served poolside or on the patio. The hot Las Vegas sun can speed up dehydration. Enjoying an alcoholic beverage on a hot day can be a refreshing treat, but it can also accelerate dehydration and can lead to heat-related illness.
  4. Remember, it is a myth that the caffeine in coffee will sober a person up faster. A person cannot consume multiple alcoholic beverages and then polish it off with a cup of coffee to ‘sober up.’ Coffee certainly goes hand in hand with eggs and potatoes, but it isn’t going to lower someone’s BAC. The body needs time to metabolize alcohol and then return to normal. There are no quick cures, only time.
  5. No matter what time of day, use the Techniques of Alcohol Management® to keep an eye on guests, use good judgement, and serve them safely. You have an obligation to serve responsibly. To and learn more and get your TAM Card®, register on our website.

What other brunch service and day-drinking tips would you share with hospitality workers? Tell us in the Comments below.

New DUI Law Takes Effect in Nevada – Ignition Interlock Devices for First Time Offenders

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drunk_drivingSaving lives means getting tough about DUIs. In an effort to improve safety of those on the road, Nevada has joined the more than 30 states which require ignition interlock devices for first-time DUI offenders. In 2017, Senate Bill 259 passed, requiring anyone arrested with a blood alcohol level of 0.08 or above to install an ignition interlock device to maintain their driving privileges. These big changes came into effect on October 1, 2018.

Ignition interlock devices, which are attached to a vehicle’s ignition system, are another tool which can be used to keep intoxicated drivers off the road. Before a driver can start their car, they must breathe into a breathalyzer device. If alcohol is detected on their breath, the car will not start. Additionally, ignition interlock devices are equipped with cameras. This is to make sure that the person who provided the breath is the one driving the vehicle.

According to the CDC, ignition interlocks reduce repeat offenses for driving while intoxicated by about 70% while they are installed.

So, what do you think – do you support Nevada’s new rules for mandatory ignition interlocks for DUI offenders? Do you think this will help to decrease the number of alcohol-related fatalities and injuries? Let us know in the Comments below.

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Announcing Our Quarterly Customer Survey Winner!

Published on by TAM of NevadaLeave a comment

balloons_purpleCongratulations to Stephanie T. of Las Vegas, winner of our most recent quarterly gift card giveaway!

Have you recently finished an Alcohol Awareness course or a Nevada Marijuana Compliance course with TAM of Nevada? If so, we’d like to hear from you! After finishing one of our courses, students are invited to participate in a short online survey. As a token of thanks for participation, we enter survey respondents into a quarterly drawing for an Amazon.com gift card prize.

If you’ve recently completed a course with TAM and haven’t yet completed the customer satisfaction survey, we invite you to access the survey and submit your response before our next drawing. Let us know your favorite part of the training, what you’ve learned, your experiences with staff, or ask us any questions you might have.

Our customer satisfaction surveys are available to both online and classroom students. Thank you again to all of our customers for choosing TAM® of Nevada for your alcohol awareness cards and marijuana compliance training. Remember to visit us on TAM of Nevada on Facebook and keep the conversation going!