Tallahassee Strip To Begin Using the Honor System Instead of Checking Ids
Since its inception in 2004, The Tallahassee Strip has always been known as a hub of the community for students of Florida State. Known for its kind and welcoming security and bartenders, many thought it couldn't get any better. Recently though, The Strip announced its plans to implement an honor system for its patrons. Instead of checking IDs, bouncers are trusting that no one under the age of 21 would break the law by drinking at a club.
The manager of The Strip agreed to sit down with The Eggplant to discuss the new policy. "I know this is a little unorthodox but after much deliberation, my team and I figured this would be the perfect solution to the elbow-to-elbow lines we have to deal with all the time. I mean, the people who've been coming here have always been over 21...even the freshmen. So I don't see that changing because of our new method." When asked how they previously managed to out underage kids, he simply said "Jake" and pointed behind him. There, standing beside the stripper poles of Yianni's stood a 5'7" medium-built young guy with a backward Bass Pro hat. "Yeah, I didn't really need any of those fancy scanners or anything. A lot of people don't know this but you can just check how old they are just by looking at their ID. If they're born before 2001 they're good to come in. Now the lines will be a lot faster because I won’t have to spend time reading all those numbers.”
As Saturday night rolled around, we went through the line talking to the clubgoers before doors opened. The crowd was littered with excited, fresh faces. "This new system seems pretty cool, won't waste as much time standing in these packed and sweaty lines," one student remarked. Another guy, with a senior takeover class of 2022 said, "I mean I've been here before because I'm definitely 21 and do hella alcohol all the time but this is cool I guess." Another very enthusiastic partier spoke candidly, "Yeah this is great. I got my fake snatched over at Bull's last week so the timing of this new policy is perfect." When asked if he would be lying to the bouncers to get in he gave a sarcastic no while rolling his eyes.
As the doors opened and the line began to move, we were able to get a first-hand look at the process of entering the club. Jake would ask the person whether they were at least 21. After being banded they were required to pinkie promise to ensure they weren’t lying about being 21. The system seemed to work well as nobody was turned away. Management plans to keep this system in place after the success with the larger crowds of Talloween weekend. “We don’t want to have huge bottlenecks in the lines EVER again. The only thing we might do differently now is asking people to show us their Canvas to make sure they’re not just coming up from UF or some other bum ass school.”