I've been told by petty managers in the UK, and back her in NZ (which
inheirited a lot of laws) that it's illegal.
BUT those same petty managers I came to distrust as a source of any real
professional guidance. I believe it's a common myth perpetuated for policy
reasons, rather than legal ones.
In my own (not inconsiderable) research into weights & measures legislation -
looking for exactly this, I failed to find a single hint outlawing it.
Me not being able to find something in legal tomes proves nothing conclusive,
but even on request at bar licensing training/seminars I've never found
someone who can point at the law that says this.
So, I just do not worry about it when it comes to setting my bar up to the
optimum levels in preperation for a Sat night. I'll mix & match as needed.
I'll do it because I can always look the customer in the eye and say "*I*
cracked the seal on that bottle earlier today, mate. You're getting what you
paid for."
But:
- On Thursdays I choose to run some bottles in my well at 3-7 oz for flair. I
don't set them (unless really bored) , but I do leave them.
- I once worked for a boss that obsessively refilled every bottle (above even
the normal high-tide mark) every day because he thought it looked more
professional. I thought it looked fecking suspicious, more so because I knew
(and tried to ignore) that he was using rot-gut in brand bottles.
- I personally rant at or ignore workmates who waste their set-up time
marrying non-marginal bottles. 3/4, 1/2 & 2/3 COULD be consolidated into
two-and-a-new-bottle, but I think it's a waste of time when capping a new
bottle when I need it takes seconds.
- I agree totally that whatever your justification, marrying should be done
out of site of the customer. Seems every new hire needs that pointed out. They
saw us doing it, and tried to be helpful, but didn't notice we were NOT
doing it on top of the bench with the customers still milling around ;-)
... all just learned behaviour. (whether I mean Pavlovian or Observational is
up to your own interpretation)
.dan.