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Is there anything worse at a bar than a half-poured drink? No! And the District has recently been sending investigators to visit bars and restaurants to make sure that bartenders are pouring the proper amount of beer, wine, and liquor.

That’s right, such things can be legally enforced by the D.C. Office of Weights an Measures, which regulates, well, the weights and measures of consumer goods, like alcoholic beverages. The Washington Post reports that a group of H Street NE establishments were recently visited by the Office of Weights and Measures and told that if they didn’t start pouring the right amount of booze, they could face $2,000 fines:

Restaurant and bar owners along the H Street Corridor in Northeast Washington said they were caught off guard when investigators from the District’s Office of Weights & Measures stopped by their establishments, a case of beakers in hand, to measure beer, wine and liquor pourings on Feb. 9.

The Big Board, Granville Moore’s and Boundary Road were among the restaurants visited.

“I’ve been in this industry for 18 years, and I’ve never seen anything like this,” said one restaurant owner who spoke on the condition of anonymity so as not to provoke inspectors. “They were here for about an hour and a half measuring our drinks and pitchers.”

Helder Gil, a spokesman for the Department of Regulatory and Consumer Affairs, where the Office of Weights and Measures is housed, told the Post that the rules governing the size of drinks have been on the books for many years, even if bars and restaurants are unfamiliar with them. The site visits last week, he said, were merely educational.

Some restaurant owners feel extra-burdened now. “I guess I have to carry my measuring cup around with me now,” Kera Carpenter, who owns Domku, told the Post.

Those measuring cups, by the way, have to be registered with the District, too. Bartenders who use unregistered jiggers or other measuring devices can receive fines of $2,000.