Handling Scary Situations
By knowing how to handle these situations, you can serve responsibly and confidently without getting spooked.
If a customer is rude to other customers or employees:
An intoxicated customer may make fun of, challenge or intimidate customers and employees.
In this type of situation, be sure to make your limits clear and understandable. Stay calm, and do not be tempted to argue with the customer.
It may be necessary to walk away from someone who is acting this way. Engaging them may fuel the behavior and escalate the situation. Encourage other customers to walk away and ignore the behavior rather than arguing or retaliating.
Don't take offensive remarks personally. A person displaying this behavior will lash out at the nearest victim, regardless of their true feelings.
Depending on the customer's behavior and your establishment's policies, you may want to calmly ask the customer to leave.
If a customer becomes aggressive:
In some situations, an intoxicated customer may try to harm other guests, employees, or themselves. If verbal attempts to control the situation fail, physical intervention may be needed.
Always seek assistance with physical intervention - you'll want to contact the police or a professional trained to handle such situations (like a security guard).
If an intoxicated person attempts to drive home:
To discourage drunk driving, remember your responsible serving® skills. Refuse service to customers that are visibly intoxicated.
If it appears that an intoxicated customer is planning to drive home, offer to call a cab, a friend or family member, or ask a sober friend of the customer to drive instead. Remind the customer of the stiff penalties for driving under the influence. Focus on the law and your desire for them to get home safe.
If they won't accept a cab or a safe ride home, let them know you will need to contact law enforcement if they drive away. In these situations, it can be helpful to involve your manager or another coworker to back you up. If an intoxicated customer drives away, contact law enforcement with their license plate number and a description of the car.
Be sure to follow your establishment's policies for handling customers who are attempting to drive home when they should not.
If an intoxicated person seems ill or is losing consciousness:
They may be suffering from alcohol poisoning, which happens when someone has consumed so much alcohol that vital parts of their brain no longer functions properly. It can be very serious because breathing and heartbeat may be affected.
Symptoms of alcohol poisoning include:
- Vomiting
- Loss of bladder control
- Loss of consciousness
- Difficult to awaken
- Slow, shallow breathing
- Pale, cold, or bluish skin
- Seizures
Severe alcohol poisoning can result in death. Do not leave someone in this condition alone or allow them to "sleep off" the alcohol. Call emergency services (911) right away and tell them that you have a customer that may have alcohol poisoning.
In these and other potentially scary situations, you'll need to record everything that occurred. Immediately following the incident, write down all of the details, as well as witness names and contact information, in an incident report log. Having a detailed report of the incident may be helpful if the situation becomes a legal or criminal matter. For more information about serving responsibly, check out our state-specific Responsible Serving® of Alcohol course.
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