ServSafe Alcohol Advanced — All Questions

A guest is showing clear signs of intoxication. What is the recommended approach to stopping service?

• a.Announce loudly that the guest is cut off
• b.Calmly and respectfully stop alcohol service, offer food, water, or a non-alcoholic drink, and avoid embarrassing the guest✓
• c.Keep serving but water down the drinks without telling them
• d.Ignore it and let another server decide

Effective intervention is calm, private, and respectful: quietly stop alcohol service, offer food, water, or a non-alcoholic option, and avoid embarrassing or confronting the guest, which reduces the chance of an angry scene. Announcing the cutoff loudly can escalate the situation. Secretly watering drinks is deceptive and still leaves the guest impaired, and passing the decision off ignores the server's responsibility to act.

A supervisor can slow a guest's alcohol consumption before intervention becomes necessary by:

• a.Serving drinks faster to get the guest to leave sooner
• b.Offering free shots to regulars
• c.Pacing service, suggesting food, and offering water between rounds✓
• d.Removing all non-alcoholic options from the menu

Proactive pacing keeps guests from reaching intoxication in the first place: slow the rate of service, suggest food (which slows alcohol absorption), and offer water or non-alcoholic drinks between rounds. Serving faster, giving free shots, or removing non-alcoholic options all push consumption up and make a difficult cutoff more likely. Prevention through pacing is easier and safer than intervention after the fact.

A cut-off guest who appears intoxicated insists on driving home. What is the responsible response?

• a.Hand over the keys since it is the guest's choice
• b.Do nothing, because responsibility ends at the door
• c.Serve one more drink to calm them down
• d.Try to arrange a safe alternative — a taxi or rideshare, a sober ride, or contacting authorities if necessary✓

When an intoxicated guest intends to drive, staff should try to prevent it by arranging a safe alternative: call a taxi or rideshare, help find a sober driver, or, if the person cannot be dissuaded and public safety is at risk, contact authorities. Handing over keys or doing nothing exposes the guest, the public, and the establishment to serious harm and liability, and serving another drink only worsens impairment.