Archived Dealing with *possibly* intoxicated guests

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I had three rowdy young men at the register tonight purchasing wine - we are told never to say our suspicions outright so I said nothing to them since I had nothing (in my mind) to base my suspicions off of. Also our GSA was on lunch. Although they seemed rather coherent, one of them was seemed less "there" than the other two - he gave me his credit card instead of his ID, and cancelled his payment by mistake (this happens to many sober people all the time). One of the other two seemed a little red.

What should I have done?
 
If you suspect the guest may be intoxicated, use the HELP button to call the GSTL over (if the GSTL/GSA is on break/lunch, whoever is watching the lanes should get the alert). Don't use your flasher; that would draw attention.
 
You know, I just realized, that that was all the training I ever got for that situation, that we are supposed to call the GSA/GSTL. So, my question is, what do I do about it as the GSA?
 
You know, I just realized, that that was all the training I ever got for that situation, that we are supposed to call the GSA/GSTL. So, my question is, what do I do about it as the GSA?

If you are in a state where Target sells booze do you have to take the same course that we did when worked in restaurants that sold booze?
We had a test on what you do to cut people off when they had too much because you can get sued if you sell them booze and they are already drunk.
 
As a GSA who has dealt with this many times, it's a situation that depends on the individuals involved. We have a bar in the same shopping center, so this is a frequent occurrence.

If the guest is buzzed and not causing a problem we simply pay close attention to them until they are off the property in which case they are no longer our problem.

If the guest is either drunk to where we have concerns about him/her or belligerent I usually step away from a moment(just out of earshot) and call either AP or the LOD. That person will usually escort them out of the building and if that person attempts to drive they will call the police.
 
You know, I just realized, that that was all the training I ever got for that situation, that we are supposed to call the GSA/GSTL. So, my question is, what do I do about it as the GSA?

If you are in a state where Target sells booze do you have to take the same course that we did when worked in restaurants that sold booze?
We had a test on what you do to cut people off when they had too much because you can get sued if you sell them booze and they are already drunk.
I didn't have to take any such quiz, but I would suspect the LODs did.
 
As a GSA who has dealt with this many times, it's a situation that depends on the individuals involved. We have a bar in the same shopping center, so this is a frequent occurrence.

If the guest is buzzed and not causing a problem we simply pay close attention to them until they are off the property in which case they are no longer our problem.

If the guest is either drunk to where we have concerns about him/her or belligerent I usually step away from a moment(just out of earshot) and call either AP or the LOD. That person will usually escort them out of the building and if that person attempts to drive they will call the police.
Actually, I think it is your problem if you sold them more alcohol.
 
Oh god, we would never sell them any more alcohol.

Our store actually just started carrying alcohol last year after our PFresh remodel and our sales are pretty weak when it comes to that. I didn't even think of selling them alcohol because the overwhelming majority of our drunk guests just wander over from the bar/restaurant two spots down from us.
 
Well, the topic was regarding selling them more alcohol and how to handle turning them away, so I wasn't sure how you were referring to that. Good to know you aren't selling them more!
 
S'all good! It's late, I worked a 12 1/2 hour day, and Lord knows I'm not tracking things well, either.
 
I have seen a few drunk guest since I have been a Target,but never while operating a register. I cannot stand talking to someone that is intoxicated so I dont even try. I just called the LOD,or AP and when they came I left.
 
we had a drunk guy in our store one night and he was being very racist and harassing a bunch of different team members. i talked to my stl i was closing with and he said "dont worry about it unless hes bothering someone" i was like uh yeah hes bothering everyone and making everybody uncomfortable.. he didn't do anything so i just played defense if he approached a tm i went to the tm and pretended to send them someplace else so he kept bothering me mostly. we also have drunk people who think they need to redecorate their house at closing thats always fun but we just try to hurry them along. we dont sell booze so i dont know what you should do besides not sell them more alcohol.
 
That's one of the fun things of being open on Black Thursday right after Thanksgiving dinner...you get all the drunk guests in line, in the store, fighting over cheap, chinese-made crap...Would be nice to open on Friday instead...get that alcohol out of the system...
 
This was when I was working as a bank teller in upstate Indiana before we moved South: The branch I worked in was in a particularly seedy part of town and right down the street from a hotel that catered to drunks and other types. One morning our servers went down so we could not access any accounts. We had this one guy that would come in right at open and want his balance. Well, I had a heck of time getting thru to him that I was not able to give him his balance because our computers were down. He kept leaning closer and closer until I guess some part of his brain started functioning and it clicked. I swear I had a buzz just from his breath alone.
 
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You are to never confront or accuse guests of drinking or being intoxicated. If they become a safety issue or start harrasing TMs/other guests, you are to contact the LOD and store AP ASAP.

If you have suspicions about a guest, you can call AP to keep an eye on them.

I have had guests come to the lanes just smelling like alcohol or just acting drunken obnoxious, I tend to ignore them as along as they were leaving. But if I noticed them walking into the store or bothering other people, I would call AP.
 
My mom used to work at Walmart and she had a guest that she didn't like the way she was acting (not alcohol related, more like the way she was being a mother). The guest had one of those plastic alcoholic drink cups and my mom asked her if she was drinking alcohol. I think she got coached.
 
We had a drunk guest hit a CAF with an electric cart. It was all canned goods and they went rolling everywhere. I think the ETL and AP just called him a cab.

We had another drunk guest who started to panic because he couldn't find his daughter. We had a code yellow for a good 15 minutes, we searched everywhere. The guest went out of sight, so were searching for the guest and the daughter. I suddenly realize that I saw him come inside the store by himself. I tell AP and yeah there was no daughter.
 
You know, I just realized, that that was all the training I ever got for that situation, that we are supposed to call the GSA/GSTL. So, my question is, what do I do about it as the GSA?

Determine for yourself whether you think any of the guest(s) are intoxicated (also if ANY are underage, not just the one purchasing).

If you deem any of them intoxicated, deny the sale.. If they complain, call for LOD/AP.

If they make the purchase, leave, and someone gets hit for Drunk Driving they can trace it back to Target. If it was clear that they were intoxicated and were able to make the purchase anyway, cashier/GSTL could get in trouble.

I'd say this is one of those situations where its okay to upset the Guest, because this is getting out of the realm of Target policy and into LAW... Don't accuse them, but don't be afraid of upsetting them by denying the sale.

Fortunately I was never presented with the situation of having to deal with intoxicated guests (purchasing alcohol anyway)... That or the cashiers never called me over.

TO CASHIERS: If you think they MIGHT be intoxicated, hit your HELP button to call GSTL/GSA (guest waiting).. Just tell your GSTL/GSA that you need help completing the sale and they should get the Hint (hopefully). At any rate the responsibility no longer rests with you.
 
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