TIPS Intervention Strategies & Techniques 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A customer becomes belligerent after you refuse service. According to TIPS, your FIRST priority should be:
- Escalate immediately by threatening to call police
- Maintain your own safety and involve backup or management (Correct answer)
- Apologize and offer one more drink to calm them down
- Challenge the customer to prove they are not intoxicated
Correct answer: Maintain your own safety and involve backup or management
Personal safety always comes first, and involving management creates a safer, supported intervention environment.
Question 2: A TIPS technique for preventing over-consumption is pacing service. This means:
- Serving only one type of alcohol per visit
- Ensuring at least 15 to 20 minutes pass between each alcoholic drink served (Correct answer)
- Serving food before taking any alcohol orders
- Limiting service to two drinks per person per hour by law
Correct answer: Ensuring at least 15 to 20 minutes pass between each alcoholic drink served
Pacing service to approximately one standard drink every 20 minutes aligns with the body's metabolism rate for alcohol.
Question 3: Which behavior indicates that a verbal warning intervention is no longer sufficient and physical removal or police involvement may be necessary?
- A guest is singing loudly at the bar
- A guest spills a drink while reaching across the table
- A guest becomes physically threatening or violent toward staff or other patrons (Correct answer)
- A guest repeatedly asks for faster service
Correct answer: A guest becomes physically threatening or violent toward staff or other patrons
Physical threats or violence exceed the scope of verbal TIPS intervention and require immediate escalation to security or law enforcement.
Question 4: When using the 'broken record' technique during a refusal, a server should:
- Repeat the same calm refusal statement each time the guest pushes back (Correct answer)
- Keep changing reasons for refusal to confuse the guest
- Escalate their tone of voice with each repetition
- Apologize repeatedly while still refusing
Correct answer: Repeat the same calm refusal statement each time the guest pushes back
Consistently repeating the same calm, clear refusal prevents being drawn into an argument and reinforces the boundary.
Question 5: A friend of an intoxicated guest offers to drive them home. The TIPS-trained server should:
- Allow it since a sober driver is involved
- Verify the friend is actually sober before supporting that plan (Correct answer)
- Call a taxi regardless of the friend's condition
- Stay out of it since it is no longer your responsibility
Correct answer: Verify the friend is actually sober before supporting that plan
You should assess whether the friend is truly sober before endorsing them as a safe transportation solution.
Question 6: Which environmental intervention technique can a venue use to naturally reduce alcohol consumption without direct confrontation?
- Dimming all lights after 10 PM
- Offering free water refills, prominent food menus, and comfortable non-drinking areas (Correct answer)
- Playing fast music to increase drink turnover
- Removing all bar stools to discourage long stays
Correct answer: Offering free water refills, prominent food menus, and comfortable non-drinking areas
Creating an environment that promotes food intake and non-alcoholic options passively reduces the rate of alcohol consumption.
Question 7: According to TIPS, what is the primary purpose of documentation after a refusal of service incident?
- To collect evidence to charge the guest with a crime
- To create a record that demonstrates responsible alcohol service in case of legal liability (Correct answer)
- To report the guest to a national intoxication database
- To justify charging the guest for drinks they did not consume
Correct answer: To create a record that demonstrates responsible alcohol service in case of legal liability
Documentation protects the establishment by showing due diligence in responsible alcohol service practices.
TIPS Intervention Strategies & Techniques 3
A customer becomes belligerent after you refuse service.
According to TIPS, your FIRST priority should be: