Alcohol Effects on the Body, Impairment, and Responsible Service Techniques
How Alcohol Affects the Body
Alcohol is a depressant that impairs judgment, coordination, and reaction time before a person feels drunk. Absorption depends on body weight, food, hydration, and time; the liver metabolizes alcohol at a limited rate. Nothing speeds that rate except time. Carbonation and fasting can speed absorption; food slows it. Tolerance changes how a person behaves, not how impaired they are. Candidates should know that impairment begins at low doses, that women and smaller individuals often reach higher blood alcohol from the same number of drinks, and that combining alcohol with medication or drugs increases risk.
Standard Drink Awareness
A standard drink is roughly 12 ounces of regular beer, 5 ounces of wine, or 1.5 ounces of distilled spirits. A mixed drink may contain several standard drinks. Questions often test whether a server can estimate how much a guest has actually consumed.
Responsible Service Techniques
Offer food and water, pace service, measure pours, avoid pushing drinks, and watch the guest rather than the glass count. Use a house policy for cutting off service, and communicate with other staff. Arrange safe transportation. Never serve someone who is already impaired, and never serve a guest who is drinking from a container brought from outside.
Traps
A common trap is the belief that coffee, cold showers, or food sober someone up. They do not; they may only make an impaired person more alert and more dangerous. Another trap is assuming a guest who "holds liquor well" is safe to serve.
Rule of Thumb
Serve one drink at a time, with water available, and judge by behavior, not by counting drinks. If behavior changes, slow down or stop.