Identifying Intoxication and Impairment Indicators
Intoxication questions ask you to observe, not to diagnose. The exam describes a patron and expects you to weigh the evidence as a whole: one loud laugh proves nothing, but a cluster of physical, behavioural and drinking-pattern signs does.
Physical signs
Flushed or pale face, bloodshot or glassy eyes, pupils unusually large or small, slurred or thick speech, fumbling with money, phone or cutlery, spilling drinks, swaying while standing, an unsteady walk, bracing on furniture, drowsiness, nodding off, vomiting.
Behavioural signs
Mood swings, sudden irritability or aggression, overly friendly or touching behaviour, sexual comments, repeating the same story, confusion about the bill, forgetting an order placed minutes earlier, volume that rises over the evening, argumentativeness, crying, or a patron who suddenly goes quiet and withdrawn.
Drinking-pattern signs
Ordering doubles or shots, drinking faster than the table, buying rounds, switching to stronger drinks late in the night, drinking on an empty stomach, mixing alcohol with cannabis or medication, hiding drinks, or a friend quietly ordering for someone who has had too much.
Impairment is not only alcohol
Cannabis, opioids, stimulants, sedatives and some prescription medicines all produce impairment, and fatigue or a medical condition can mimic it. Your duty is not to serve anyone who appears intoxicated by any substance. Standard-drink facts help you pace service: in Canada a standard drink is 13.6 g of alcohol - 341 mL of 5% beer, 142 mL of 12% wine, or 43 mL of 40% spirits. The liver clears roughly one standard drink per hour, and nothing - coffee, food, a cold shower, fresh air - speeds that up. Food and water slow absorption; they do not sober anyone.
Worked example
Over 40 minutes a woman at a table becomes louder, repeats the same story to three different people and knocks over a glass while gesturing. She is still sitting upright and speaking clearly. Individually the signs are ambiguous; together they show a trajectory. The correct move is to stop alcohol service now, offer water and food, tell the manager and keep watching - not to wait for her to stagger, because by then she may be past the point of a safe departure and the next drink will be on your record.
Traps that cost marks
- Waiting for a dramatic sign such as falling or vomiting; the legal duty bites much earlier.
- Treating a single trait - loud, quiet, sleepy, talkative - as proof either way.
- Assuming a patron with a disability or a speech difference is intoxicated; check the other signs and ask.
- Believing coffee, food or a walk outside “sobers someone up.”