The Former Guest in the Ninth-Floor Hallway
At 02:15 you are the sole guard on the lobby desk of a 320-unit resort tower. A call sends you to the ninth floor, where a man is sitting on the carpet outside unit 912. He is shirtless, breathing normally, and slurring his words. He has a two-inch cut on his left forearm that is still bleeding, and he says he does not know how he got it. Front office records show he checked out at 11:00 the previous morning and his room key was deactivated at that time; he says his flight was cancelled and that he 'already paid for this room.' He refuses to get up. A family with two children is asleep in 912 across the hall. Post orders say a front office manager must authorize removal of a registered guest, and that guest services handles evictions. The front office manager's phone goes to voicemail; guest services is closed. The tower has a single elevator lobby with no camera.
1. Classify this person's status and explain what authority you actually have at 02:15.
Read the worked answer
He is a former guest, not a guest: checkout occurred 15 hours ago and the key was deactivated then. On private property his authority to remain has expired, which makes him unauthorized - but that classification does not hand you a tool. A private guard's coercive power is limited to what any citizen may lawfully do, and your post orders reserve removal decisions to a front office manager and evictions to guest services, neither of whom is reachable. So your authority right now is to observe, render aid, and call police, not to physically eject a bleeding, intoxicated man from a ninth-floor hallway at 02:15 with an audience of sleeping children. Say the classification out loud in your log so the morning shift sees the reasoning, not just the outcome.
2. What are your first priorities in the next ten minutes, in order?
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Medical first, because the slurring may be intoxication, a head injury, or a medical event and a guard cannot tell them apart. Ask two questions - do you know where you are, did you hit your head - then call EMS for the active bleed plus altered mental status. Put on gloves and apply pressure with the trauma kit; do not use a tourniquet on a forearm laceration that pressure controls. Keep distance and stay between him and the stairwell, not between him and the elevator. Then reduce exposure: wake 912 by phone, explain a man is in the hallway, and offer to move the family if they prefer. Simultaneously call the on-call manager and the police non-emergency line. Wakefulness and a clear verbal explanation to the adjacent room are the outcomes that matter most.
3. He stands up, swears at you, and walks toward the elevator. What do you do, and what do you not do?
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Escort, do not restrain. If he is leaving under his own power, that resolves the trespass question without force, which is the best available outcome. Keep 10 to 15 feet, stay out of his path, and tell him calmly that he is welcome to wait in the lobby if he prefers. Do not grab his arm, do not stand in front of the elevator doors to block travel, and do not handcuff - a bleeding, intoxicated man who is walking away is not a threat you need to control, and hands-on here risks an injury and a use-of-force complaint with no camera on the floor. If he becomes violent or collapses, back off and call 911. Log the time he left, the direction, and every instruction you gave, and email the front office manager before end of shift.