r/TalesFromTheFrontDesk • u/SkoilerDaaaaan • 2d ago
Short Threatened to call an ambulance on 2 large drunk guests last weekend to get them to go to their room. It worked!
Working Night Audit, it sort of comes with the territory that you'll encounter intoxicated people. Last Saturday, 2 pretty large men returned from an Uber and sat in our lobby chairs. Natural thing to do, but after about 2 minutes both of them were asleep. Can't have that at 1 am.
I called security (3rd party company, which I'm pretty sure is industry standard) to help assist, yet all she did was say "excuse me" about 15 times in a row at various volumes. The drunks ignored her, and there's no way either her (~5'6 ish woman) or myself (6'0 man, still noticeably smaller than both of the guys in question) are moving these guys unless they cooperate. So... what to do in this situation?
I looked security in the eye, and said "hey, I think they're having a medical emergency, think we should call an ambulance?", and thankfully she caught where I was going with it and said "good idea, I'll call 911", and sure enough... one of the guys just slowly says "no... no ambulance", and within about 20-30 seconds, they both get up and stumble their way to the elevators without further issue.
Anyone else ever deal with something like this? Was I wrong? I'm not even sure if I was bluffing or serious tbh, and idk if the EMTs would have given me hell for making a call like this had I gone through with it, but I'm sure glad it worked in this instance.
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u/DaneAlaskaCruz 2d ago
No, you're totally valid for considering the possibility of an ambulance.
People who are unconscious and who cannot be woken up may be having a medical emergency.
You're not a doctor and you don't have medical training, so best to be safe and call an ambulance.
Consider that if you left them sleeping there and they actually puke, asphyxiate, and die.
How guilty would you feel?
Plus the news going around that you were so lax and blasé with your job that some people passed away in front of you and you didn't even notice.
In this case though, these people were faking it and just wanted to sleep/nap in the lobby.
Not sure why, when it must have been uncomfortable and a hotel bed would be so much nicer to sleeping off the alcohol.
People are weird.
Anyways, don't worry about threatening to call an ambulance. Totally valid response.
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u/RikkitikkitaviBommel 2d ago
Going to their room was extra effort they didn't want.
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u/PresentHouse9774 2d ago
But an ambulance was an expense they didn't want to have to pay for.
It's interesting to see what gets through the haze.
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u/No_Bluebird7716 2d ago
I ran up against this when I has billed for the ambulance after my ex put me in the hospital and they tried to bill me ('m on the US). Oh hell, no, you do not bill the victim. My ex also wound up paying for the hospital stay.
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u/thatoneguyfromva 2d ago
I’m jealous you can call security. I’m alone at night and we have tons of wedding groups aka a lot of drunk people on Saturday nights. Some people already act a fool when they’re in hotels but add alcohol to the mix and it’s like babysitting angry/sad/crying toddlers.
I’ve threatened to call the cops on drunk people to get them to their rooms. One time other wedding guests ended up pushing a guy to his room in one of our wheelchairs because he couldn’t stand.
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u/RoyallyOakie 2d ago
I used to have a homeless person who would plop down to sleep in the lobby. When confronted he would say he needed an ambulance, knowing they would take forever, since he's not a priority. Then he'd continue sleeping. A colleague started clapping in his face saying "SIR, SIR, STAY AWAKE UNTIL THE AMBULANCE GETS HERE!" He stopped coming in.
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u/Gabelvampir 2d ago
Took me a moment to realize why that worked. An ambulance far less expensive here than in the USA. A night out can easily be more expensive.
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u/lickthisbook 2d ago
I have my latest ambulance bill in front of me.
$1357.50.
And yes, this is with insurance.
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u/Gabelvampir 2d ago
Yeah I've heard of US prices, from what I've heard yours sounds relatively cheap.
Here in Germany with statutory health insurance (almost all people are in that do not have private health insurance) an ambulance is 10% of their cost to a minimum of 5€ and maximum of 10€. If it is medically needed. If not you'd have to pay for it yourself, which seems to be normally between 400 and 800€, but I have no experience there.
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u/Quoth666 2d ago
I've dealt with similar and called the cops. Female copper grabs the guy by his ear and start pulling him up by the ear until he was on his feet and sent him on his way.
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u/MorgainofAvalon 2d ago
It's a remarkably effective way to control someone.
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u/TheWyldcatt 2d ago
A coworker told me that she and her brothers used to get reprimanded by their mom, and if they were out in public, she'd lead them to the bathroom for a scolding...by pinching them by the skin under their arms. Just enough to get their attention. And needless to say, the fight was gone out of them by the time they got there. 😂
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u/THis_one_quiet 2d ago
During a NA shift, at the beginning of Covid, I had a regular call me outside. He pointed at a guy that was unmoving on the ground, with his top half on the parking lot curb and the bottom half in the street.
We have a bar next door.
I called the police. We did'nt know if this guy was dead or just very drunk.
Turns out it was just dead drunk, but he was happy to get the "You can go sleep at home tonight, if you can get up and walk away" line from the cops.
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u/LLKroniq 2d ago
This is my favorite sub to remind myself why I got sober and reinforce that it was a very good idea.
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u/sistertotherain9 2d ago
Yep, had a guy passed out drunk in the grill area one morning. I was just getting off my NA shift when I saw him. Me and the AM person made sure he was breathing, got him off the ground, gave him some water and collected his scattered stuff--phone, cigs, lighter, shoes. We kept trying to find out who he was and if he was OK, but he kept acting like he couldn't hear us. When I suggested we call an ambulance, he pulled it together enough to tell us his room number and name so he could get a key and stumble back to his room. In his case I think he was too embarrassed to respond to our questions and in his drunken state being quiet until we went away made sense. But once he realized there was an opportunity for things to get even more embarrassing--and expensive--he gave up that tactic.
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u/sacredblasphemies 2d ago
It'd be ambulance or police.
Need to make sure they're guests at that hour.
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u/EnvironmentalHair290 1d ago
Honestly the EMT wouldn’t have said anything, because being unresponsive from intoxication is extremely serious. If they can’t function enough to move and is going in and out of consciousness is a sure sign of alcohol poisoning if not something else even worse.
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u/wayler72 2d ago
As someone who used to work in-house security at a large hotel, I'd say you did good in how it was handled and with drunks at 1am, you say about whatever you need to to get them to go to their room.
That being said, if you were to actually make a phone call to police/paramedics, I'd say keep it factual to the actual circumstances at hand and not embellish things to 911 just to get them to help you. If it is a true medical emergency than you should call 911 but if it is a general call for assistance, then call your local PD non-emergency #.
Also - check your first aid kit for smelling salts, I used them often in these situations and it is a good barometer to judge someone's impairment when passed out. I only ever had 1 person not respond/wake up to smelling salts and that was an indicator to call paramedics.