Drunk mom driving...what could she do?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I called work last night to see how the day went after I left, and my coworker told me about a problem she’d had with a customer. After we take an order, the customer comes back in an hour to pick up their item. My coworker hadn’t waited on the woman originally, but dealt with her when she came back to pick-up, 20 minutes after she had left. Of course the item wasn’t ready yet. The woman got a little mouthy, and my coworker realized she was very drunk. She also had an eight-year-old child with her. She left the store, and the crew set about finishing up her order.

The customer came back later, still alone with the child, and even drunker than when she was first there a half-hour before. Now we work in a mall, but there is a restaurant with a bar just down the hall. She was slurring her words, and unsteady on her feet. She left with her gift, and it was at this point that my coworker realized that there was a good possibility she was driving.

Now we’re in the middle of the mall, so she couldn’t look out a window and see if the woman got in a car. And she didn’t know which way the woman went, so even calling mall security was futile. She was so worried about the situation, but had no idea if there was anything she could have done. We have the customer’s name, address and phone number, but that wouldn’t help in preventing her from driving home. But my coworker was very upset about the situation, and wanted to know what she could/should have done to protect the child and the rest of the driving public.

Any ideas? Remember, she had just left the store when my coworker realized what was going on. Would alerting the local police have been any help at all? Or is this just one of those situations where you can’t do anything? That’s what I think, but my coworker is sure she should have done something.

2

Your story says a co-worker realized she was drunk the first time she came back, but before she came back to pick up her finished order. That’s the point at which I would have called mall security. “Hi, Matt? We’ve got a drunk customer who’s due back here in half an hour. Can you send someone over to make sure she’s not driving home?” Easy as pie. Perhaps she had a ride, perhaps she was taking the bus. But perhaps she wasn’t. Either way, it’s not your job, nor is it safe for you or your co-worker to intervene directly. It is ethical, however, for you to notify security.

What if no one had noticed until the customer left for the final time? If there were two people working, as seems to be the case in your OP, I’d say to my co-worker, “Hang on here, I’ll be right back.” and then I’d discretely follow the lady, phoning securtiy on my cell phone and telling them where we were, if I didn’t see a security guy along the way.

If I was working alone? (Never a good idea around the holidays.) I’d ask her if she needed me to call a cab for her or if she was taking the bus. No matter what her answer, you’ve slowed her down a bit, and call security becomes the answer again.