Conflict and Difficult Customers in Hospitality

A table has waited too long for its food. A customer wants one more drink and you have to say no. A caller is shouting about a booking. It is closing time and one person will not leave. Moments like these happen in every pub, bar, restaurant, café and hotel. This course is a short, plain-English guide to what to say, what to do and who to tell.

Who this course is for

• Front of house, bar, door, cleaning and closing staff in pubs, bars, restaurants, cafés and hotels
• People who deal with customers face to face, by phone or online
• Agency, part-time and new staff, with no experience needed
• Employers who want a short course on difficult customers for their teams

What you’ll learn

• Where the lines are: a difficult customer, and abuse or threats, using HSE’s description of work-related violence
• Complaints that escalate: listening, saying what you can and cannot do, and handing over to your manager
• What the Licensing Act 2003 asks of staff in England and Wales, refusing service calmly and asking people to leave
• Aggression and threats: HSE’s steps (calm, divert, emergency procedure), and when to call 999 or 101
• Closing time, cash and working alone: the risks, and check-ins and alarms
• Reporting and recording incidents, telling the police, and support afterwards

How it works

Six lessons, each split into short topics with a “Remember” box at the end. Every lesson finishes with its own assessment of 10 questions drawn at random from its question bank, so no two attempts are the same. The course ends with a final exam of 20 questions drawn from a bank of more than 40 covering everything. The pass mark is 80% and you get three attempts at each assessment. Finish the course and your certificate, with your name and a reference anyone can check, is issued to My Account → Certificates.

12 months’ access · any device · certificate the moment you pass

Worth being clear about: this is a short course for people who work with customers. It is not a qualification, it is not Personal Licence training, and it does not teach self-defence, restraint or physical intervention. It does not replace your employer’s own procedures, training, alarms and emergency plan, and it gives no legal advice. The safety advice covers Great Britain; the licensing lesson covers England and Wales, and Scotland has its own licensing law.

Course content

• Before you startLesson
• Difficult, angry or abusive: where the lines areLesson
• Difficult is not abusiveTopic
• What sets people offTopic
• Abuse is not part of the jobTopic
• Your employer’s duties, and yoursTopic
• Warning signsTopic
• Scenario: A quiet TuesdayTopic
• 🎮 Practice: Difficult or abusive?Topic
• Lesson Assessment: Difficult, angry or abusive: where the lines areQuiz
• Complaints that escalateLesson
• From complaint to confrontationTopic
• Saying what you can and cannot doTopic
• Listening without arguingTopic
• “I’ll check with my manager”Topic
• When it comes by phone or onlineTopic
• When it has stopped being a complaintTopic
• Scenario: A birthday mealTopic
• 🎮 Practice: When a complaint heats upTopic
• Lesson Assessment: Complaints that escalateQuiz
• Drunk customers, refusing service and asking people to leaveLesson
• What the law asks of youTopic
• Disorderly conductTopic
• Refusing service calmlyTopic
• Asking someone to leaveTopic
• Staying safe, and telling the managerTopic
• Scenario: Last ordersTopic
• 🎮 Practice: Refusing serviceTopic
• Lesson Assessment: Drunk customers, refusing service and asking people to leaveQuiz
• Aggression, threats and getting helpLesson
• Stop, step back, get helpTopic
• Your team and your workplaceTopic
• When to call 999, and when 101Topic
• What this course does not teachTopic
• People who come backTopic
• Scenario: He’s backTopic
• 🎮 Practice: 999 or 101?Topic
• Lesson Assessment: Aggression, threats and getting helpQuiz
• Closing time, cash and working aloneLesson
• Closing timeTopic
• Cash and valuablesTopic
• Working alone: what it is and what your employer must doTopic
• Check-ins, alarms and emergency numbersTopic
• If you are worriedTopic
• Scenario: Last on shiftTopic
• 🎮 Practice: Working aloneTopic
• Lesson Assessment: Closing time, cash and working aloneQuiz
• Reporting, recording and after an incidentLesson
• Why people do not report, and why you shouldTopic
• Recording what happenedTopic
• What your employer must report and keepTopic
• Telling the policeTopic
• Support after an incidentTopic
• Learning from it, and your next shiftTopic
• Scenario: The morning afterTopic
• 🎮 Practice: After an incidentTopic
• Lesson Assessment: Reporting, recording and after an incidentQuiz
• Course summaryLesson
• Final examQuiz