As far as I'm aware, the priority is guest service, period. There are no exceptions. My ETL-Log was ripped a new one by the GVP because she caught him walking by guests instead of greeting them.
What's more beneficial to the store? Having three of the highest paid employees walking around, chatting about random things, or having three of the lowest paid employees working through tasks to make sure their area is clean at the end of the day?
In my mind, it's the latter. Yet the latter is seemingly less important than the former. Both, however, take a back seat to guest service according to our GVP.