For those of you that DON'T DRINK

I cancelled the Xmas party because of the liability years ago.

I sell to guys who don't do lunch much. Mostly by catalog. But, my salesguys sometimes have a drink or two and it doesn't bother them that I don't join in, AS LONG AS I'M BUYING.

I am the President. Far as I know, he doesn't object.

Nobody has ever given me a hard time about it, and I haven't had anything to drink in like 15 years or more. A couple of times It's been suggested that I have champagne for a toast or whatever, I just politely decline the offer and toast with my soda, or water, or whatever is around.

If it bothers those around you, look at those around you. Might be time to re-align their thinking, or yours, about the quality of their friendship if they can't accept the fact that you don't drink.

Dave

 

WHEN YOUR MARRIED, NO SUCH THING.................

 

NAH. We use completely legal synthetic products.

DM

 

I would love to answer these questions for you. First, I am 24 and just finished my MS at FSU. So, according to society, I am young and just getting out of that time when I'm supposed to get wasted and party till the sun comes up. Well, not me. My dad is a Baptist minister and I grew up in a house where alcohol was not around. My grandfather used to have a glass of wine with dinner every night, but that was it. I follow the same in that every now and then I may have a glass of wine with dinner, which would be a few times a year, and only one glass for taste. This stuck with me for the rest of my life. To directly answer your questions:

1. I don't care what everybody else is doing. People I work with and people who know me socially know I don't drink.

2. When I was an assistant buyer for Office Depot Corporate, I had many clients take me out to dinner and lunch. I always declined and got a water or a Coke.

3. Not interested in what the President of the company thinks when it comes to me drinking. If that becomes an issue then I have no desire to work for this person. My personal preferences should have no outcome on job performance or review.

4. I never feel pressured at all. I'm not the one who has the problem with it.

I look at it this way. To me, it shows a level fo self control along with self confidence. Most people use alcohol to "have a good time" which means loosen up and be comfortable within their own skin. I don't need that. I'm perfectly fine with who I am. I also see it as being able to control myself. Sort of like how Trump doesn't like smokers. Make sense? I'll be happy to discuss this further if you have mroe questions. Plus I have a lot more to add, but I have to run to a meeting.

Also, I remember what stupid things people do. It's great blackmail!

 

No problem - usually I'm by myself.

 

A few years back I was dating this girl who drank quite a bit. I told her I didn't like it, so she told me she would cut down on it. Well one fine evening when I had made plans for her she was nowhere to be found. I called her and got no response, called her brother and he didn't know. So I sat and waited, she came back smashed out of her mind. She found herself out of a relationship very fast.

I think if you are married then you are probably with someone who shares the same value system. If your s/o drinks like a Hummer then you got bigger issues. I am sure if he/she shared the same value system they really wouldn't care if you didn't raise a glass of alcohol in toast on a special day. I am also sure he/she would be more than happy to raise a glass or water, Coke or whatever instead.

 

Just tell them alcohol does not mix well with the Viagra you just took

 

I have a drink when I want one and I don't have a drinking problem.

 

AA is for quitters!

C.

 

I'm still working through my 12 steps on that particular subject.. right now I'm just past "Denial".

C.

 

don't you mean Denali?

 

Probably better than buying an Aviator.

C.

 

Maybe in a different decade.

 

ZING...!!!

 

Come on now.....don't hate...Aviate!

 

Denali = GM Truck w/pleather.

Aviator = Tarted up Ford Exploder.

Don't know which is worse...

C.

 

Nope. More than that!

 

LMAO...!!! That's even worse that you're trying to defend it...!

 

drinking has always been a positive thing for me, the last few months i haven't done much at all for various reasons, but overall i've been what you'd call a heavy drinker. i love drinking when i go out, and usually the idea is for us to get drunk and have fun, and that's what usually happens. to that end, i dislike having sober friends hanging around as it's obvious they are not enjoying themselves as much, and then the next day they always seem to recount the previous night in excruciating detail, whereas half the joy of a fun memory is that vague feeling of having enjoyed yourself, not the specifics therein.

nothing against non-drinkers as such, but in those situations where i'm specifically out to get drunk, sober people are annoying... i've been the sober guy plenty of times through various circumstances, i'd rather avoid the situation where drunk is the default (as i do) than be conspicuously sober.

as for being affected professionally, i doubt that would be an issue, whenever i've not wanted to drink it's been easy to decline. in an office environment, i've found that being a non-smoker is actually a bigger thing, because the bosses/managers are usually old-school smokers and go downstairs every 15 minutes for a ***, and at meetings you hear about new policies and staff movements that appear to have been agreed upon during smoke breaks.

but then it occurred to me that these people also scramble against a horde of humanity to get in the office at 9 and leave at 5 and are hanging around b!tching everyday waiting 3 years for a $2k pay rise, so it doesn't bother me what the hell they do.

 

Yes it will. So will drinking responsibly and with reservation. I prefer to go out and have a drink or two. It's always more fun to look at the drunkards making asses out of themselves, than to be the drunk one making an ass out of yourself.

There are certain situations I feel you should not drink, period. I get really furious at my friends who drink and drive or drive pretty intoxicated. A drink is not worth ruining your life or someone elses.

 

I've never drank and it's never been a problem for me. I was a member of the hardest partying fraternity at one of US News and World Report's "Top 10 Party Colleges," I went out with friends that partied like rock stars (or more accurately, porn stars) and have conducted business over drinks or dinners with drinks and have never felt the need to order/hold/nurse an alcoholic beverage (or imitation, like ODouls, etc.). At my wedding, I threw the champagne out of my glass and toasted my wife with tap water. It's never made a single difference to me*.

I guess the one thing that's probably a little different is that I don't feel any make any excuses or, inversely, openly state that I don't drink unless I'm directly asked. I simply never order a drink. It's not anyone's business why I do or do not drink that I need to state it but if they ask, I tell them. I don't want anyone to feel that I make a judgement about them because they drink, because I don't and unfortunately, when you often state the fact that you don't drink, people take it that way.

* I suppose the one time that I was treated differently is when I was a freshman in college and during part of my fraternal initiation, I was pressured to drink. I was duct taped to a chair and was told that I would not be untaped/let go unless I had a shot of vodka. No one forced it down my throat or tried to pour it in my mouth. They just set on the table in front of me and said the choice was mine. I simply said that I wouldn't and 5 senior members sat there for three hours trying to get to do it. But I just refused and they eventually got bored and left the room, at which point I pulled out the key chain Swiss Army knife I hid in my hand, cut myself loose, and ran the mile and a half back to my dorm barefoot through the snow (they had taken my shoes and socks earlier). In retrospect, that's the only time I was treated differently, but it really didn't bother me at the time or now.

 

Pretty much dittos for me...but once in a great while, you get some ass, who asks 20 questions..."why don't you drink?", "some religious thing?", "you think you are better than the rest of us?"...they usually are already pretty buzzed, of course. I chose not to drink for no other particular reason, than it does nothing for me.

Funny experiment...for a few months, whenever someone would ask me why I didn't drink, I would tell them I was an alcoholic. Interestingly enough, people (who didn't know me) would immediately nod their head, and shut up. Basically like they had more respect for me being an alcoholic who was dealing with his problem, than someone who chooses not to drink. Strange...

 

I worked for a guy who quit drinking. He always said everyone is alloted X amount of alcohol over a lifetime. He just used all of his up in the first 35 years.