I’ve never been much of a drinker. My underage teenage drinking period was brief but intense. Back then, I thought one drank to get drunk. I did that in spades until I realized my friends didn’t like being around me in that condition. So I quit.
Since then I’ve averaged slightly less than one drinking occasion a year. As a legal adult, I’ve actually bought alcohol on my own maybe three or four times. The result is that I’m on the verge of my 51st birthday and buying booze still seems like a naughty thing to do.
My worst recent experience with alcohol was earlier this summer. I was making a grocery run on a Sunday afternoon. Completely forgot about local blue laws and put some beer in my cart. Going through the checkout line, I got the cashier that looks like Tweety Bird’s caretaker–very grandmotherly, white hair in a prim and proper bun kinda person. She saw me put the beer on the counter and gave me a scolding for trying to by beer on Sunday. :o
I feel that way about smoking. I’ve started and quit 3 times now, and every once in a while I get the furtive sneaky feeling, then I realize I’m a grown up and it’s legal. (currently non-smoker again yay!)
You are the anti-me. The local Bevmo calls me if we haven’t been in for a week or so, just to see if we’re ok. Worried about their quarterly profit statement, I guess.
Awesome. The employees at our liquor store know us too. It is common for bartenders to remember the names and drink orders of regular customers, but the guys at the liquor store? They have tip top memories, or I’ve acquired a bit of a habit.
Worst recognition: When a pit-boss at Bill’s in Vegas remembered me from his old job at the Imperial Palace. I’m hoping it was because of the shirts. :o
I’d imagine it’d be easier for store employees to remember you. Bars are loud, busy, and dark. Stores are bright, fairly calm, and fairly quiet. Even more so for a little corner store/bodega.
And yes, the local bartenders do ask me “where’ve you been?” after a week or so.
Heheh! My local BevMo people groan when I walk in the door because I go in for a keg about once a month or so (buying 12 packs got too expensive) and they all hate doing kegs.
Neither of us adults drinks much - mostly wine with holiday dinners. So the kids are not used to seeing us partake.
About a year back, Typo Knig had been given a 6-pack of beer, and decided on a whim to have one with dinner, out of the blue.
Dweezil viewed this with disapproval, and spent most of the meal muttering about his father being an alcoholic.
I think we’ve finally convinced him that one beer a month is an unlikely path to alcoholism.
Back to the OP, I don’t mind buying alcohol, even though it’s a rare enough thing. The time I had the kids with me when I bought a bottle of scotch (a gift for someone) at the ABC store was a tad odd, though.
Ha, Mama Zappa, that used to be me and my younger brother! I remember being out with my parents for dinner when we were starting high school. My dad had a few sips of my mom’s beer, and I asked him afterwards if he was sure he was okay to drive.
In July, the first dude and I went on vacation for one week. When we came back to the bar, “We’ve missed you!” You’d think they almost went out of business or somethin’.
My father’s tobacconist congratulated him on cutting back down to normal (still high) levels after a couple years when he seemed to be trying to smoke the world’s reserves all on his lonesome…
He got home and told us “you know, when the tobacconist is starting to worry about your health, you probably are smoking too much.”
My husband and I are recognized by the owners of a liquor store a few hundred miles away; we only go there once or twice a year when we’re visiting my hometown. They say hi, we chat about beer, they ask about what we thought of a special bottle or two that we got there previously, etc.
Either the owners are awesome at recognizing people, or we’re just the biggest beer geeks they’ve met. :smack:
I’m curious - I seem to come across this attitude in American TV shows etc too, that drinking alcohol = partying, getting drunk, breaking the rules, etc.
I and most people I know have a glass or two of wine or maybe a beer with dinner most days, and don’t give it a second thought. Is that unusual in the US?
I think this comes mainly from people who don’t drink. Most people I know don’t lose our pants and get arrested after a few. We go to the bar, talk with our friends, then we go home. Nothing to get crazy about.
Young kids usually act like idiots when they’re drunk, though.
Please, oh please, do not confuse American TV shows (especially “reality” shows) with real life in America.
We absolutely, definitely have people who drink to get drunk; people who don’t even like the taste of what they’re drinking; people who have contests to see who can drink the most disgusting shots.
We also absolutely have people (and I’m one of them) who drink alcoholic beverages because we enjoy the taste and because having a couple of drinks can be relaxing. Personally, I dislike the feeling of being drunk, and I hate the feeling of drinking enough to get sick (I still do it about once a decade, but that’s another story), but I do like a good beer, wine, mead, tequila, or whatever.
