Cracked co-worker

Balanadan

kowloon wrote: »

Knew a guy who had a bottle of wine to himself and maybe a few cans every evening. He had a pretty good job and seemed to cope fine, but I'm not sure how long you can keep that up.

It does some amount of damage in the long term.

Utter Consternation

KikiLaRue wrote: »

People who get defensive or uncomfortable around non-drinkers are often problem drinkers themselves.

Yes, as if there has to be something wrong with you if you choose not to drink on a night out. It's a bizarre reaction.

KikiLaRue

Utter Consternation wrote: »

Yes, as if there has to be something wrong with you if you choose not to drink on a night out. It's a bizarre reaction.

It is indeed bizarre, but all too common in Ireland.

I find it's usually a sign of a lack of confidence if a guy on a dating app has an issue with the fact that I won't be drinking. Some of them have even articulated what they're thinking "How am I going to get you into bed if you haven't had a few?"

Confident, outgoing men tend to believe they can charm me either way!

weldoninhio

Balanadan wrote: »

It does some amount of damage in the long term.

Not everyone has a long term. My best mate died of cancer when we were 18, he'd had it from the age of 7.

I've another friend who had a heart attack last year. Drinks rarely, maybe 5 times a year, plays football once a week, goes to the gym. Now has stents and is only mid-thirties. Luckily he was on holidays in Spain when it happened and he was close to a hospital, if it had happened in Ireland he wouldn't have made it to hospital in time.

I drink quite a bit at the weekends, have a fairly sedentary job and don't exercise very much. I enjoy going out most weekends, seeing live music, having the craic and if I was on my deathbed tomorrow (hopefully not, I'm going to Wroclaw on Friday for E2 pints) I wouldn't be thinking "I wish I had more memories of sitting in at weekends or going on runs around the local pitch, I'd be looking back at the holidays, weddings, parties, concerts and sessions that I had great craic at with great friends and family.

EmmetSpiceland

I’d enjoy going for a couple of pints after work but if I’m going out for an event or to meet mates and I’m going to be going from home I would consider anything less than six pints a waste of money.

If I’m going out I want to enjoy myself and if everyone packs up after four pints, just as I’d be getting started, I’d be incredibly pissed off. We could have just had a group Skype if everyone only wanted “a chat”.

KikiLaRue

EmmetSpiceland wrote: »

I’d enjoy going for a couple of pints after work but if I’m going out for an event or to meet mates and I’m going to be going from home I would consider anything less than six pints a waste of money.

If I’m going out I want to enjoy myself and if everyone packs up after four pints, just as I’d be getting started, I’d be incredibly pissed off. We could have just had a group Skype if everyone only wanted “a chat”.

Yeah, I think there's a big difference there. If I spent ages getting ready doing hair and make up for a Saturday night out and we were all going home after 90 minutes I'd be very confused.

KikiLaRue

KikiLaRue wrote: »

My friends have no issue with it at all, they'd have proper sessions when it's called for (a wedding, most recently) and we'd be there til dawn. None of them would consider six pints on a week evening with dinner normal.

People who get defensive or uncomfortable around non-drinkers are often problem drinkers themselves.

people who like to tacitly label others based on projection and very little information are often miserable company

DEFTLEFTHAND

Balanadan wrote: »

It does some amount of damage in the long term.

In some ways you're probably better off. Who wants to be 90 anyway.

I could never understand this desire to live 'forever'.

SEPT 23 1989

KikiLaRue wrote: »

Yeah, most people don't do that. Certainly not regularly. Almost never if you've got kids.

Also, you either eat incredibly slowly or drink incredibly fast if you can get three pints down you while you're eating dinner.

you would feel the effects of a heavy carvery more than the pints

completedit

It's all bollix man. Most of the negativity surrounding alcohol is perpetuated by the puritan minded Americans. It's not that bad. When you start to make something out to be this big taboo, you end up with a destructive drinking culture. It's absolutely fine and even getting ****faced every so often is okay (depends on the person ofc)

For reference, think of the typical American bar and your typical Irish pub. They're very different places. One is lonely, depressing and a place where dreams die(think of Moe's) while the other is a lively hub full of craoi agus craic.

KikiLaRue

Deleted User wrote: »

people who like to tacitly label others based on projection and very little information are often miserable company

A little irony there is there

Whatever about your own alcohol consumption, which is your own business, if you need everyone around you to be as drunk as you are in order to enjoy yourself, that's indicative of a problem.

Feel free to lob insults, it's taken 30 years but I'm very comfortable in my skin.

KikiLaRue

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

you would feel the effects of a heavy carvery more than the pints

That reminds me of when I'd go out all night drinking vodka and coke, wake up in the morning and say "jesus I feel awful, that's too much coke to drink in one night"

pq0n1ct4ve8zf5

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

In some ways you're probably better off. Who wants to be 90 anyway.

I could never understand this desire to live 'forever'.

Not so much wanting to live forever as wanting the bit at the end not to be excruciating and the bit leading up not to be increasingly unpleasant.

I love me a drink, the taste of it, the social aspect, the drunkenness. Some weeks I probably go through six-eight bottles of wine, some nights I'd easily go through 8 pints and I'm a pretty scrawny lady.

However the fact that I'm capable of drinking that much, enjoy drinking that much, and live in a society where plenty of people drink as much or more doesn't change the long-established medical facts that drinking that much is bad for me.

I'm 30 now and those 8 bottle weeks and 8 pint nights are getting fewer and further between, partly because I'm getting more health conscious, partly because I'm busier and mostly because I just can't be bothered. I've been drinking for 15 years, there are only so many new experiences it can provide. A good auld session for a birthday or wedding or just every once in a while when the stars happen to align right and one breaks out unplanned is great, spending every weekend having the exact same version of the craic and then spending Sunday groggy and cranky, eh not really.

I have an extended family that's split pretty evenly between heavy drinkers and never drinkers on both sides. My parents, aunts and uncles are mostly in their 50s and 60s now and there's an immediately apparent difference between the health, appearance, quality of life and even mood/temperament of each group. Guess which way it falls?

pq0n1ct4ve8zf5

KikiLaRue wrote: »

That reminds me of when I'd go out all night drinking vodka and coke, wake up in the morning and say "jesus I feel awful, that's too much coke to drink in one night"

I feel terrible, somebody just have spiked that tenth pint I had!

dundalkfc10

Elaina Prehistoric Transparency wrote: »

Not so much wanting to live forever as wanting the bit at the end not to be excruciating and the bit leading up not to be increasingly unpleasant.

I love me a drink, the taste of it, the social aspect, the drunkenness. Some weeks I probably go through six-eight bottles of wine, some nights I'd easily go through 8 pints and I'm a pretty scrawny lady.

However the fact that I'm capable of drinking that much, enjoy drinking that much, and live in a society where plenty of people drink as much or more doesn't change the long-established medical facts that drinking that much is bad for me.

I'm 30 now and those 8 bottle weeks and 8 pint nights are getting fewer and further between, partly because I'm getting more health conscious, partly because I'm busier and mostly because I just can't be bothered. I've been drinking for 15 years, there are only so many new experiences it can provide. A good auld session for a birthday or wedding or just every once in a while when the stars happen to align right and one breaks out unplanned is great, spending every weekend having the exact same version of the craic and then spending Sunday groggy and cranky, eh not really.

I have an extended family that's split pretty evenly between heavy drinkers and never drinkers on both sides. My parents, aunts and uncles are mostly in their 50s and 60s now and there's an immediately apparent difference between the health, appearance, quality of life and even mood/temperament of each group. Guess which way it falls?

The drinkers have great craic and the non drinkers are boring as feck?

pq0n1ct4ve8zf5

dundalkfc10 wrote: »

The drinkers have great craic and the non drinkers are boring as feck?

One of ems a pretty dry sh1te alright to be fair but the rest are grand.

the_syco

Sunny Disposition wrote: »

Fella I work with, goes for a few pints at least three times a week, says he has an average of about ten pints a week. Is it me or is that madness? Guy is in his early 30s.

Goddamn tee-totaller!

kowloon

EmmetSpiceland wrote: »

We could have just had a group Skype if everyone only wanted “a chat”.

There's definitely something to be said for talking to people in person, but I reckon the average bar is the worst place for it.

KikiLaRue

dundalkfc10 wrote: »

The drinkers have great craic and the non drinkers are boring as feck?

So like, is your life outside of the pub entirely joyless? Is drinking literally the only way you can have the craic?

KikiLaRue

Elaina Prehistoric Transparency wrote: »

I've been drinking for 15 years, there are only so many new experiences it can provide.

This is so true. I definitely feel FOMO sometimes that I can't go out and party like I used to, but then I remember that I pretty much did it all - from raves in warehouses to five-star bars, old man pubs to bottomless brunches...

These days I feel sorry for the 45 year old man in the nightclub with his beer belly, still trying to relive his glory days after all his friends have moved on.

dundalkfc10

KikiLaRue wrote: »

So like, is your life outside of the pub entirely joyless? Is drinking literally the only way you can have the craic?

Where did I say that?

KikiLaRue

dundalkfc10 wrote: »

Where did I say that?

I inferred from your posts that you think drinking = craic and non-drinkers = no craic. Was I mistaken?

Some people don't enjoy the feeling of being out of control, some can't drink for medical reasons, some are in recovery from addiction, some just prefer to stay healthy.

Ireland is one of the only places where it's more socially acceptable to be fall down drunk than it is to be sober (unless you're a women, in which case you're obviously asking to get raped)

wakka12

KikiLaRue wrote: »

I inferred from your posts that you think drinking = craic and non-drinkers = no craic. Was I mistaken?

Some people don't enjoy the feeling of being out of control, some can't drink for medical reasons, some are in recovery from addiction, some just prefer to stay healthy.

Ireland is one of the only places where it's more socially acceptable to be fall down drunk than it is to be sober (unless you're a women, in which case you're obviously asking to get raped)

I dont think that attitude is very unique to ireland. Im on erasmus now and all the european and american and asian students drink as or more often, and more heavily, than most of the irish students did back home

Irish drinking habits are actually more in line with the world drinking averages now

KikiLaRue

wakka12 wrote: »

I dont think that attitude is very unique to ireland. Im on erasmus now and all the european and american and asian students drink as or more often, and more heavily, than most of the irish students did back home

Irish drinking habits are actually more in line with the world drinking averages now

Drinking as a student is pretty common no matter where you are. I don't think that holds true for people who are a bit older.

completedit

Why stop though? If anything older you get means you should be able to drink more and more responsibly I e get ****faced but not enough to end up in hospital getting your stomach pumped.

completedit

completedit wrote: »

Why stop though? If anything older you get means you should be able to drink more and more responsibly I e get ****faced but not enough to end up in hospital getting your stomach pumped.

The hangovers get worse as you get older and you usually have to be reasonably productive and able to function the following day, particularly if you have children. The joys of being a responsible adult.

completedit

Ward J. Littell wrote: »

The hangovers get worse as you get older and you usually have to be reasonably productive and able to function the following day, particularly if you have children. The joys of being a responsible adult.

I think that's more psychological. It's prob more the fact you have actual **** to do whereas when your younger you can lounge around all day after a night on the sauce. I'm 30 and never get hangovers. I don't feel fresh mind but can do something the next day.

completedit

completedit wrote: »

I think that's more psychological. It's prob more the fact you have actual **** to do whereas when your younger you can lounge around all day after a night on the sauce. I'm 30 and never get hangovers. I don't feel fresh mind but can do something the next day.

Oh yeah, a lot of it is definitely psychological. But there is a physiological aspect to it too. Your body does become less able to break down the toxins as quickly over time. Also, at 30 you're still reasonably in the prime of your life! Give it a few years! Though some people are just lucky and don't really get them.

sk8erboii

The alcoholics in this thread are pretty laughable. It would be better if you just owned up and admitted you have a problem, instead of trying to justify it. Imagine being in AA and saying 'Uh actually, sir, Denmark consumes more alcohol per capita. Therefore I dont have actually have a problem.'

You're done. Its pathetic. You're poisoning yourself and nobody thinks you're cool.

sk8erboii

I just know somebody's gonna reply and give a half arsed pandering reply to fellow alcoholics, who in turn will thumbs up each others posts.

But back to the main topic, your co worker has a problem OP. It might not seem like it because of the local culture, but thank f*ck its slowly dying out

squawker

sk8erboii wrote: »

nobody thinks you're cool.

Jasus,

you definitely live up to your nickname

sk8erboii

squawker wrote: »

Jasus,

you definitely live up to your nickname

Its a word used by people aged <35.

Why do out of touch old people even bring this up?

Undividual

sk8erboii wrote: »

Its a word used by people aged <35.

Why do out of touch old people even bring this up?

Who are you talking to?