Pressure to Drink

[Cowabungaa]

Oh yeah I can sympathise with you there. I went through the same stuff and actually avoided parties because I knew about alcohol consumption there. Hell even my dad called me a wuss and whatnot because I didn't really drink.

Most stupid thing is though, is that despite starting to drink in the past few years (that is the occasional glass, or a couple when I feel like it) I still get shit for apparently not drinking enough. What the hell?

Mind you, I didn't start drinking because of that pressure. I started drinking because through the years I've discovered some alcoholic drinks that I actually find pretty tasty. I never gave in to that pressure.

 

[Baron_BJ]

Damn you Australians and your nice weather in the middle of our northern hemispheircal winter!

42c with 30% humanity isn't nice, it's hell.

Fuck, what lovely part of our shithole are you in? I'm in flooded north QLD, here it's 42c (108 fahrenheit) while it's pissing down rain (100% humidity), so the rain feels like you're being pissed on. I mean that literally. Even when it isn't raining humidity up here is always very high, so imagine the rash and aggrivation you get at 40c+ with 90% humidity, moss growing on cleaned doors and ceilings, ya feet, ya precious. It's awful isn't it. At least in the center of this shithole of a country it may sit at around 40c three quarters of the year but the humidity is almost always 0, which would be preferable, that way when I've melted I won't have to deal with crap growing on me and needing to shower countless times a day.


...Back on topic:

Its the Aussie culture, most love a drink and think its weird for an Aussie not to want one too. Dw I cop the same bs about it as well, I have little if any interest in drinking and often have to tell people to bug off for pestering me about it.

Got that right, people in my town often start to drink around ages 13 and 14, and it's not this back-ally bullshit ya hear about in cities and all that, parents agree and buy it for them, even my parents did, however they were very strict, they figured if I did it too but was controlled I'd be better for it, and I am (by strict I mean like this "You can go to your friend's party and have maybe a drink or two, because I know everyone else will be doing it, but if you come home so much as tipsy you will fucking lose everything!"), but I despised the taste, I'd joke that my parents were hardasses and I was sneaking what I could (pretend I had a drink already or maybe stomach a tiny bit, blech), but I was a little *****. It seems that the smaller the town in Australia the more likely people are to drink (Our drinking age is 18, people just don't care for some laws it would seem). Now that I'm older I can say one thing: Everyone loves the "designated driver".

 

[Gigano]

I didn't drink alcohol until I was 19, and despite living in one of the European countries where underage drinking is most common and culturally accepted, I was never pestered about it by my high school classmates (nor were those few Christians which didn't drink for religious reasons). Best class ever.

 

[Ace of Spades]

I detest most forms of alcohol. My brother and his friend Paul are always guzzling Jack Daniels, so my dad gave me a sample, and it was vile. Beer, red wine, champagne, vodka, all of it tastes terrible. I don't know why everyone is always going on about how awesome drinking is, but I have no desire to join them in their drunken revelry.

 

[Limie]

Sounds familiar. The sad fact is that I now don't have any close friends offline for the simple reason that in order to maintain 'real life' friendships I'm expected to spend what little money I earn on booze and get myself utterly wasted.

Outside of my family, out of all the people I know, I know only one. single. person. who doesn't drink. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind drinking - though it's not really my thing - but drinking for the single purpose of making yourself so drunk you're puking everywhere and hung over the next day, seems to me, completely counter productive when it comes to having a fun evening. Come morning and they're all groaning about how awful they feel and don't even remember most of the 'fun' they had the night before, but give it a week or even a few days and they're at it again. People don't seem to know how to enjoy themselves without alcohol, and for someone like me who would rather not touch the stuff, it means a great big 'FAIL' stamped all over your social life.

Anyway, as people might have gathered, no I didn't get pestered into drinking this New Years because I wasn't even at a party. If I had been, I'm absolutely certain I'd have been hounded about it though, yes.

I know how you feel. Trying to get a taxi to take someone home at 3am who's puking is not my idea of fun. I know no-one that is my age and who wants to socially engange in an activity that doen't involve drinking. The greatest nuisance about this is the moan the next day about hangovers and they are eager and willing to do this again and spend at least £40 a night on booze alone. My "new" uni friends never ask me to social events now because I don't drink. Another thing I would like to know is why people wish to take 1 to 3 hour drives to adjacent cities to go drinking, when they know there is no-where for them to stay the night and a raxi home is sbout £65 at least? Sorry it's a bit of a rant.

I still manage to have a lot of fun on nights out without drinking and my wallet thanks me. Most of the time the people around me are too drunk to notice if i'm drinking towards the end of the night. Nor do they remember the next morning.

 

[ICantBelieveItGoesBoom]

I'm just gonna be brutally honest here, I used to be like you but then at my brother's 18th birthday party a bottle of alcohol (I don't know what it was) was shoved in my mouth twice forcing me to drink.

Not the best way to get it done I'll admit but I won't say that being tipsy/drunk is actually pretty fun.

Just give it a go.

 

[Crazy_Dude]

I am always in for a few drinks but not just to get hammered but because I enjoy it. I dont want to wake up next morning with a major hangover.

 

[IcyEvils]

My girlfriend is holding resolute to her pledge, not to drink until she's 18. We were out a few nights ago and I ended up taking a Magners, which didn't taste any different than the last time I had it- shit. Out of courtesy for the friend who bought it I drank, and drank water the rest of the night so my girlfriend wouldn't feel excluded. She has never broken the pledge, and I admire her for it. Just firmly tell the idiots you don't want it and they should let go.

 

[Dags90]

Problem drinkers will often try to badger or bully others into drinking in order to normalize their drinking problem. If they stand out of the group for being ridiculously wasted, their drinking problem is more likely to make a scene, and they might be confronted with the fact that they have a problem. So to avoid this, they encourage others to get drunk with them. "Everyone else is doing it, so I'm O.K." is what they're telling themselves.

 

[Wait...What]

You need a good british climate to enjoy a drink. Nothing better than enjoying a nice cold lager in a warm pub when it's pissing down.

Damn Straight

I've never had this experience myself as i think there's nothing better than a few with the lads. Although a few of my friends don't really drink that much. Occasionally we say go on have one when were a bit drunk but we're never too bad.
If you don't wanna drink you don't have to...as long as you're not judging people who do drink (its their choice as well) more power to you.

 

[KiKiweaky]

So anyone else have a similar new years? being pestered to drink?

Didnt need any persuasion to drink last night, I was out of my bin

I know where your coming from though, I drink but I dont bug people if they dont want to drink at all. I hold alot of respect for poeple who dont drink (living in Ireland they are few and far between) what I dont get though is how you actually enjoy being around drunk people when your sober. When I'm sober drunk people are really quite annoying -.-

Ye I've seent that host thing before don't blame them theyre just trying to make sure people are having a good time.

Hope it didnt spoil your night

 

[DesiPrinceX09]

Well I certainly have been pressured into drinking, I've lived in America for seven years and all throughout high school people have been telling me I should drink. I never have drank alcohol and I never will, because it's against my religion and because I personally don't want to.

 

[Hosker]

I don't drink, nor do I have any desire to. Fortunately, just about everyone I know knows that I don't, so they don't bother me about it.
I would like to know what is going through people's minds when they try and get someone to drink. I think the type of person who does it is the type who believe that everybody enjoys doing what they enjoy. So if they see someone who isn't drinking, they presume that they want to but are not for some reason, possibly because they think they are shy and don't dare speak up that they want a drink...possibly. That might be one reason. So they probably think that they are being nice.

 

[Zykon TheLich]

Yeah, I'm really not a drinker but fortunately most of my friends know this and beyond a standard "Can I get you a drink?" out of politeness followed by "you sure?...coke or orange maybe?" they don't bother pushing it because they know it won't work, and I'll quite happily go for soft drinks which means they spend less buying a round too

 

[ireskimo]

Alcohol itself tastes awful, people add ingredients and mix drinks so that the taste is more pleasant or it may even form an interesting sensation with the drink intself, I've never noticed the latter and when I ask for advice on a drink that "I might like" people always end the sentence with something along the lines of "...you won't even taste the booze", to which I respond "Then why mix fucking booze into it? Why not just mix the rest of this shit in with water or buy a fucking coke?!" there's no response. The fact of the matter is that alcohol is a drug and people enjoy the very mild buzz that they get from it (it causes no real detrimental effects if a person drinks in moderation, however this limit is easily passed since by the time your body indicates you've drunk too much you've probably already ingested more), and it's something of a global custom (with some exceptions, mainly middle-eastern countries) now for people to drink heavily during celebrations and other similar events.

People often find it strange when people don't follow a custom that is often showed and enjoyed, for example if you met a person and outsretched your hand to shake their hand in greeting and they didn't understand you would most likely show and explain the custom, in effect mildly enforcing it as the person may feel compelled to use it next time they are in a similar situation. This is a very general example, but I think it applies well here.

EDIT: You can carry a vodka bottle with you and fill it with water, works for me when I'm at parties and shit, pretend to take a swig every so often.

This is a rather shallow view. People mix drinks to give it a better taste. I don't know if you've ever tried a spirit on it's own. It's not the most pleasant tasting thing in the world and really burns your throat. People enjoy alcohol as it lightens them up. Some people do take it to the extreme by getting drunk but that is their choice. Social drinking is one of the good things in life. I've made soo many friends just by going to a party and talking to random strangers. All i'm saying is that you should stop moaning when someone offers you a drink. Just be glad that people are nice enough to do that.

 

[Faine']

Sounds familiar. The sad fact is that I now don't have any close friends offline for the simple reason that in order to maintain 'real life' friendships I'm expected to spend what little money I earn on booze and get myself utterly wasted.

Outside of my family, out of all the people I know, I know only one. single. person. who doesn't drink. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind drinking - though it's not really my thing - but drinking for the single purpose of making yourself so drunk you're puking everywhere and hung over the next day, seems to me, completely counter productive when it comes to having a fun evening. Come morning and they're all groaning about how awful they feel and don't even remember most of the 'fun' they had the night before, but give it a week or even a few days and they're at it again. People don't seem to know how to enjoy themselves without alcohol, and for someone like me who would rather not touch the stuff, it means a great big 'FAIL' stamped all over your social life.

Anyway, as people might have gathered, no I didn't get pestered into drinking this New Years because I wasn't even at a party. If I had been, I'm absolutely certain I'd have been hounded about it though, yes.

I know how you feel. Trying to get a taxi to take someone home at 3am who's puking is not my idea of fun. I know no-one that is my age and who wants to socially engange in an activity that doen't involve drinking. The greatest nuisance about this is the moan the next day about hangovers and they are eager and willing to do this again and spend at least £40 a night on booze alone. My "new" uni friends never ask me to social events now because I don't drink. Another thing I would like to know is why people wish to take 1 to 3 hour drives to adjacent cities to go drinking, when they know there is no-where for them to stay the night and a raxi home is sbout £65 at least? Sorry it's a bit of a rant.

I still manage to have a lot of fun on nights out without drinking and my wallet thanks me. Most of the time the people around me are too drunk to notice if i'm drinking towards the end of the night. Nor do they remember the next morning.

By all means, rant away; I certainly did.

Actually, I just checked your profile and realised we're both British. Might explain the similarities given the fact the UK has a big drinking culture. As for the part of your post that I bolded: same here. I'm 19, 20 next month, and I can't find anyone of similar age to me who would be happy doing something that doesn't involve alcohol. It's not just my age range either; I know of people 30-40 who behave similarly. It's apparently impossible to drink and not over do it for a lot of people.

I've been fortunate in that I haven't found myself trying to get puking friends home as you have, mostly because I haven't let myself get into those situations in the first place. Of course, now I've just kinda isolated myself. Ah well. I've never been a big party-goer anyway; it's just not my thing. I just wish I could have a couple of friends who I could say "Hey, wanna go see a movie?" to and not have "Sure! But after we could go to this pub and that club and-" as a response. Sometimes I'd just like to watch a movie, y'know? Or invite a few folks over and stay at home eating crap food and playing stupid games. Maybe I'm just boring but I could actually have fun with that and I'd remember it the following morning.

 

[CK76]

42c with 30% humanity isn't nice, it's hell.

Australians lose their humanity as the temperature rises, good to know when planning a trip.

 

[Guffe]

Nagging can be a ***** and I personally think you did the right thing in walking away from there after you said you don't want to and they continued to "harass" (sry couldn't find a milder word and already used nag xD) you. If they can't respect your decision they can just go and drink themselves to a very nice next day.
I drink sometimes and sometimes I don't, I have a few friends who never drink alcohol (we are all drinking age) and some drink a bit too much too often according to me but no one nags about the other peoples drinking habits so for us it's alright.

 

[Da pyro man 999]

Ah yes, there have been many a time where the champange was flowing but i was cradling a pepsi. It really annoys me when people ask why i'm not holding a glass of corner shop piss and im instead holding a cold,refreshing cola.

 

[lightningmagurn]

I have had that issue a few times. I will be at a party and then somebody realizes that there are no adults (I'm 16 I have no business drinking) andthen the booze starts flowing.