Alcohol, hints, tips, advice etc.

gordondaviesmoustache said:
I completely agree, and I’ll hazard I’ve seen (and been responsible for) more than anyone on this board the deleterious effects of alcohol, but there are plenty of people who drink too much and it doesn’t negatively affect their lives, or those around them.

There is a prevailing assumption among some non-drinkers that state of affairs isn’t possible. And they’re wrong.
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I'm not saying this is true in your case but my old boss was a highly functional alcoholic. 2 or 3 bottles of wine and a couple of large measures if spirits every night kind of level during the week and between 8 and 10 bottles, plus maybe a litre and a half of vodka between him and his missus Friday to Sunday. It must have cost him and his missus (who was just as bad) an absolute fortune.

Really clever guy, and very articulate... but it effected his decision making and he couldn't see it. He thought he was fine and it was under control, but in reality it wasn't. Problem was, everyone around him was too scared to say anything. We ended up on a night out from work and towards the end of the night (I'd only had a few pint's; he was well oiled) I was sitting and chatting with him and I just asked him if he thought he had a problem with drinking. When he asked me what I meant, I explained about some of the decisions he'd made at work and it was almost like a lightbulb came on. We chatted a bit more and that's when I found out just exactly how much he'd been drinking and how he'd driven to work some mornings and not actually remembered driving to work.

He ended up seeing his doctor (he also had other issues with serious PTSD that probably didn't help), and now he's managed to cut down drastically. He's got another job now which probably helped him a lot.
 
Marklr said:
Do you remember the advert for White Lightning? They tried to make it trendy and appealing to young people by showing lots of party people having a good time with it haha. Like some ironic comedy sketch.
It's for alcoholics on benefits!! Good of those alcohol companies to think of the poorer alcoholics, wasn't it?
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I remember my missus when she was younger getting absolutely rinsed on Diamond White. I think she ended up drinking 12 bottles of the shit. Projectile vomit like you only see in the movies ;-)
 
Trevor Morley's Tache said:
I'm not saying this is true in your case but my old boss was a highly functional alcoholic. 2 or 3 bottles of wine and a couple of large measures if spirits every night kind of level during the week and between 8 and 10 bottles, plus maybe a litre and a half of vodka between him and his missus Friday to Sunday. It must have cost him and his missus (who was just as bad) an absolute fortune.

Really clever guy, and very articulate... but it effected his decision making and he couldn't see it. He thought he was fine and it was under control, but in reality it wasn't. Problem was, everyone around him was too scared to say anything. We ended up on a night out from work and towards the end of the night (I'd only had a few pint's; he was well oiled) I was sitting and chatting with him and I just asked him if he thought he had a problem with drinking. When he asked me what I meant, I explained about some of the decisions he'd made at work and it was almost like a lightbulb came on. We chatted a bit more and that's when I found out just exactly how much he'd been drinking and how he'd driven to work some mornings and not actually remembered driving to work.

He ended up seeing his doctor (he also had other issues with serious PTSD that probably didn't help), and now he's managed to cut down drastically. He's got another job now which probably helped him a lot.
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I couldn’t effectively do my job if my drinking affected my performance in the way you allude to. I regularly compete with really clever people who would take me to pieces and humiliate me in a public setting if I couldn’t adequately perform.

If my drinking affected me professionally in the way you describe, I’d be finished in weeks. I’ve seen it happen to others and it’s brutal.
 
Trevor Morley's Tache said:
George Best got a new liver and he f*cked that one away too within a short space of time. There is something to be said for those who are strong enough to come back from the edge and get their lives back on track. Alcohol is such a horrible drug.
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My sister's gaffer has a mate who had a liver transplant for non alcohol related disease. The Surgeon told him the match was so close he'd be able to have a drink within the Government guide lines on alcohol intake. I doubt they'd say that to alcoholics but I read that most alcoholic liver recipients do relapse, not always permanently, as they are just unable to give up the booze.
 
gordondaviesmoustache said:
I couldn’t effectively do my job if my drinking affected my performance in the way you allude to. I regularly compete with really clever people who would take me to pieces and humiliate me in a public setting if I couldn’t adequately perform.

If my drinking affected me professionally in the way you describe, I’d be finished in weeks. I’ve seen it happen to others and it’s brutal.
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Drinking used to be actively encouraged in my profession up to about 10 years ago maybe. If you weren't in with the 'in crowd' you were seen as 'odd'. Thankfully we are getting away from that now. Maybe it's because I'm getting older, but I just can't be arsed with drinking that much anymore. I'd rather have a decent coffee.

Different story in my 20's. I could have easily fallen into the trap and ended up an alcoholic like a lot of people I know did. I was a problem drinker for sure, but I think because I used to suffer pretty bad with hangovers (and alcohol had an effect on my migraine's) I just kind of drifted away from it. Still partial to the odd drink or six, but I can take it or leave it now.
 
I was never a drink-at-work bloke but when I was at my worst my aim was to start drinking as early as possible (end my day as early as possible). Bloody contractor's curse. What set me on the right track was the desire to do actually things - usually that involved a drive. So I started drinking later and later... Somewhere along the line I realised that the first one or two were "the best", and the rest was just going through the motions, so I weaned myself down to just those one or two. After doing that for a while you're no longer addicted. You're free.
 
I always have a drink when I'm on a night out (not really happened that much in the last 2 years, obviously) but don't at home.

However, if you read this thread and just take notice in general life, the language, culture and behaviour that society encourages around booze is absolutely mental really.

I always say, replace booze with something like "Tizer" in the language that you use around booze and you'll soon see how mental it sounds.

"I have three or four tizers every night"

"I need to have a tizer at night to relax"

"Thank fuck it's the weekend, I can't wait to have a tizer"

If you uttered any of the above to anyone they would look at you as a complete weirdo for a) talking about tizer as if it's exciting and b) being obsessed about fucking tizer.

But really, if it is mental for someone to make tizer a central part of their life or to see it as something to brag about, then surely it must be the same for booze.

Booze has a culture and language used about it that not much else does though and which encourages acceptance of obsession with it as a normal thing.
 
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