Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with drunk

How do I hold my head up after this?

Anonymous — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 12:04:46 -0800

How do I restore my reputation after a drunken public display? I do not drink for health and financial reasons, however I had four or five mixed drinks at a local bar I frequent with a friend who does drink regularly. It was an open bar. I was completely out of control, exposed my breasts, men took pictures, I kissed other women openly and took a man home that was 27 years younger than me. (I had the sense to use protection). I'm 56 years old and I know there were people there that are friends with my ex husband and possibly my sons. I am mortally embarrassed and have no idea how to face these people and this small community pepperred with my customers I have to face professionally. Please help me to fix this. I did NOT drive and at the very least held to my conviction not to ever drive impaired. (I was in a serious motorcycle accident that was well publicized hit by a drunk driver and have been vociferous about the subject.) You can email offline: wild.old.hippy.chick@gmail.com

Wine Advocate?

furiousxgeorge — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:11:03 -0800

Are there any wine review sites similar to Beer Advocate or Rate Beer? I'm looking for a site with a database that hits nearly everything in the world with a good amount of user reviews for reasonably popular wines.

BA and Rate Beer really helped me when learning about beer and how to appreciate it. They gave me a frame of reference for what I was tasting and what others tasted in the beer.

When I try to find reviews for wines I maybe find one or two and otherwise just links to online liquor stores or generic epinions type crap.

sip, sip, bang, bang

thinkingwoman — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 07:27:54 -0800

what are the logistics for arresting someone for DUI if they are in the hospital? say you have a car accident, go to the hospital, discover you are legally drunk, and it is reported to authorities. assuming you are not able to walk out of the hospital and go to jail that night, what happens?

do they arrest you in the hospital? arraign you in the hospital? send you to a jail hospital? have your lawyer go to court for you?

i've just always wondered this but it's not an easy google search.

Was there something in my drink?

emilyd22222 — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 12:26:48 -0800

Is it possible that something was put in my drink? If so, what? I got way more drunk than I should have/typically get given how much I drank last night, and I also got violently ill from drinking for the first time ever. I remember the entire night. I drank the equivalent of 3 shots and a then a beer over the course of a few hours (not switching back and forth between beer and liquor). I ate dinner first. I drink socially on a weekly basis, so it's not like my tolerance is down.

I carried my cup with me all night, but I did use someone else's bottle of lemonade as a mixer, and was given the beer by a male friend who didn't try to pull anything weird once I was drunk.

I'm not particularly worried about this, more so just curious whether this is a possibility or my body's ability to cope with alcohol is on the wane.

Can you prove what someone's blood alcohol level would have been two hours ago based on what it is now?

Anonymous — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 09:10:59 -0800

Can you prove what someone's blood alcohol level would have been two hours ago based on what it is now? Pulled over and arrested then charged with DUI in the State of Vermont. Refused the roadside breathalyzer test. Took the roadside evaluation for shits and giggles (I think I did okay).

After much processing, asked to talk to public defender on call. Advised to consent to breath test, so I did. After much more processing, I finally took the breath test. I didn't take the test until two hours after the time of the stop.

My test results: 0.059%

Point at which it is a DUI: 0.080%

Charges dropped right? Not in this case. They are trying the case and the arresting officer claims they will bring in a chemist/scientist/whatever to say that based on my test results my blood alcohol level would have been above 0.080% at the time of the stop.

You are innocent until proven guilty right? Can they possibly "prove" this?

Several civil citations were given as well. One for not stopping at a stop sign (I did stop) and one for going over the yellow line (I may have). Also, a third was mailed to me for being two months out of inspection.

And to preempt the lawyer up advice. Of course I will be hiring a lawyer to represent me in this case, but I would like to know as much as I can going in, while I have plenty of time to get myself informed.

Find me a real dive in LA!

swbarrett — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 09:02:53 -0800

Looking for a serious Dive Bar in Los Angeles. In the Venice, Culver, Santa Monica region. Not an "LA" dive, a real dive please. People in LA say "oh XYZ is a total dive" and when you get there it's like an upscale sports bar. I'm looking for a real, well, shithole. Dark, wood paneled, cheap beer, strong drinks, grisley old men who have been on the same stool for 35 years. no velvet ropes, no plasma screens, just drinks and drunks. bartenders who understand that a Martini is made of gin not vodka, that jack daniels is whiskey but not bourbon and wouldn't say "and what?" when you ask for said whiskey or bourbon. If you saw the place in Baltimore you'd say "man this is a shithole." they've gotta be out there, but where?

How to mitigate the damage of a dreaded interview question?

liquado — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 17:35:34 -0800

Question-for-a-friend filter: How do you truthfully answer a job interview question about a previous job that you were asked to resign from, because you were an idiot? Long-story-short: After six months as CSR, friend gets promoted to great job as account manager, which includes on-the-road sales visits to customers. After only four months in position, friend gets stupid, drives drunk and loses license. Company asks him to resign and offers severance package, as he can no longer drive to sales calls. Friend acknowledges stupidity, takes the golden handshake, goes back to working construction. He left the position on good terms with his supervisor.

Now, friend is applying for new sales position that will likely not require driver's license. He's almost certain to get an interview, but is not sure what the best approach is to answer the likely question, "Why did you choose to leave your last sales position?" He doesn't want to lie or be dishonest, but we're both at a loss as to an alternative/vague answer that limits the damage to his chances of getting the new position.

Thanks for any pearls of wisdom.

Flagstaff Hash House Harriers?

TheManChild2000 — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 23:03:26 -0800

I want to hash this weekend in Flagstaff AZ, but it appears online at least as if all the Flag HHH kennels are defunct and I keep getting dead emails for Feenix hashers. Hows a guy supposed to get his on-on on? Are there still any active Flag H3s?

How can I be outgoing without the use of alcohol?

flibbertigibbet — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 07:36:56 -0800

How can I be outgoing without the use of alcohol? I had a very tight policy of avoiding a situation in which I would feel pressured to drink. This is because I don't like losing control and talking too much, and because my father is an alcoholic.

Aaand then I had to go to a passover seder due to my increasing religiosity, and grape juice wasn't readily available as the kids had scurried it to different rooms to drink it there. I really was anxious the first night--I knew I would get drunk quickly, as the last time I really drank was five years ago. And yeah, I got wasted (giggling hysterically for three hours) on very little alcohol. I hated the idea of losing control before getting drunk, but it wasn't that bad.

For the second seder, I ate beforehand and brought I friend. I got comfortably drunk on 5-ish glasses of wine, and I met more people in the 5 hours of the second seder than I had met during all of the 30-50 hours of Shabbat dinners that I had attended previously--and the Shabbat dinners had the exact same people attending as the seders.

How can I keep up that gregarious version of myself when not drunk? I still want to really control my drinking--no drinking alone, no drinking everyday, no drinking during every social situation in any given week, no drinking to self-medicate, etc.--because of the family history of alcoholism, but I like meeting people. Plz hope me.

Virtual Breathalyzer for PC

Gusy — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 00:18:32 -0800

I had a fantastic idea, years ago, which Google has recently implemented (where I have not). They call it Mail Goggles. My idea was a safe to store your bottles in that would have a sort of Simon-type game built in, to unlock it. If you were too buzzed, no entry. Theirs is more likely to work, though.

While I don't want to capitalize on this idea (though if I was smart, I would) I do still want to implement it for personal use:

Is there any way for me to use existing technology to keep me from accessing certain MS Windows applications while too drunk. Ideally it would block certain web sites (Facebook, forums, etc.), unless I was sober enough to beat some type of mental challenge. Better yet, it would only block posting on those sites, as well as other apps such as Outlook. My thought is that the solution would ideally be tunable, in case I get better at the "puzzle" as time goes on.

By the way, if this solution were to work, I would not be able to post this question :)

Days of Wine and Roses Redux?

n'muakolo — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 09:41:14 -0800

I think my sister and her boyfriend have a drinking problem. How can we help? My sister (28) and her boyfriend (31) are what I consider to be heavy social drinkers and my family is concerned.

It's a bit hard for me to judge because I don't live in the same city, but they tell anecdotes that lead me to believe that they have a drinking problem. Here's what I know: I'm not sure what, if anything, they drink on the weeknights, but for all I know it could be a lot. On weekends I think they regularly get completely drunk. I've very rarely actually seen them wasted, but I have definitely seen them tipsy. The do a lot of shots on weekend nights, and put away a lot of beer. (My sister, who weighs about 100 pounds, says she can easily drink 12 beers a night.) Recently they came to visit me and got in a big fight where he stormed off and eventually made it back to our house. My sister said he 'always' does this, and he's driven drunk the wrong way on a major highway in our home city, and he's driven drunk more than once, and that his friends - college friends, who drink a lot themselves - think it's fun to make him "confused." I was pretty shocked to hear all that - until then I would have said they drink a lot but definitely can handle their booze. They are both in fabulous shape - they work out a lot, and are generally just blessed with great physiques and great looks - and so there's zero indication from looking at them that they drink this heavily. Basically, I think they drink like irresponsible college students, except they're not in college anymore and I don't see any trigger that will make them stop drinking like this unless someone intervenes. They have a lot of friends, and they all seem to drink to excess. They're very into sports and drink heavily when watching baseball, football, etc. They do have a puppy and they are absolutely fantastic with him - they take him for 3-4 very long walks a day, discipline him well, etc. (I say this because I think maybe a baby would be that trigger - but that's a few years away and maybe it wouldn't help at all.) They are both quite successful at work. They've been together about 3 years and my family loves him (and her, obviously) very much.

I'm worried about their current safety, their health, and their futures. My whole family drinks quite a bit, but not like this. His siblings drink heavily but his parents are teetotalers. We're afraid their story is going to be the Days of Wine and Roses story, if they don't stop or change the way they drink. They - especially he - are very likeable, friendly people. We have a great relationship with them. They like to tell us anecdotes about their drinking. They think it's a bonding exercise to play cards with me and my parents and do shots when we screw up. My sister has been a bit distant with me and my parents until she started dating him - he's very pro-family and he's the reason we now spend a lot of time with them both. We're worried (1) that if we bring this up it's only going to drive them away; (2) it's a bit of the pot calling the kettle black because we're all social drinkers (but not at all like this); (3) we're not sure they need AA or the like, but we do think they need to seriously cut back on their drinking.

I know you can't tell me what to do, but what do we do?!

Thanks for picking me up off the floor.

Anonymous — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 17:09:53 -0800

How to say "thanks" for taking care of me when I was drunk? I was very much beyond my limits after my company's holiday party on Friday evening. A friend got me into a cab and on my way home, however, she didn't realize how drunk I was.

I ended up throwing up in the hallway outside my door (I live in an upscale condo building in a major downtown area) and passing out. Some of my neighbors found me in the hallway and called the doorman to determine what to do. They waited with me until the doorman came up. The doorman decided to call 911 and have me taken to the hospital because I was unconscious. I was released a few hours later (just needed to sleep it off I guess!).

I would like to thank my neighbors and my doorman for taking care of me while I was drunk. I don't know either party very well as I recently moved into the building and the doorman is a fill-in. I do have the doorman and the neighbor's names from the duty log. My brother got the story above from the same doorman, who was on duty when he brought me home from the hospital.

What should I give my neighbors? Would a $50 gift card to a restaurant be nice? And my doorman - is cash too impersonal? If not, how much? Is $100 too much? I believe, but I am not sure, that he also cleaned up the hallway. That alone I think is worth a million dollars!

Thanks for any help!

Measure Twice, Email Once

skammer — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 09:06:01 -0800

Is there a plugin or AppleScript for Apple Mail that would popup a simple dialog box that says "Are you sure you want to send this message?" I send far too many messages that I probably would have edited (or scrapped) with 2 seconds of reflection (drunk or otherwise.) Not to mention all the times an itchy trigger finger fires off a message while forgetting the attachment. (i.e. please help save me from myself.)

Learning How to Like Coffee, and How to Like Beer

WCityMike — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 10:34:41 -0800

There are two beverages that nearly every American adult seems to like, but I dislike both: coffee and beer. I would like to develop a taste for both of them. For morning caffeine, coffee's free at most workplaces whereas pop isn't; and beer is a cheap mood alterer; but more importantly, both are social lubricants, one that isn't achieved by drinking a soda while others get either awake, buzzed or drunk. It's been a while since I had either, but remembering the tastes, I think it's that I dislike the bitterness in each drink. This isn't anything I'm torn up over, but I can see how acclimating myself to these would be helpful to things I'd like to develop socially. Anyhow, tips on how to change my tastes so that I can become a jittery, coffee-addicted beerhound would be appreciated. :-)

Hell no, I would never go to a DRY wedding!

sixcolors — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 16:39:59 -0800

At what point does a person have a drinking problem? I admit I’m not too educated about alcohol abuse. I went through D.A.R.E. like many kids, but if I remember it correctly, it was an abstinence program. It didn’t teach us how to drink responsibly.

I know at the “white” end of the spectrum, someone who has a glass of wine with dinner a half of a dozen times a year, obviously does not have a drinking problem. At the “black” end of the spectrum, someone who drinks until they pass out, on a regular basis, obviously has an alcohol problem.

To me, there seems like there’s a lot gray area when it comes to this issue.

Could someone who drink a lot (6+ drinks more than 2x a week), but doesn’t display a lot of erratic behavior, have a drinking problem?

Could someone who drinks a little (2-4 drinks a few times a month), but behaves quite erratically, have a drinking problem?

Then there’s intent. What about people who drink to cope with problems vs. those who drinks to celebrate? Would someone who drinks a glass of wine to ease their stress have more of a drinking problem than someone who takes 5+ shots to celebrate the weekend?

Help me find my perfect DC bar!

Loto — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 05:47:33 -0800

Help me find my perfect bar in DC! It is my birthday tomorrow and for my birthday I want to drink until I can't feel feelings. However, I am still somewhat new to the area so I don't know where the best place for this would be. Since it is my birthday, I am looking for my favorite type of bar: the shit hole.

I'm looking for cheap booze, dark and dirty bar, loud music (preferably metal or rock, although classic rock would also do) and did I mention it should be cheap? I'd rather it not be too incredibly crowded, I like to sit when I drink, but a decent amount of people is good.

Any ideas?

Is he gonna die?

cheerwine — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 19:48:49 -0800

What's the difference between a concussion and drunk? Is he going to die? (OK not really—but is it safe for us to go to sleep?) My boyfriend (owner of this account) got into a minor fight earlier tonight. His head was slammed against the wall. He's also a wee bit drunk—this may have had to do with head getting slammed. We're both really tired, but I'm terrified that if I let him go to sleep he'll go into a coma because he has a concussion. We just called the doctor on-call from his health clinic but she just said "You can talk to me coherently so that's a good sign, but if you're concerned go to the ER."

The question is: How can we tell the difference between stupid-drunk and stupid-concussion. The doctor was totally dismissive when we tried to get her to elucidate the difference.

Can we go to sleep? Help.

I AM THE VINDOW VASHER

xorry — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 02:10:23 -0800

Quick! What is the joke about the vindow vasher? My friends and I are going nuts! ..and looking up salmon PR)N.

Help me identify this metal mouth-like object!

kpmcguire — Fri, 30 May 2008 10:28:03 -0800

Help me identify this mystery object. It looks sort of like a set of metallic false teeth, smaller than life-size, with a metal tube or something where the tongue should be. It's a long story, I won't get too detailed. I have my own blog, I know how to use it.

A got into a petty argument with a guy yesterday. During this argument he held up the mystery object. It was in a clamshell package, it looked like he had just bought it.

He was trying to make friendly with me, showing me how "cool" he was having just purchased this thing - but I don't really know. But I was really angry at him, so I didn't pay any attention to it.

But now I want to write about this ordeal on my blog, and I want to know what the object was.

Some clues:

For some reason, I assumed the object was marijuana-related. Perhaps some sort of novelty pipe? This is in part because there's a head shop right next to where the altercation took place. It could also be some bizarre sex toy, because the head shop also sells that kind of stuff. Or it could be completely unrelated. Who knows.

The guy was really drunk. I'm pretty sure he was at the Cubs game earlier. He's a huge, muscular guy, and if I were to take any guesses, I would say he was (at one time) in the military, I only mention this because it might help explain what he was showing to me.

Any ideas would be appreciated! Thanks! A links to a product page would be ideal.

Beer/Liquor or Liquor/Beer?

papakwanz — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 00:18:05 -0800

"Liquor then beer, you're in the clear; beer then liquor, never been sicker." Is this true, and if so, why? Google search of the phrase turned up fairly vague answers, mostly just saying something about how people generally measure their beer intake better, but there was no real evidence. I'm wondering if there is any truth to this saying (besides my own anecdotal evidence), and if so, what are the reasons behind it. Does it have anything to do with the make-up of these different beverages and the way the body processes them? Is their a behavioral component? Do the types of liquor/beer affect this?

Help me get my foot out of my mouth.

frosty_hut — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 10:47:10 -0800

I put my foot in my mouth at a wedding. Help me get it out. I contract at a part-time job that I enjoy a lot. I'm hoping I'll be getting on their payroll soon (they're telling me this is possible). So one of my co-workers at this place invited me to his wedding, and I felt it was important for me to go. This guy has been training me and spending time with me off the clock, and he's helped me so much and is just the greatest person ever. So even though I was quaking at the thought of this thing, because my people skills are awful but especially bad in groups, and I've always dreaded parties, I knew I'd have to gird my loins and just get through this.

We greeted the bride and groom and they even chatted with us for a bit, though there were so many people. The groom asked me to hug him and I felt so warm and fuzzy!

We went to the reception, where despite being very tipsy, I manged not to fall down, break anything or insult anyone. And every minute was like an hour to me, because I'm horrible in these situations and have never figured out the mingling thing (I know there are some threads on here about that), but I soldiered on. So finally my husband and I were ready to leave, and as we were walking back to the car we were pretty full of ourselves and congratulating ourselves on how great we'd done, because we hadn't screwed up in any major way (he's also a bit shy and tense at these affairs).

And then another guy from work who was arriving late--I'll call him Jack--spotted us on the street and started chatting. I was very drunk by that time because I'd had shots and a bunch of wine at the party (not including what we'd imbibed at home), and I just started talking off the top of my head. My husband later told me that I said something to Jack about thinking the bride was a man. I can explain it, however. Her name is Asian, although she's not Asian, and for whatever reason I thought it was a masculine name. And there were other indications that my co-worker might be gay, and so I just assumed he was going to be marrying a man at a gay wedding. I've had other friends who did this and there was nothing odd about it, except that it turned out to be the wrong assumption. For weeks that was my honest-to-goodness belief. I discovered my co-worker was marrying a woman only a couple of weeks ago.

So anyway, now I'm worried that Jack thinks I'm a freak for stumbling up to him and talking all of that shit about the bride being a guy or looking like a guy or acting like one or something. It's not what I meant, but who knows how he took it? And the thought that this might get back to my co-worker and his adorable new wife makes me sick to my stomach. Jack is a quiet, very discreet guy, and if he even remembers what I said, it's not likely he'd repeat it. But I'm worried. And I'm full of self-loathing for having thought at age 40 plus that the best way to get through a party is by getting soused beforehand. I'm hating myself for doing that and thinking that, and it's devastating to me to think that I've grown so little in life that I'm still unable to face social situations without being in a fog of inebriation. (I rarely drink otherwise--it's mostly a utilitarian pursuit for me, so no threat of a drinking problem on the horizon as far as I can tell).

Anyway, how can I stop beating myself up over yakking drunkenly and having let something slip that I probably should never in a million years have even referred to? Should I go find Jack and find out what he thinks I said?

My sweet, supportive husband thinks I should stop worry about it, but I'm miserable right now.

I can't get hangovers. No, seriously.

lioness — Mon, 28 May 2007 17:30:14 -0800

I've never had a hangover in my life, how common is this and will it stay this way? Could this be a genetic thing and therefore be permanent or am I just lucky now and will the hangovers appear over the years? I'm only 25 now, so obviously still young. Legal drinking age is 16 in my country, so that's how long this has been apparent to me, although I've never really given it much thought. There must be other people with this trait, but I don't know anyone except for my brother. My friends also don't know any other people besides me who can't get hangovers. In short: How common is this? What could be the reason? Is it permanent?

I've tried searching about this, but I only get tons of information on how to cure a hangover. I think I can safely exclude these factors which could explain the absence of hangovers:

I've always had it, whether I was extremely thin or rather fat, so weight isn't an influence.

I'm a plain caucasian girl, so it's not something obviously genetic.

I used to work out three times a week, now I haven't been to the gym in three years and I'm completely out of shape, so obviously fitness isn't an influencing factor.

Eating before drinking or not doesn't make a difference. Eating different kinds of meals also doesn't have an influence. (Of course it influences when I start to get drunk.)

Different kinds of alcohol do not seem to matter: drinking only beer, or only wine or only cocktails or everything mixed together gives the same result: no hangover.

The amount of alcohol doesn't matter. I can get a bit tipsy, quite drunk, completely wasted and absolutely repulsivly comatosely smashed, I still don't get hangovers.

Frequency of drinking isn't a factor. Whether I'm drunk a few times a week, or only once in a year, whether I drink moderately every day or only once every few months or nothing for a very long time, it doesn't matter.

I rarely vomit when drunk, so it's not that either.

I always combine drinking and smoking, but my brother is a non-smoker, so smoking probably has nothing to do with it.

I don't drink water or soda between the alcoholic beverages, nor do I drink water before falling asleep. I just plunge into my bed drunk and wake up eight hours later, fit as fiddle and hungry for a good breakfast.
(Ironically, I'm normally a terrible sleeper, while when waking up after being drunk I feel much more rested and refreshed than usual.)

Disclaimer for people who advise me to see a therapist for my drinking problem: I rarely drink nowadays and only get a bit drunk maybe once or twice a year.

Is it because I have no gall bladder that I can't drink?

nowonmai — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 14:53:06 -0800

I had a laparoscopic cholecystectomy last November (gall bladder removal). Recently I have noticed I get much drunker, much faster than I used to. Is there likely to be a connection between these two facts?

The effects of different alcohol

Kudos — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 02:38:10 -0800

Why does different sorts of alcohol affect you differently? A few friends and I have come to the consensus that Wine has a more "loopy" drunk and whisky a more "brutish", or "lively" drunk. Perhaps more explination of the effects causing the affects of my friends and I are needed. Nevertheless, there definitely seems to be a major difference.

Finding and shipping Hendrick's Gin online

frogan — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 14:35:38 -0800

BoozeFilter: Google-Fu failing me. Where can I purchase a bottle of Hendrick's Gin online and have it shipped to Washington state? Somebody needs to get drunk, fast. Where can I purchase a bottle of Hendrick's Gin online and have it shipped to Washington state?