Having a drink

[Aspergers_Aspie]

I think there is too much pressure on people to drink, for example, I was at a branch of restaraunt/pub chain and I said a soft drink with my meal, it was Nov 1st, the staff member serving me said it's the weekend have a drink, I said I had some at a halloween party last night, then the person serving me said hair of the dog?

 

[ghostie]

Might be where you live. I get a diet coke every time I go to a bar and never had anyone question it (other than to ask if Pepsi is ok)

 

[GadAbout]

Maybe the server was "up-selling" you ... trying to get you to spend a little more. Usually anything alcoholic, even beer, is a little more expensive than a soft drink.

 

[Major Tom]

"Hair of the dog"means a drink to cure a hangover or to start drinking early. He or she was probably upselling you.

 

[Judge]

Yeah. Up-selling.

I went into a Taco Bell the other day, ordered a $1.00 burrito and the cashier pressured me to offer a charitable cash contribution. I declined, and then she asked if she could round it off to an even $2.00.

At that point I enlightened her that Taco Bell was being sued over false advertising relative to advertising $5 but actually charging $6 for certain items. That under the circumstances it wasn't cool to play around with customers in such a fashion. She seemed to become a bit pale at that point.

This from the same franchisee who chose to eliminate their senior discount.

 

[Aspergers_Aspie]

Thanks for your replies, yes maybe upselling or trying to joke.

Joke or make conversation, maybe regular customers have a lot of drinks there

 

[Progster]

It isn't the staff's business to question or tell you what to drink!

 

[Fridgemagnetman]

Hair of the dog?

No. My dogs dead.

That would be weird.

 

[Progster]

Hair of the dog?

No. My dogs dead.

That would be weird.

In the absence of a dog, would a cat do?

 

[Aspychata]

Actually the most profit for restaurants is in the liquor drinks. So l pretty much expect to be pushed for drinks, in fact the workers aren't doing their job if they don't ask you.

 

[GrownupGirl]

That "hair of the dog" thing is just nonsense and sounds like something alcoholics would do, as in getting rid of their hangover by just getting drunk again. Or they prevent a hangover by staying drunk until they die.

 

[GrownupGirl]

I think there is too much pressure on people to drink, for example, I was at a branch of restaraunt/pub chain and I said a soft drink with my meal, it was Nov 1st, the staff member serving me said it's the weekend have a drink, I said I had some at a halloween party last night, then the person serving me said hair of the dog?

"Hair of the dog that bit you", or just "Hair of the dog", originated from a "cure" for bite from a rabid dog by placing the dog's hair over the wound. It's basically homeopathic treatment, where supposedly something that would cause symptoms in a healthy person will cure the same symptoms in a sick person. That is nonsense.

 

[Judge]

Actually the most profit for restaurants is in the liquor drinks. So l pretty much expect to be pushed for drinks, in fact the workers aren't doing their job if they don't ask you.

That's true. Something many bartenders and servers are acutely aware of.

Ironically though it's also quite a "slippery slope" considering the broad range of consequences associated with everything that can go wrong with legal liquor liability. A lesson owners, servers and bartenders don't seem to learn, despite all the legal costs and penalties that come with getting caught by law enforcement.

Where competent servers and bartenders must weigh the profit of selling alcoholic beverages with potentially enormous penalties from serving already intoxicated people or minors. Bad enough to temporarily or permanently lose one's liquor license by the authorities, but worse if and when their insurers opt to non-renew their entire policy apart from legal liquor liability alone. Circumstances that can "roll downhill" to negatively impact employees apart from business owners.

A perspective I have not as a patron or litigant, but as a former commercial insurance underwriter in the US.

 

[Aspergers_Aspie]

I have found an origination and asked a staff member of the autism drop in where I use if they could go with me for confidence or to help me not get tongue tied

 

[Aspergers_Aspie]

I've been in pubs or and bars and have heard sometimes 'your only having one drink' I hate that, one drink is ok, and I've heard why you not drinking if someone has a non alcoholic drink!!

 

[tducey]

I do drink but I watch myself while drinking. It gets a bit of ribbing from others but I know what makes me comfortable.

 

[GadAbout]

I watch a lot of British TV shows. If they are any indication, drinking alcohol is a much bigger cultural deal than it is in America. First, we have a lot of people "in recovery" (alcoholics who have had to give up drinking) to the extent that it is pretty well accepted. Second, we have a number of religious groups (such as Mormons) who never touch the stuff. Third, there is the phenomenon of the pub and the "local," which would appear to be much more the cornerstone of social life in the British Isles than they are here.

I have never been pressured to drink more than I wanted to. At most, I've been offered a drink as a courtesy, but not with any expectation that I need to accept it. Among young people (especially fraternities!) there is a culture of heavy drinking, which is one reason we have so many recovering alcoholics. By my age, most folks know all too well what a hangover feels like, and would rather not have one.

 

[Aspergers_Aspie]

Thanks

I watch a lot of British TV shows. If they are any indication, drinking alcohol is a much bigger cultural deal than it is in America. First, we have a lot of people "in recovery" (alcoholics who have had to give up drinking) to the extent that it is pretty well accepted. Second, we have a number of religious groups (such as Mormons) who never touch the stuff. Third, there is the phenomenon of the pub and the "local," which would appear to be much more the cornerstone of social life in the British Isles than they are here.

I have never been pressured to drink more than I wanted to. At most, I've been offered a drink as a courtesy, but not with any expectation that I need to accept it. Among young people (especially fraternities!) there is a culture of heavy drinking, which is one reason we have so many recovering alcoholics. By my age, most folks know all too well what a hangover feels like, and would rather not have one.

 

[Kalinychta]

Yeah. Up-selling.

I went into a Taco Bell the other day, ordered a $1.00 burrito and the cashier pressured me to offer a charitable cash contribution. I declined, and then she asked if she could round it off to an even $2.00.

At that point I enlightened her that Taco Bell was being sued over false advertising relative to advertising $5 but actually charging $6 for certain items. That under the circumstances it wasn't cool to play around with customers in such a fashion. She seemed to become a bit pale at that point.

This from the same franchisee who chose to eliminate their senior discount.

Very true. But to be fair, the poor girl is paid slave wages and is forced by management to make every attempt to part you with as much of your money as possible—which goes into the company’s pockets, not hers. (Except the charity money but they only do that for PR.)

 

[Aspergers_Aspie]

Last night I was watching the seniors tournament of snooker. The commentator said he used to ask Stephen Hendry the day after he won a tournament why he was in his club practising. Just because some people think after a tournament win a sportsperson has to get drunk, that's pressure too. Here's a story about a darts player, see photo from the metro newspaper.