Barflies - What is the deal?

[Killed_by_Death]

So, that friend I mentioned who totalled his vehicle & had no insurance coverage is now w/o a vehicle.
I took him around a few places today, because I was bored & we were going to a couple of the same places.

Are cigarettes a good buy at a gas station?
because that's where he bought a carton

Probably safe to discuss here, since he's a drummer

Anyway, he picks up odd jobs from people who hang out in bars. I can't knock it. I've had a couple of the best-paying jobs in my life from bar-chatter.

We stop in a couple of places & it's not even noon, but there are people hanging out in the bar with beers.
Later I go for Happy Hour at another pub & was surprised how many folks were in there guzzling large flagons of beer at 15:00.

Don't get me wrong, I've spent plenty of time in bars, but usually in the evening or on the weekends.
I was also either in a situation where I could take public transport or walk home.

There is no public transport feeding these dives, but there are plenty of vehicles parked outside
Shame on me for having two assumptions. These folks haven't got jobs, or they're skiving off from work, & they're probably driving home under the influence. (only a couple looked old enough to be retired)

Judgemental me, right?
but I'm the type who can't just pop in for A beer during Happy Hour

I visit during Happy Hour, because they have food specials. Buffalo Wings are cheap, but...
it turns out if you don't order a drink with your wings they skimp on the sauce

Yeah, seeing as how I used to inhabit a few watering holes myself, here was the breakdown of folks in my hangouts. (during working hours)
business owners - plenty of money & a driver waiting to take them home
retired - walks home or takes public transportation

Heck, I knew one guy who drank all day nearly every day & still managed to hold down a business.
He'd answer trouble calls from his office clerks & had the presence of mind to get things sorted over the phone.

Thinking back, I did some pretty stupid stuff when I was younger.
When I was out of work I'd go over to the local pub on my bicycle (10 km), because the "big wheels" came there for lunch.
I'd have too many beers & then ride my bike home. Surprised I didn't get squashed by a big truck.

 

[mellowinman]

Alcoholism: Never been pretty; never gonna be pretty.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

I've had more than one friend drink themselves literally to death.
One had diabetes & I'm not really sure what happened with his leg (started with bad gout), but he had to have it amputated from the knee down.
Didn't stop him from continuing to drink.

Another just wouldn't stop, as soon as he woke up in the morning he'd head for the bar. We'd see him passed out on the bar in the late afternoon.
He was coherent most of the time for years leading up to that, but at some point he just lost his will to live, somehow.
I was shocked to find out he was only 54 at his funeral.
To look at him you'd have guessed 75.

 

[TN WOODMAN]

This thread makes we want to watch a double feature of Ironweed and Barfly.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

Don't forget about Leaving Las Vegas!

 

[Pilgrim]

I've never been one to hang out in bars. I don't have time, and there's nothing in there that interests me unless there's a game I want to watch.

For a year I lived next door to a very cool horseshoe-shaped tavern in Clarkston, WA. I had to make it a point to stop in the week before we moved out of town - had only walked through the door once.

IMO: If you're hanging out in a bar on a regular basis, you're drinking too much.

 

[MJ5150]

Being judgmental of people can be a hard way to live.

-Mike

 

[pie_man_25]

I can tell you from non-personal experience that alcoholism ruins lives. Grew up in a community for families of alumni at a rehab facility. I once dated a woman who worked as a manager at the provincial liquor stores in Ontario. Heck, I was in a band with a guy who could tell you which mouthwash was good to drink when camping. Plenty of ugly stories abound when it comes to substances - a beer is a good thing to have if you're good for it. If not, it's really best just to stay away.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

Being judgmental of people can be a hard way to live.

I don't find it particularly difficult, but I feel like you're judging me right now.
Oh, the irony

 

[Pilgrim]

Being judgmental of people can be a hard way to live.

-Mike

True. But if you spend 5 hours a day/night sitting in a bar with a drink in your hand, it's not being judgmental to say that you're drinking too much.

And my conscience is absolutely clear on that. I'll go on to assert:

1) You're drinking too much
2) You're harming your health
3) You're wasting a lot of money

I guess I'm a subscriber to the Dean Vernon Wormer school: "Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son."

 

[MJ5150]

I don't find it particularly difficult, but I feel like you're judging me right now.
Oh, the irony

Nope. Just making an observation.
You suggested you were a judgmental person.

-Mike

 

[Killed_by_Death]

People judge things all the time. It's how we survive.
I'm not seeing how being judgemental can make life difficult.
If anything it's made life easier. I know who to stay away from, sometimes.

You're wasting a lot of money

Would like to convince my friend this is why he's always broke, but how?

 

[Callused Finger]

I have a beer at lunch sometimes. Doesn't mean I'm drinking everyday or take the afternoon off.

 

[shadowtippy]

If a person works 9 to 5 and stops off for a cold one on the way home from work, is that okay? How about a person who works from 2:00am to 10:00am and stops off for a cold one on the way home? Drinking in the morning...how scandalous.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

is that okay?

No one is forbidding them from imbibing whenever they choose.

 

[Alkali Ike]

you want to control another's behavior. Do you ride herd on all your other friends' supposedly negligent behavior?

 

[Killed_by_Death]

The only thing that bothers me about my friend is that he wastes his money on alcohol & cigarettes, but he doesn't slump around in the bars early in the day.
He saves that for the weekends.

It's kind of ironic to sit with him & other friends while they lament over how poor they are & drinking $7/glasses of beer & smoking cigarettes.
There I go with the judgement again

 

[Alkali Ike]

The only thing that bothers me about my friend is that he wastes his money on alcohol & cigarettes, but he doesn't slump around in the bars early in the day.
He saves that for the weekends.

It's kind of ironic to sit with him & other friends while they lament over how poor they are & they're drinking $7/glasses of beer & smoking cigarettes.
There I go with the judgement again

The good news is he has no car, so you don't need to lecture him about the condition of his tires.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

Oh dear, I really wanted to say something about the bald tires in his FB photos at the accident.

 

[shadowtippy]

No one is forbidding them from imbibing whenever they choose.

I may have misunderstood your original post, but it seemed, to me, that you were placing a stigma on people who drink during the day. Sometimes, morning or afternoon may be a shift worker's "late afternoon or early evening" where they do things "normal" people do after work, drinking being one of them.