So long story short, I have a personal rule to never drink alcohol. I have a myriad of reasons from general health to honouring loved ones, but that’s not the point. The point is that I do not drink ever.
My girlfriend and I went to her family party and apparently, they have a tradition of everyone taking a shot to honour one of their dead relatives. Everyone does it at the same time and talks about what they’re thankful for and everything, but I told the person handing me the shot I wouldn’t drink, and he looked at me funny.
Her cousin pointed me out before they drank it and said I need a shot and I said no I’m ok I don’t drink and he said it’s just one shot and I said no I can’t but please continue I’ll just drink something else and they refused to start.
I ended up leaving after being egged on too much and my girlfriend apologized for me and we left. She did her best to defend me but her family is just stubborn. Everyone was talking about me apparently saying that I was selfish and that I was ruining the night.
It was just one shot but I’ don’t know, I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
Here are what netizens think:
- That’s very inconsiderate of them. You could be a recovering alcoholic or whatever. It’s never a good idea to push someone to drink alcohol. Never! And that’s coming from someone who likes to drink… Respect people’s boundaries!
- I mean, alcohol is such a weird thing to pressure people about. Or maybe it’s just me? In general though, the alcohol isn’t as important as the fact that they pressured him into doing something he doesn’t want to, with no regard to his boundaries. ‘No’ is a complete sentence. If they can’t respect that, pick a better tradition.
- Sometimes people feel threatened by the actions of others. For example: if a person likes to drink a little too much, they might feel subconsciously guilty about it. And other people not drinking holds up a mirror to their faces. But if everyone was drinking too, they wouldn’t feel so guilty about it. It is obviously not true for everyone, but sometimes it’s the case.