I've heard 'not as bad as other people' from a drunk driver getting them out of jail and ironically they said the samething after seeing one of their friends who just got out of jail & program for substance related offenses.
The pleasant alcoholic might not be violent but they are just as dangerous. I worked with one who wound up with numerous accidents and incidents on the job. For years his drinking was/started as the liquid lunch. His final year before being fired he stopped bar hopping with friends and became so foggy in the mornings he would show up late, drunk, high and/or 'forgot' to pick up people in a car pool who learned real fast he just wasn't 'just' a afternoon-evening drinker.
For years people covered/enabled writing him off as harmless. And were leary to say anything since he needed the job to support his wife and kids.