anaconda22

I can't help but marvel at how inviting those beer signs in the windows of taverns are. I mean when I walk by a bar I know it will probably have a juke box, pool table, drunks complaining at the bar ect... The bar by my bus stop has a friendly bartender Joe thats always willing to lend a ear to my problems or even give me credit if I run out of money for the week. These are my thoughts when I was stomping home today from the bus stop. I get on these message boards & start to remember all the emotional, physical, financial and legal problems addiction has caused me. Thank god I made it today sober!

suki44883

Good job!!

savexourxship

Unfortunately, In my opinion the bars and alcohol companies certainly exploit addiction and abuse. I'm glad you were strong enough to fight off your demons, and remain sober another day.

Isaiah

One of my favorite movies is the classic zombie film "Dawn of the Dead." In it a group of non-zombie survivors take refuge in a shopping mall. Zombies keep flocking toward the mall and one character asks why they keep coming here, another says (paraphrasing) "this is what they've known their whole life."

I wont lie, I have often equated alcoholics with those zombies. Going to bars and liquor stores in a way is just "what we know." In a post-apocalyptic world we'd be pounding our fists on the bar doors, mumbling "beeeer beeeer."

And I try to forgive myself for being pulled in by those signs and doors. I just concede that I'm going to be tempted by that stuff, I just take my reassurance that I don't act on it.

anaconda22

I'm just worried that Joe The Bartender will think that I am upset with him or something. I use to stop in for a diet coke and play the old school pac man game. However, the diet coke quickly turned into rum and diet coke.

julez

Joe the bartender will understand. He's the least of your worries
Im so proud that you made the decision to "stomp" PAST the bar and not INTO it!!
Everytime you feel weak, remember all the awful things alcohol did to your life.
Keep up the good work!

Hollyanne

I do like to "stomp"!
Lived on 2nd Ave and 60th, UES NYC.
Ah Jaysus!! I had to move!
As Frank McCourt said, on St.Patrick's day They march up 5th Avenue and stagger down 3rd!

anaconda22

Thanks jules the thing is I really think Joe the Bartender is really nice to me because I give good tips when i have the money. I just feel like I'm missing on some type of action going on in the run down bar. lol I know I'm really not, it's the same group of people there day after day pounding beers and shots. Everyone seemed to be real nice to me (especially women) when I had the big paycheck or hit the casino for a big win. However, when I'm broke I feel invincible. This feeling is the same sometimes in the AA rooms as well. Because I smell like alcohol or dressed like a street person members shy away from me.

Spirit08

Blinking lights? Bar stools? $1 drafts? Pool table and sports bar, I mean TV? IDK...I try not to be sarcastic these days, but couldn't help it! It's funny. Maybe, THE TOP SHELF!! haha The hot bartender. .. It's not a crackhouse! haha

LaFemme

Joe the bartender...if he's a good person, will be one olf the happiest people ever if you never enter his bar again. And if he is not happy that you aren't frequenting his bar he's not nice. He knows you havea problem.

Jupiter

Well I guess that's what rehabs for. I too lived in Manhattan for about ten years, and I really have to admit that it is the single worst place for an alcoholic to live in. Endless avenues filled with strangers and bars.

For some, like me, I used to rotate across a dozen bars or so. I would visit one everyday for a month until I got sloppy drunk, created a disturbance, and was either thrown out or too embarrassed to return. For a year at least, and then it would repeat.

There is something to be said for being able to change one's environment, either voluntarily or involutarily. Of course, you may be able to run from Joe the Bartender, but you cannot run from your own shadow. At some point, it seems that you just have to make a series of stands and confront the issue.

For those of us who are cursed with this disease, many often find such involtunary times when we lose our jobs or get thrown out of our residence by our girlfriends/spouses and so forth.

But, all things considered, it seems reasonable to take the stand in a venue other than the disease's home turf.

Hooped

I totally gave up on going to bars long ago when I found that Joe the bartender could never pour them fast enough or long enough for me to get my proper 'fix' of alcohol. So I just drank at home on a downward spiral that lasted for years.

Kmber2010

At one point, bars were a pleasant place to be. Getting together with friends for a night out many years ago = good times.

Now I don't notice the bars and if I do.....I just associate my drinking days (even though most were at home - alone) and I feel nothing.

Weird but bars and me have divorced....LOL. I think there is a no contact order in place too....

Well done on your sobriety. Keep it going.

FBL

A very good friend of mine happens to own a small tavern and is also the regular bartender. He doesn't drink (go figure) and he's been one of my biggest supporters. He said he'd rather lose me as a customer than as a friend.

stugotz

Thats like blaming restaurants for obesity. Accountibility is key here.

aasharon90

Like sitting in a chair
at ur local beauty shop,
the stylist hears all.

They r like our own
personal shrinks that
listen to our problems.

Bartenders are there
as well doing a job.
Helpin them pay bills,
raise families, etc.

Ive learned that when
I finally left the club
scene that all my so
call friends were probably
still there as I moved
on in my life.

The bartender will be
there listening to the
next alcohol, drunk,
sociallite, business
man, etc. that comes
in on a regular bases.

Will he remember you
yrs. down the road?

Maybe, maybe not.

Remember you only
have one person to
remember and he has
many.

Each day sober is a
personal accomplishment.
Getting sober and staying
sober for you and no one
else.

Still Waters

I find bars depressing, and have for a very long time. I moved away from the town I grew up in, and when I came back 10 years later, the same people were sitting on the same barstools complaining about the same things. They were just sleeping with different bar stool sitters.

Totally depressing.

And they stink. Bars stink bad.

jamdls

I work out at a gym in a shopping center located in between 2 bars. I have been to both bars in years past, 1 is small dark and smells bad and the other is large dark and smells bad; I thought they smelled bad even when I was drinking due to the years of stale smoke (I was a life long smoker and still hated the smell at least until I had a few drinks in me), sloppy drunks, and a moldy smell. Both bars have a few tables out front (I think because they don't allow smoking inside anymore) and I often see the same people sitting outside smoking and drinking and I feel pity for them because instead of enjoying life they just sit around in these dark smelly bars and drink, it's just such a waste.