shoreladylu

I know we all did silly things to trick ourselves/ hide our addiction frim others. Now looking back at the things I did I don't know whether to laugh at my old self, or feel ashamed. Share if you'd like.

What really got me thinking about starting this thread was that I decided to count how many liquor stores I had regularly visited while driving past an old haunt the other day. The number was TWELVE! I went to 12 different spots within a 2 town area to "hide" the fact that I drank so much from the cashiers. And it could never be the same spot within a few days.

Another goody, I would save up my wine bottles in my closet until I could save enough "legitimate" recycling (cans, water bottles, etc) to strategically hide all the empty wine bottles on the bottle of the recycle can.

Anyone else?

Change4good

upgraded to first class just to get free drinks. and get them before the cart went down the aisle.

jennbean

I did the same thing to hide it from the cashiers, I went to...6 liquor stores. Even then I got to know some of them better than I would have liked. I was not always green to the Earth and would throw the bottles out strategically so people wouldn't notice. I also always managed to do the bottle returns when I got married (4 months ago).

YEM

Wore long sleeves no matter the outside temp, replaced peoples prescription pills with similar looking OTC pills, would steal loved ones things and replace with much cheaper, similar looking things and assume they wouldn't notice.

Filling a gun case up with rocks to achieve a similar weight =/= the gun actually being in the case.

healin

I would go to work in the morning following a crack bender and tell everyone I was drinking 'last night' to hide it from them.

Sometimes I would put a scarf over my face when speaking to people and tell them I have a cold so they wouldn't catch it

Pataphor

I would work out all the time to sweat it out...when I think of how I must of reeked!

Nonsensical

I would go to a variety of liquor stores also. Not 12, but 6 or 7.

Put beer in the refrigerator and hide whiskey nearby. Take a snort of whiskey every time I went to get a beer. Looked like I had only had 6-8 beers, but actually consumed much more alcohol.

Buying beer with higher ABV.

Hide pants and shoes in garage so I could sneak out after everyone else went to bed. They would see me in my sweat pants and assume I was in for the night.

I distilled the alcohol out of listerine using a tea kettle and garbage bag while on a 'dry' military installation overseas. I also managed to get apple juice from the dining facility to ferment in my wall locker.

purplepoppy

I was sitting at a red light on my way home from work just today and looked over and thought, well I hope I never go back to that liquor store again - I too had about 4 stores I would alternate - I would also go to a grocery store that sold wine so I could buy wine without worrying that a cashier would see me twice in one week...

purplepoppy

Oh, I also remembered that if we were getting a snow storm I would freak if I didn't think I had enough wine...

Change4good

WOW. It is amazing how destructively resourceful we can be. Hell, you became a chemist. :-)

vegibean

Purplepoppy, I relate to that too, if it were going to rain really hard, I better make sure I have enough so I don't have to go out.

I also jumped from store to store so the cashiers didn't know either. You know, every time I go to the store now and I see someone there just buying a BIG BOTTLE of wine, I just think "hmm... I know what they're doing." :/

Wifi

I never really cared what the cashier thought... I did always get gum with my 2-24 oz beers before work however...

MurphysMistress

I would just avoid friends & family, mostly family....wouldn't answer the phone when I knew "they could tell".
I had 2 liquor stores I would always go to....one because it was closer & the other because it was open an hour later....I got "shut off" at that one a few months ago. I wasn't driving but I was so ********* trying to buy another bottle of vodka, the guy wouldn't even sell me cigarettes. The closer one I didn't care at all....I'd be running in there at 5 minutes to 6 on a Sunday (right before they closed) in my pajamas, racoon eyes from the night before, crazy hair....lol...didn't care as long as I could drink all night. I bet if I ever went there in nice clothes, make-up & my hair done they wouldn't recognbise me....even though I was there every day.
I felt like I hit the lottery when I found one in the next town that would actually deliver 'til 11 on a Sunday night.
I would also stock up if any inclement weather was coming....I never ran to the grocery store, just the packie (Boston-ese for liquor store, lol)

mfanch

My post was prolly a little TMI. Let's just say that I did a lot of crazy shyte to hide my addiction. I would go to ANY LENGTHS to keep it completely secret. Any lengths.

Xune

I would balance beer purchases with credit card and with cash. My wife wouldn't know how much I was really drinking.

nomis

Can't think of anything off the top of my head that hasn't already been mentioned. Hiding bottles was something I became quite proficient at, whether they were in a sock drawer under a sofa cushion or in my work bag, I was always on the hunt for new squirrel holes. Bizarre.

Suspiria

Multiple stores, check. Also, filling empty water bottles with vodka to sip from while in various public places, i.e. train ride home from work, grocery store, book store, liquor store while buying my wine for the night. And, purchasing two pints instead of a fifth so I could have two different hiding places.

MadameX

Same as above... Rotating liquor stores, paying with cash only so it wouldnt show on debit and credit card statements, taking big purses with me large enough to fit wine bottles so I wouldnt walk in the house with the bag in my hand, putting wine in those car coffee mugs or a thermos and taking it to sip on at work throughout the day, vodka or wine in gatorade or water bottles to sip on in public places, hiding bottles everywhere around the house, buying altoids and carrying toothpaste and perfume with me every where I went. Sooo sad the lengths we went. I was even more ashamed when I would get caught towards the end. My boyfriend use to tell me " what do you think Im stupid, I can still smell it al over you " :-(

Suspiria

Definitely a trend here. Reminds me of an OLD Dennis Miller punch line, "we all think we have our little secrets, but, when we're alone, we all do the same stupid $**t"

shoreladylu

When thinking back on why I had so many spots to buy alcohol (12!), I think it had to do with the fact that I only let myself buy one big bottle of wine at a time becuase i knew if I had it at home I was drinking it that day. I had to have a lot of spots to buy cause I was buying every single day and I had my facade to keep up! I thought it was nutty when I first heard someone say you might be an alcoholic if you set a limit of 1 or 2 drinks and find you can't stop at that. In my head I never really said "ok you can have half a bottle of wine today and the other half tomorrow." I always had the mentality that whatever I bought would be gone by the end of the night.