ElijahNoahColt

My local store was only four houses down from my house, less than a minutes walk :P I would sometimes go twice a night and the guy would always say

"...son, you should buy the bigger bottle and you wouldn't have to come back"

I would go after finishing my first bottle and head back, the same guy was always on as I went twice during one of his shifts, he must have judged me so very hard.

I'm sure he was a lovely chap but hopefully I won't see him again!

sugarbear1

I paid one store back....they gave me "credit" on a regular basis....I know ALL of those stores miss my money!

cardoon

Years ago, in a city far away, I frequented a convenience store. One day the clerk asked," Where are you from?" I told him. Then he said," You must not like it here." I looked at him puzzled. Finally he said," You drink too much." I changed stores...

360shoes

Lol. This is a good thread. Funny how even buying the darn stuff was even complicated. What you think and how you buy it should be on the Am I an Alcoholic? quiz.

I could have cared less what they thought. One convenience store even named a package after me. The "Shoes" trifecta. 2 bottles of wine and a pack of cigarettes. They would see me pull up in the parking lot and just have it sacked and ready to go.

DrakeCKC

I live 2 blocks from my favorite old liquor store, 6blocks from a grocery store and 1/4 mile from a Costco, all were usual liquor haunts.... temptation is all around.

Funny this thread came up, I went in to the liquor store on Thursday as a favor to a neighbor who is packing up some fragile items to get boxes. They put them up front for anyone to take. Just for a second, I thought of taking a walk through... but didn't. One of the clerks waved at me, but didn't ask what had become of me.

I rotated my visits, the small store for the good stuff and wine, the grocery store when desperate for cheap stuff and Costco for the long haul!

dizzychainsaw

I actually work at a gas station and I witness people buying liquor and beer daily. Some even have the shakes. There's one man in particular that comes buy a pint of vodka every morning. I feel bad for him. I want to tell him that he doesn't have to do this. I don't think it's my place. My heart aches for some of these people since I know what it's like.

trikyriky

....lol

I just love a good ending

And new beginnings

TomSawyer

Unfortunately I can relate to this all too well. I had been sober for 4 months or so prior to my last relapse, and I remember wondering if the local liquor store missed me. Over my last relapse, I went back to the store. It was so shameful to be back in there. And the guy even said, 'good to see you again buddy,' but I think he could tell I was in a low spot.

I can only use that as motivation. I don't ever have to be in that situation again if I don't let myself.

SnowDawg

Before my drinking escalated, I used to have the bottles ready for the 'regulars'. That was in the bottle shoppe I worked at. Never understood why that offended them until a clerk did the same for me a few months back.

firstymer

I wonder the same thing about the garbage man who picks up my recycling. My empty vodka bottles were so numerous, I was afraid he was gonna tear his rotator cuff throwing it into the truck.

Mirage74

Yea, the recycling. In my old condo, I had a recycling bin that I put out for pick up. When they dumped it in the truck, you could hear all the breaking bottles echo down my street.

Leshar

I was a "rotator". I couldn't buy more than one bottle at a time cos if I did I'd just open the second bottle. It was tiresome and exhausting trying to remember the rotation, plaster on a smile for the clerk, horrible anxiety till i was safely home, behind closed doors.

I have a problem now. I'm getting rid of a lot of stuff, and liquor stores always have tons of boxes which I need. But I don't want to even cross the threshold of a liquor store, the idea fills me with distaste.
Any other ideas. Where I could get boxes free, folks? Ta.

gigi0310

I had to chuckle at this...4 stores with walking distance.

---never use the plastic black bags from the liquor
---put recycling in a bin away from my house...c'mon
---I said I was buying the wine for my aunt who lived with me (I am sure they didn't believe it)

Oh the things we do....the similar stories are very telling

gigi

MythOfSisyphus

Great thread! I too wondered if a few liquor stores had to close their doors when I quit!

Tang

I definitely rotated stores. I used to wonder how many regulars the liquor store clerks saw and knew were alcoholics by the frequency.

liberated

Leshar- ask the grocery store to save "egg boxes"- they are large rectangular boxes the eggs come in (several dozen)- they are FANTASTIC for packing. They genewrally just collapse and recycle them.

doggonecarl

I was just one drunk out of countless others getting my daily fix. I doubt my presence was even noted, much less my absence.

Serenity1972

I know the liquor store that I frequented misses me dearly and I am sure they cut back on their orders of Svedka once I stopped buying the poison. I haven't been there in over 2 months. I dropped a lot of cash at that store and I was one of the many regulars that came in every Friday after work. It was embarrassing when they had my bottle ready for me when I walked in the store, but I guess they thought they were being polite. I have to admit that the remainder of the weekend including another trip on Friday night was done by my SO (they thought he was a alcoholic). I would only buy a pint at a time as I thought that moderation meant (buy one pint at a time). Boy, was I fooled.

GracieLou

I live in a trailer park. In the front of the park is a bar. I have to drive through the bar parking lot to get into the park. I do this everyday at least four times a day. To work and back and to my AA meeting and back.

It is fun to drive home on a Friday night when the bar is packed and the music is blaring and people are outside laughing and smoking cigarettes. Fun times.

Actually it is not that bad. I have not gone to bars in years and that bar I have only been in three times and all three trips ended badly...lol

caboblanco

i don't know how they survive without me...they must realize a loss in profit