Drinking epidemic in our business?

It can't be twisting words; I never attributed it to you.

I said I'll never understand a religious group (or any other group) that thinks prohibiting alcohol is at all a good thing to do. I'm against extremism on both sides of the line.

 

"So far tonight I've tossed back two quarts and eight cans (Keystone Light. God, I suck)."

Sorry, Platy, Keystone Light does NOT qualify as drinking. Eighteen of those puppies? Well, that's more like torture.

 

Dude, you took all that waaaaaay too personally. The religion line was not aimed at you.

EDIT: Yes, it was based on your post, but it wasn't a personal attack or an attack on your particular religion.

 

I'm not taking anything personally, I promise. I didn't even think of it as any type of attack.

I just didn't understand what he meant by it, and I'm hoping he'll come back and clarify what he was saying.

And BuckW, I guess I must have misunderstood your post. To me, it read as if you were talking about Prohibition in general, which I would agree is a stupid idea. As for particular religions saying it's a no-no, well, they have their reasons.

 

There is a pretty high rate of alcoholism among reporters...I read that somewhere. We're right behind air traffic controllers, cops and bartenders. I think a lot of it has to do with the stress of the job and the drinking culture that goes with it. Many of my reporter friends are pretty big drinkers (especially if they're single).
I've kind of gotten better about drinking now that I'm older. For one, I don't drink to get drunk anymore -- I would say, "Well, I'm getting fucked up tonight!" and drink myself into a stupor. I also don't drink as frequently as I used to...it was normal for me to have three or four beers on Tuesday, then drink a six-pack of tallboys while watching TV on a Wednesday evening, then drink another six beers out at the bar on a Thursday night, then get hammered at a party on Friday. What kind of worries me is that I tend to binge drink...I'll drink six or more drinks Thursday, Friday and Saturday, for example. That really can't be good for my health. I'm planning on giving up drinking for Lent, and I may re-evaluate things after that.

 

I think I'm in the minority when I say I don't remember the last time I had more than one drink in a night. I've got a very low tolerance for alcohol, so 2 screwdrivers (I hate beer) is my limit and I don't remember the last time I had more than one. I think in the last two months I've only had three total. I'm not a drinker.

 

I don't doubt that you read that, and I don't even doubt it even possibly could be true, but how in hell could anyone compile reliable statistics on that? Especially since you would think air-traffic controllers would constitute a pretty small sample group. The only logical source for getting such statistics would be rehabs, but then A.) not every alcoholic sobers up, B.) not every alcoholic who gets sober uses a rehab and C.) not every heavy drinker in a rehab is necessarily a genuine alcoholic in the clinical sense, they're just fuckups who happen to drink a lot and got caught and were forced by family or employer to get some help. I read in a Guild bulletin in the 1980s that some academic in Britain determined that newspaper copy editors are No. 3 in stress level after prison guards and coal miners, and I remember thinking that it's probably a crock. Brain surgeons, for instance -- I would hope they feel a little more pressure to get it perfect than some guy putting together an NBA roundup.

 

Depends on whether you have to design the page, too.

(Why, oh why do I do that?)

 

Not if that guy works at my shop.

 

Good man, good to see I'm not the only one. Though I prefer Code Red to diet pop of any sort. Diet pops just don't taste the same to me.

 

I drink that much, too, albeit mostly non-alcoholic fare.