I Hate Drunk People

Oct. 11, 2011

By Ryan O'Connell info

Ryan O’Connell is a 25 year-old writer based in the East Village, New York.

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I know this sounds hypocritical (welcome to humanity) but I really hate drunk people. I hate them even when I’m drunk. I look at their droopy faces and delayed reactions and want to shake them back to sobriety. You see, I pride myself on being a “good drunk.” I don’t get angry; I don’t get mad. I’m me, but drunk. Drunk me is closely related to Sober me, which means I’m usually a fun anti-buzzkill time. There’s no Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde kind of situation happening. You won’t ever look into my eyes and be like, “Ryan’s gone!” because I’m always right here, even if I’m three sheets to the wind.

But I often find myself in the minority. I’ll go to a party and watch girls sob to each other in the corner of the room and talking about their terrible fathers while I witness two dudes get riled up over something so trivial. There’ll be paranoia that someone is talking crap because the alcohol has caused insecurities to rise to the surface and act completely irrational. I just hate it. I hate watching people whom I have the utmost respect for be reduced to tears and vomit.

Admittedly, I got issues. I’ve written about having an alcoholic mother (whose now sober) before and I definitely think that has a played a role in me having little tolerance for bad drunks. I’m immediately brought back to living with my mom and having to watch her stumble around the house while asking me slurred questions. Ugh, just typing that made my blood boil again! So when I see someone who clearly can’t handle their booze, I can’t help but get annoyed at them. As far as I’m concerned, I’ve done my time with alcoholics. I don’t need anymore in my life.

I’m aware that this is insensitive of me. After all, people have problems with booze and you have to exhibit compassion. And I do, trust me. I’ve accompanied friends to AA meetings before; I’ve been their cheerleader. I just have no tolerance for the person who won’t acknowledge they suck at drinking and should probably stop. There’s only so many times I can apologize for your behavior and make sure you get home. At a certain point, I can’t be your fairy drunk mother and bail you out. I did that for years with my mom and I’m not about to take on a new project.

Every day I thank my lucky stars that I have a healthy relationship with alcohol because given my genes, it could’ve gone the other way. In fact, it still could. Both my mother ad uncle became alcoholics later in life, after drinking casually for years, so you never know. I’m also not suggesting that I’m the perfect drunk to ever have lived on planet wasted. I’ve definitely had my fair share of regrettable moments. I just wish that people would be conscious of the relationship they have to drugs and alcohol. It’s a blurry line we constantly walk and you have to be mindful of not falling on your face. TC mark

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  • LS

    errors in 3rd (“whose”) and last (“ad = and”) paragraphs, not hatin’, just sayin’

  • LS

    errors in 3rd (“whose”) and last (“ad = and”) paragraphs, not hatin’, just sayin’

  • LS

    errors in 3rd (“whose”) and last (“ad = and”) paragraphs, not hatin’, just sayin’

  • LS

    errors in 3rd (“whose”) and last (“ad = and”) paragraphs, not hatin’, just sayin’

  • Line

    kinda ok then turned into teen open diary of the year. 

  • Line

    kinda ok then turned into teen open diary of the year. 

  • Line

    kinda ok then turned into teen open diary of the year. 

  • Line

    kinda ok then turned into teen open diary of the year. 

  • Line

    kinda ok then turned into teen open diary of the year. 

  • Line

    kinda ok then turned into teen open diary of the year. 

  • Line

    kinda ok then turned into teen open diary of the year. 

  • Line

    kinda ok then turned into teen open diary of the year. 

  • Line

    kinda ok then turned into teen open diary of the year. 

  • Line

    kinda ok then turned into teen open diary of the year. 

  • Line

    kinda ok then turned into teen open diary of the year. 

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_5WQXSSKAMOU4WCHKCWYMUKKKNU Aladin Sane

    You’re the worst.

  • Anonymous

    Don’t forget “I got issues” and “anymore” (start and end of 3rd)

  • RT

    “who’s” :)

  • Anonymous

    Your the worse!

  • Anonymous

    Your the worse!

  • Alcoholic

    A lot of us wish that we could acknowledge our drinking problems and stop. Addiction is a little more powerful than that. A lot of us hate ourselves because we love you and wish we were capable of stopping. Its really hard caring for an active Alcoholic, I’m sorry. Its great you’re willing to support friends in recovery. You have a lot of resentment to the hell you experienced with your Mother, I am reading. Al-Anon may serve you very well in learning how to take care of You, for a change. Because trust me honey, we aren’t proud of selfishly consuming everything we touch until it no longer is capable of loving us any longer. Thats just what drugs do!

  • Alcoholic

    A lot of us wish that we could acknowledge our drinking problems and stop. Addiction is a little more powerful than that. A lot of us hate ourselves because we love you and wish we were capable of stopping. Its really hard caring for an active Alcoholic, I’m sorry. Its great you’re willing to support friends in recovery. You have a lot of resentment to the hell you experienced with your Mother, I am reading. Al-Anon may serve you very well in learning how to take care of You, for a change. Because trust me honey, we aren’t proud of selfishly consuming everything we touch until it no longer is capable of loving us any longer. Thats just what drugs do!

  • Anonymous

    Love. This basically says everything I feel about drunk people. “I just have no tolerance for the person who won’t acknowledge they suck
    at drinking and should probably stop. There’s only so many times I can
    apologize for your behavior and make sure you get home.” <— You said it perfectly!

  • Strange Friend

    What’s with all the I’s lately. Where did the You’s go? Did you finally abandon the second person?

  • Asshole

    Who will edit the editors?

  • hmm

    Wow, I hate drunk people too and it has to do with the fact that both my fathers are alcoholic.  I wish so much to have a husband who doesn’t drink or knows his limit, but who knows.  

  • http://karyninny.com/ karyn

    i’m drunk right now and i love you even though you hate me…I LOVE YOU MAN

  • http://karyninny.com/ karyn

    i’m drunk right now and i love you even though you hate me…I LOVE YOU MAN

  • Jo

    “ALCOHOLIC” missed the point – Ryan acknowledges that drugs/alcohol are hard to control. But there’s no excuse for saying “that’s just what drugs do!” No honey, that’s what you CHOSE to let them do to you. I can’t tell you the last time a bottle of vodka ran over and shoved itself down my throat until I was a drunken abusive mess… Nope, pretty sure I did that all by myself. I bought it, opened it, poured it and never once did that bottle force me to do anything I didn’t want to do. So, yes addiction is hard to control and yes, sometimes it does feel like you’re powerless against it,  but people, until we take responsibility for how we interact with all the substances available to us, we’re just going to be those bad drunks.

  • nicknack

    ooh, the most productive thing i’ve done today is go on a blog and write comments masquerading as a copy editor! AMURRICA

  • Guest

    “(whose now sober)” 
    *who’s

  • LS

    mom ?

  • amigo

    i enjoyed this article- relatable and honest

  • coffeeandinternets

    The kind of drunk I dislike is the one that comes from people who subsequently brag about the intoxication.  Glorifying blackouts in college = average.  Glorifying blackouts as a god damn adult = depressing.

    I also find that the people who become irrational when drunk — the ones who are mean, the ones who dramatize an otherwise inocuous situation — should generally be considered with wariness.  There’s usually some repressed, deep-seeded shit going on with them, and alcohol provides them with an ugly avenue to vent whatever types of internal emotions they have to deal with wgeb sober.  I used to be confused as to why I was never one to rage, cry, and embarrass myself even at super tipsy moments…but after thinking about the times I have seen those situations, and who I have seen them happen to, it’s pretty clear that it’s because I like myself and they didn’t. 

    And you know what my comment and alcohol both have in common?
    TOTAL DOWNERS

  • http://twitter.com/bfeliciano Benjamin Feliciano

    Fairy drunk mother. :D

  • Chris

    I fought an addiction with painkillers for a steady year after having spent the last 3 binge drinking and blazing daily, so I know what a struggle it is to get caught in that endless spiral of falling deeper and deeper into the habit. The shit blindsided me. 
    One random afternoon last August I was snorting my first roxi 30 to kill a hangover/fever and before I knew it it was August again, of 11, and I was in the last place I’d ever imagined myself…a public bathroom stall with my severely bruised, track-marked arm hanging off a sink because my friend didn’t trust me to hit myself safely after how many I’d already done that day.Blues changed me completely, so I get where you’re coming from. I came very close to losing everyone and everything with how unstable and conniving I let myself become. To be honest, I’m not sure how I didn’t, but I’m glad the people around me love me as much as they showed they did through all this. Without that I would have taken my life.I got to the point where I’d shoot, pass out and wake up 4 hours later wishing I had just died from an overdose so this all could have ended before I finally stood up to my demon and checked myself in for help. It’s one of the hardest things I ever did. Even when it was clear as the water in St. Thomas that this was my last resort, the junkie in me kept trying to pull me back to the pill I’d grown to hate. I had to wait 2 days from the call before being able to go in and see my doc and a part of my mind spent those 48 hours trying to convince me that all I would get out of turning myself over to the recovery center was  harsh judgment and failure, which was the complete opposite of the truth. I’ve been sober off everything for a month and a half now and I totally feel you; I can’t stand to be around drunks/pillheads anymore, either. They remind me too much of my old self. I wish I could help others, but I’m still not strong enough. Overcoming an addiction is one of the hardest fights anyone will ever get themselves into. It’s still breaking me down mentally and physically on a lot of days and it takes every ounce of strength inside of me, even with the suboxone helping, to resist the temptation.Great article! 

  • Chris

    …really, internet? You gonna shit on my spacing between ‘graphs like that? Thanks for making me look like a 7th grader who snuck into the medicine cabinet.

  • Alcoholic

    you called me honey out of love right, no passive agressive condescension…right?

  • Kaitlynclement

     my best friend has that dr. jekyll/ mr. hyde complex when she drinks, and it’s made me come to hate drunks. love her to death, but hate her with alcohol

  • AP
  • Suckit

    but you drink.  so that means your fucking annoying too you douche bag

  • Mypoint

    Well my opinion is this, alcohol is a power from hell. It creates irrationality and disorder in humanity. It influences the mind and body chemistry, makes it helpless and removes all the motivation from life….. alcohol is not a necessity and life shouldn`t be balanced with alcohol!  Alcohol is just a temporary fix that covers a permanent problem and becomes a problem itself when it becomes a cycle. Everywhere in the world especially in cities and ”advanced modern societies” people drink to get over mental pain. People are in pain because of alot of things but mainly because the life we are living is a lie. With our jobs minimum of 40 hour a week closed in some office or in some building  just to get the advertised luxuries as necessities we adopted a system where the animal in each and every one of us is imprisoned and needs to get out. Before, man was a hunter of his food, his main aim in life was to procreate and provide food and shelter for himself and family. He only had very few choices and life altough harder was much more simple.Today I just watch people who have  homes, cars and every luxury you could imagine but they are not free. They become prisoners of their own belongings. They are dead inside as they had walked away from their true habitat, yes the jungle, the forest, the green mother earth. That`s why people look like dead all the week and become irrational beasts in the weekend. I am one of those people yes most probably like you sitting down staring at your compuetr screen in some tight little room and yess,shit if I am talking nonsense it must be that the alcohol that damaged my brain cells when I was younger and now I am paying the consequences…….. dooooooh! 

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