Being sober in the Food and Beverage Industry

Anyone else work in the Food and Beverage Industry? Does it bother you watching your coworkers get drunk and have a good time at work? If so, how do you deal with it?

Not in the industry but I work from home with my roommates and we all use to drink all the time while working. I’m just starting to get sober and I’m not sure how I’m gonna handle it.

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Sometimes smelling booze on them, or having them hungover and feeling like shit is a reminder of what I don’t want and how great my life is now. But sometimes, the bottles in the bar seem to glisten. Or when a client wants orders a gin and tonic on a hot day, it just sounds so good. Just keeping thinking of how messed up things were, play the tape forward.

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Can you ask them not to do it in front of you? Maybe find a new place to live. That’s really difficult in the beginning.

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I have been in the industry for 20 years. It is very difficult serving my bar guests from time to time. I often wonder how I will socialize without alcohol being that bars and restaurants is ALL I know. I do have a few regulars that come in and don’t drink. They just stop by for a tea and say hello and sometimes by a round for the other regulars. It just is what it is. My close friends are ok with my bot drinking and some want to jump on board. We are all either in or pushing 40’s and the shit gets old. I have wanted to quit many times but this time there is something different. I quit smoking a year ago cold turkey so I am just taking one day at a time.

But yes being sober is probably most difficult in f and b. Like a meds addict being a pharmacist. One day at a time.

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Yeah it’s definitely a tough place to be sober, everyone drinks. You need a good system and strong affirmation stay on the straight and narrow.

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Yes, f&b guy here. It’s hard in general to see anybody enjoy themselves in an activity that you yourself have done and indulged in, yet know isn’t good for you and/or has destroyed your life.

Hey sobersully,
I bartended for a decade and in the end I decided I had to leave the industry to maintain my sobriety.
It was an extreme choice, but after years of trying to get sober/ moderate in that environment, it was too much for me and I chose to put my recovery first because that’s what I personally needed to get a good chunk of time under my belt.
As you know, drinking is the norm in hospitality… That’s usually the go to pass time/ bonding/ relaxation for industry folk. At least it was for all the people I’ve worked with and known in multiple bars…
I found also, the working hours, which in my case were days AND nights, contributed to an overall unhealthy lifestyle with constant exhaustion and poor eating and sleeping habits. This resulted in me having practically no resolve to do anything at all above just functioning, barely, and I was hungover often and that didn’t help either…
Near the end, I would be at work and watching all the drunks living it up and getting sloppy, angry, sad, sexually inappropriate etc … All the lovely things that go with booze, and I actually felt bad to be contributing to the problem. Sure I never held a gun to anyone’s head, but I just didn’t want to have a hand in it anymore.
Also, I could only deal with their shenanigans if I was half in the bag too…
I’m not sure where I’m going with this, but what I will say is if you have the same experience as me, and just find it too damn hard to keep sober in that job, maybe consider other employment for awhile.
It helped me SO MUCH.

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I did back in the late 90’s to early 2000’s. I was nowhere near sober.

You words, “have a good time”. Are they really? I was sick last week. 100% perfect flashback to those days. In bathroom I knew I didn’t feel good. Wife was in the bath. I thought, “Oh Man, this isn’t good.” I took my shoes off so I didn’t throw up on them (tell me that isn’t a TDM, Total Drunk Move). I threw up all over Hell and half of Georgia. I threw up the Mexican I’d had that afternoon, then some Cambodian food…I’ve never had Cambodian food by the way. Sitting in the bathroom floor, leaning against the sink, I told my wife, “This is why I don’t drink anymore.”

Not really the definition of a good time for me.

Best,
Chandler

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"I’ve never had Cambodian food by the way"
:joy::joy::joy:

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Yeah, I’m sorta trying to dislocate temporarily until I feel more stable, but moving isn’t really that much of a viable option and asking them not to drink is too much for them since that’s basically the point of their days as it was mine.

This made my day, honestly

Great reply you have ur head screwed on I did that work wen I drank n I wud never go back to it now

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