There are a lot of reasons people wouldn’t want to drink alcohol. From addiction to the possible cancer risk to even reasons that can’t be explained, it’s clear those who don’t drink can have plenty of cause to refuse alcohol.
Redditor barbellseed6969 has his own reasons to not drink, but it seems not everyone respects them. The original poster (OP) took to the “Am I the A**hole” (AITA) board to ask if he overreacted when it happened.
He asked:
“AITA for storming out of my friend’s house after he put alcohol in my drink?”
The story went:
“My sister got addicted to drinking, then to cigarettes/vapes, and eventually started doing harder drugs. She’s clean now, but due to all this, I absolutely hate alcohol, drugs, and tobacco.”
“I’m extremely against it and all of my friends know this. They don’t know that the reason for my hatred for these substances is due to what happened with my sister, but they know that the hatred is there.”
“They have offered me a drink or a hit of a vape so many times and they always get the same answer. They know how much I hate it.”
“Well, my best friend named H is going to a university in a different country. I don’t see him most of the year, and he only flies back a few times out of the year to visit.”
“Well the other day, I was over at H’s house along with another friend. This was the last time we’d be able to hang out for a long time, because he was flying back out the next day.”
“We had just gotten to his house and he was going to make pina coladas, which he always makes when I’m over, and we were going to go sit out by the jacuzzi. He always puts alcohol in it for everyone, but he knows to never put any in mine.”
“Well it was a normal day, we were out by the jacuzzi, I mowed down the pina colada, and he asked me if it tasted good. I replied that it tasted amazing.”
“He then said he put alcohol in it.”
“I thought he was kidding, so I asked him to clarify and he revealed that he actually did put alcohol in it.”
“I got angry, asked him why the f*** he did that knowing that I hate alcohol and never want it, he said ‘I knew you’d like it better with alcohol in it. I literally put in a tiny bit, basically a drop, it’s not going to have any effect on you’.”
“I said that I have never asked for alcohol in my drink and it wasn’t his place to make that decision for me.”
“I told him to go f*** himself and I stormed out of his house. I ignored his calls the rest of the day.”
“TL;DR: Friend put alcohol in drink knowing I hate alcohol, I got angry and stormed out of house. This was the last time I’d be able to hang out with him for a long time, as he was flying out the next day.”
“AITA?”
On the AITA board, people are judged for their actions using one of the following acronyms:
- NTA – Not the A**hole
- YTA – You’re the A**hole
- NAH – No A**holes Here
- ESH – Everybody Sucks Here
OP’s friend violated his health in a way just about everyone agreed was wrong.
It was quickly determined OP was NTA.
“NTA. You have made your boundaries pretty clear and he chose to ignore them. I would have been harsher.” – afspoty
“Exactly this. OP boundaries are made and friends are supposed to respect it. I don’t understand these posts of friends putting stuff in others food because they think it’s funny.”
“Don’t the understand how messed up that is? For someone like me that’s on medication if I take alcohol with it it could seriously screw me up. You just don’t mess with peoples food/drink.” – italy2986
“NTA”
“Doing something while knowing someone else will hate it is ALWAYS an AH move”
“Pina coladas are sweet and that tiny amount would NOT affect the flavor at all whatsoever. That’s like me adding one tiny grain of chili powder to a stew and then pointing and laughing at someone and saying “haha I added some chili so therefore you like chili” Not only is your friend wrong, but he’s also a dumba**”
“you NEVER mess with someone’s food without their knowledge PERIOD. especially because some people are incapable of processing alcohol, and doing so will send them straight to the hospital. your friend is a giant AH for that and honestly I would stop being friends with them”
“Personally, I wouldn’t want to continue being his friend anymore, because if he’s willing to do that to you, then he’s also willing to do that to someone else, like your sister. That and for tampering with food, which is an ultimate taboo.” – Lemon_Squeezy12
“This. Particularly part 3. Never, ever, ever mess with someone’s food/drink without telling them first, and never, ever, ever ignore someone’s food rules. Doesn’t matter if you think their rules for themselves are BS, you just deal with it.”
“Why tf anyone these days still thinks this kind of thing is okay to do blows my mind.”
“You are very much NTA here.” – Fatal_S
Other commenters were very worried about the actions of OP’s friend.
“If he added just a drop, how could he be so smug about you ‘liking it better’? He sounds like someone trying to reverse hard on a huge AH move. A friendship-ending AH move. NTA but re-evaluate this ‘friend’.” – TreeShapedHeart
“That sounds like a cover up to me… ‘Oh I added just a drop’ is probably his a**hole code for ‘there is actually a considerable amount of alcohol in this and I added a bunch of mixers and shit so you couldn’t taste it’.” – flybarger
“NTA – If he is still telling you that you acted like an asshole, rather than thinking about his own choices, then you really need to choose better friends.” – bklynpeter
“This. Ask him how many drinks he has spiked. Call it what it is. He spiked your drink. He could have easily never told you, the only reason he did was to get a rise out of you.”
“He has no problem in choosing to spike people’s drinks.”
“I used to be a bartender and ‘friends’ would ask that I add a little of something to someone else’s drink my response was always the same.”
“You can ask what goes into your drink but if you are wanting me to put something in someone else’s you are telling me to spike their drink. Are you telling me to spike their drink? Everyone backtracks when you call them out.” – ohno_spaghetti_o
The clearest rule is you shouldn’t mess with someone else’s food and drink. You may not like or understand their decision to not drink, but it’s their decision to make.
It’s really easy to have fun without forcing your friend to drink when they don’t want to.