There is nothing wrong with people enjoying a little alcohol every now and then, as long as they know their limits.
Unfortunately, there are far too many people who simply need to learn their limits, and think because their friend could handle three drinks, they could also handle three drinks.
Only to realize far too late that that wasn’t the case.
Of course, they don’t get themselves drunk intentionally, something other people have absolutely no trouble doing.
Including Redditor Early-Candidate-2984, who made it his mission to drink as much as he possibly could with his friends regularly.
Including a day he forgot he had a family obligation, resulting in his showing up in a state of inebriation that did not go unnoticed by his family.
Resulting in the original poster (OP) becoming persona non grata.
Wondering if he had done anything wrong, the OP took to the subReddit “Am I The A**hole” (AITA), where he asked fellow Redditors:
“AITA for going to my younger brother’s birthday party whilst really drunk?”
The OP explained how he forgot about a very important day after having one too many, and his efforts to disguise his drunken state proved unsuccessful.
“So me (18 M[ale]) and my friends were drinking a lot yesterday morning and we got really drunk.”
“By the way I know day drinking seems weird but for the past few months me and my friends have gotten drunk nearly every morning since we’re all 18 now and it’s legal.”
“So it’s more of a tradition than anything concerning.”
“I forgot it was my brother’s (2M) birthday.”
“If I had remembered it was his birthday then I wouldn’t have drank this morning but I didn’t so I had to go there at about 1pm whilst still really drunk.”
“My mam asked me if I had been drinking and I said no but I think she knew anyway and she was upset with me.”
“She said that it was completely inappropriate.”
“But I didn’t really do anything at the party that would be classed as rude or offensive.”
“At the most I only had slurred speech but I stayed out of everybody’s way anyway.”
“I gave the present to my mam and I went home so that was it.”
“But this morning my mam left me a voicemail saying I’m not allowed to speak to my family until I get ‘things sorted out’.”
“She said it was really inappropriate of me to show up there and especially in front of my uncle.”
“I’ll be honest I didn’t even notice my uncle was there but he is a recovering alcoholic so I guess that would’ve been bad for him.”
“But I didn’t see him and how was I supposed to know he was coming?”
“Either way I feel really bad that I’ve upset my mam.”
“I tried contacting her to get it sorted but she hasn’t responded so AITA?”
Fellow Redditors weighed in on where they believed the OP fell in this particular situation, by declaring;
- NTA: Not the A**hole
- YTA: You’re the A**hole
- ESH: Everybody Sucks Here
- NAH: No A**holes Here
There was little doubt in the minds of the Reddit community that the OP was indeed the a**hole for showing up drunk to his younger brother’s birthday party.
Pretty much everyone was saddened and horrified by his behavior, with just about everyone also agreeing that he had a worrisome problem with alcohol which he needed help with immediately.
“YTA, it’s not a tradition if you are doing it nearly every day.”
“It’s a problem.”- Liquidest_Ocelot
“YTA.”
“Yes, the drinking IS a problem, especially as it seems to run in the family.”
“You have been drunk so much lately that you didn’t remember a BIRTHDAY PARTY IN YOUR IMMEDIATE FAMILY.”
“Don’t show up to a toddler’s party smashed.”
“Call your mom, walk over, hand the gift to her, and go home without taking your drunk self into the party.”
“You’re TA for not paying attention to the date or any plans being made because you’re spending half the daylight hours staggering drunk.”
“Sounds like you already had a present bought?”
“Even more TA, because that means YOU KNEW, just got too drunk to remember or care.”-maroongrad
“You’re been getting drunk every morning for months and you don’t find that concerning?”
“You might have remembered it was your brother’s birthday if that wasn’t the case.”
“YTA.”- Country-girl-2212
“YTA .”
“But also, this is really worrying from the perspective of your health.”
“Day drinking occasionally is passable but every day it is going to do you some serious damage, the most likely being that you become reliant on it.”
“But turning up to a small child’s birthday party drunk was pretty bad.”
“It would have been better to call your mum and tell her you had forgotten and had had some drink and would come over when you had sobered up.”
“Slurring your words and stinking of booze in front of toddlers is not acceptable.”- Sloppypoopypoppy
“YTA.”
“And getting drunk nearly every morning for MONTHS literally just because ‘we legally can now’ isn’t a ‘tradition’, it’s a ROUTINE, more specifically, it’s the routine of a bunch of alcoholics, or a bunch of teenagers who are well on the way to becoming alcoholics.”
“The whole point of making it legal for you to drink at 18 is that you’re SUPPOSED to be old enough to be responsible about it.”
“Clearly you aren’t, since you’re treating it like some sort of thing to be celebrated EVERY SINGLE DAY.”
“Like, dude, you’re also ‘legal’ to enlist in the army, but you don’t line up at the enlistment office every day.”
“You’re legal to drive, but I’m guessing you don’t lose your mind with excitement about that every morning that you wake up.”
“You can legally do all the things you could do BEFORE you were 18 as well, but I suspect that you’re not outrageously excited about being allowed to stay home alone without a babysitter?”
“Saying that you’re getting piss drunk every morning ‘because we’re legal’ is just evidence that you’re not at all mature enough to be drinking, since you clearly can’t do it responsibly or with any sort of restraint.”
“You’re a menace, and YTA.”- FoolMe1nceShameOnU
“YTA.”
“You should not be showing up for a family birthday drunk, and I’m sure your drunkenness was a lot more noticeable than you think it was.”
“And furthermore, getting drunk nearly every day is not normal.”
“You’re well on your way to full-blown alcoholism, if you’re not there already.”
“I don’t care what time of day it is.”- BogBabe
“Drinking every morning isn’t normal, that is an addiction.”
“I could see a few day drinking days on the weekends, but not every day.”
“Have you tried stopping and how did that go?”
“You need to be very cautious with addiction as it tends to be genetic.”
“I don’t really care at all that you went to the birthday drunk, even though it was probably inappropriate, I’m concerned that this is the beginning of a serious problem.”- AbroadTemporary5359
“YTA.”
“Getting drunk every morning isn’t a tradition.”
“It’s alcoholism.”
“Get help.”- muse273
“YTA.”
“No excuse for getting drunk every morning, and no excuse for showing up at a 2-year-old’s party drunk.”
“I hope you’ll change and see how awful all of this is sooner rather than later.”- cranbeery
“YTA.”
“You were admittedly ‘really drunk’ by 1pm.”
“And you class this habit as ‘tradition’ at this point.”
“And you were drunk enough all day yesterday to completely forget your brothers birthday today.”
“Dude, you’ve got a problem.”
“This isn’t just celebrating being of legal age.”
“This is justifying your problem because you’re of legal age.”
“I know you probably won’t pay any heed, I probably wouldn’t have at your age either but GET HELP.”-Thrwwy747
“Hey OP.”
“YTA but get some help.”- Prestigious-Act-4741
“YTA.”
“What in the world makes you believe getting drunk not just every day but even every morning because you turned 18 isn’t an issue?”
“Also you’re aware you were very drunk; saying there was no big issue just means you didn’t see it.”
“As someone with alcoholic people in my family, I assure you drunkards are most often an embarrassment and have no idea of it.”
“You were so drunk you didnt even notice yiur uncle was there.”
“Especially your brother is 2, a young child, you forgot his Bday and lied to your mom about your condition.”
“You don’t care about your family and are asking on Reddit if you’re the AH instead?”
“Dude, get help and new friends asap.”- PrettyFall94
“Yta.”
“And you have seriouse problem with alcohol.”
“Morning drinking and making it a tradition, forgetting other obligations and having problems with them due to alcohol, not seeing this red flag situation as a problem.”
“It will go downhill if you don’t act.”- Azot2n
It’s hard to decide which is worse, that the OP felt it was no big deal to get drunk on a regular basis, or that he thought showing up drunk at his toddler brother’s birthday party was in any way acceptable.
One can only hope that being effectively cut off from his family will be the wake-up call he needs to change his behavior.
Rather than his liver being permanently damaged by alcohol.