Lately it seems like I have been going out to dinner and lunch more than usual. Last week I was out to lunch with a work colleague just after 11 a.m. When the server approached the table, she listed off the daily drink specials. It was 11 a.m. I wanted to say, “Geez, what do you think I am, an alcoholic or something?”
I thought back to the previous week when I was out to lunch, again with work colleagues, hearing the same list of drink specials. We were all dressed in casual business attire, which in my mind would make the server think “this table is obviously here for a work lunch, they probably aren’t getting hammered on drink specials and going back to the office.” Again, the “do you think I am an alcoholic” question was on the tip of my tongue. But, alas, I digress.
Sometimes I think that people are mind readers. I get hemmed up pretty quickly when people can’t feel me out and just know that I am in recovery and I don’t drink. Maybe I should just buy a shirt that says, “I don’t drink; I’ll just have a water.”
Thankfully I have learned in the program that my first thought is usually wrong. Thankfully, I have been in the program long enough, doing the deal, to know that my expectations are unrealistic. Thankfully, I have accepted that I will always have more work to do. Thankfully, I didn’t just order that drink.
