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Costanza comments on Social Necessity of Drinking - Less Wrong Discussion
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I would think that one of the markers dividing the modern "adult world" and college would be the lack of peer pressure to drink alcohol. I'd think that only a jerk would give you "disdainful stares" for politely declining.
One social convention you might want to observe where alcohol is served is to have some kind of drink with you, maybe iced tea or a soft drink. Otherwise, people might offer you booze just out of hospitality.
In the "adult world" social drinking with acquaintances, such as work colleagues or people you've only recently been introduced to, is a way to loosen social inhibitions, and -- at the same time -- is a way to say "I trust you enough to let you see me with a bit of alcohol in my system."
That's what I thought, but it hasn't been the case in the circles I'm running in. Both at my job, and at a random party I just went to. (Although in the case of the party, it didn't become relevant until the very end and the person questioning me was visibly intoxicated, so I might be generalizing too much from one example)
I understand it varies from country to country quite a bit. But if you're recently out of college and you're in a professional-type industry in America, I'd bet that long term, you'd be far better off erring on the side not drinking rather than drinking more than you're comfortable with. Not everybody straight out of college adjusts to the demands of maturity well. Two years from now, nobody will remember if you chose not to drink at a party today. But if you get drunk and do something stupid at the office Holiday party . . .
No one's going to remember if I didn't drink, but if I miss out on a networking opportunity because someone at a party remembered me as slightly "off", that may be significant. At this point I'm not really worried about getting drunk, although that may be naive of me.
That said I think the collection of suggestions here are helpful and I'm not too worried about it anymore.