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Raemon comments on Social Necessity of Drinking - Less Wrong Discussion

17 Post author: Raemon 13 February 2011 10:52PM

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Comment author: Raemon 14 February 2011 02:46:33AM 5 points [-]

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.

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)

Comment author: Costanza 14 February 2011 03:50:00AM 1 point [-]

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 . . .

Comment author: Raemon 14 February 2011 03:59:56AM 1 point [-]

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.