Indulging in plain sight

How to spot your tribe

Once I realised that I was one of a secret group of addicts, I started to notice behaviors that were eerily familiar to me.

Just like the woman desperate to get pregnant, surrounded everywhere by round bellies, so the one seeking sobriety suddenly had this radar for other people’s patterns, excuses and cliches.

Don’t kid a kidder, right? I realised with some degree of shame that if I was noticing this stuff, maybe I wasn’t as clever as I thought I was at hiding what I was doing. Other people could, and possibly did, notice me for what I was.

A field guide to problem drinkers

First, are your mid-week hangover guys and girls. The ones who won’t stand too close to you on a Wednesday morning, whose breath is just that little too minty for having brushed their teeth before they left for work.

If you’re really sharp, you can catch that tell tale morning-after breath, under the layers of perfume or cologne. They are first in line for the coffee, eyes ranging from a sore pink to heightened, eyedrop white.

The ‘special occasioners’

Make every day special, right? At every airport they’re the ones with a morning beer ‘because they’re on vacation,’ or hey it’s five o clock in Singapore. They’re maybe not the first ones to the drinks table at work functions, but they’re the first to go for seconds, being careful to offer to fetch more for everyone else at the table.

The ‘reluctant’

Folding quicker than an amateur poker player in a Mafia club, these are the guys who will insist you’re twisting their arm, they really shouldn’t, you’re the bad influence, but go on then, just to keep you company.

You will be the only two either still drinking long after everyone else is looking for a cab, or soaking up people’s admiration for how hardcore you are, especially if you’re not the youngest in the group.

That’s where you say to yourself;

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