You would think that it’s easy to simply say no to a glass of alcohol these days, but as a well-accepted social lubricant, alcohol is commonplace, and turning down offers to drink from your colleague, boss or new acquaintance can prove to be tricky.
Save yourself from being labelled the party pooper with good preparation, tips and a few witty comebacks up your sleeve. From attending a wedding as a groomsman to that after-work business dinner with a client (even one who owns an alcohol company), you can build up your drink refusal skills to survive any situation in the wild.
The stakes are low at a mass social gathering where you are unlikely to know anyone other than the host. Try being brutally honest with a few inventive and humorous white lies. Say that you are allergic to alcohol, have just taken cough syrup, are on a course of antibiotics or that you are tonight’s designated driver. If pressed for further details, simply change the topic or raise your glass of delicious non-alcoholic beverage with a good-natured ‘cheers’. Stick to this strategy for a few hours, and soon everyone will be too drunk or tipsy to notice.
