Seriously drunk punters

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

Having discussed this with all my guys and several other people on here and other forums, why this year, do people appear to be getting more drunk than ever at Christmas parties?

We have had more incidents this December than I can remember before, involving drunk people, getting shirty for one reason or another (normal story - you won't play their request immediately etc), starting trouble, or knocking over and damaging gear.

People seem to go out on a company Christmas do with the sole intention of making idiots of themselves. These functions are all in Hotels, so you'd expect people to behave, but they don't.

Don't people go out the rest of the year?

I'm seriously beginning to lose my patience with drunken idiots now. Don't get me wrong - I like a beer or five, but I still know how to behave myself.

Anyone else experiencing more trouble and abuse than normal this December?

*awaits Steve's reply*

[Dragonfly]

I got my first bit of abuse Sat night .... the first time for ages ... infact this year as I can remember.

What really annoyed me was he said his piece calling me several things then went to the toilet and came straight back and called me them again with hand gestures ...

I do not however tolerate this in any capacity and made sure his bosses knew what had been said/done.

[Silver]

I'm doing my normal pub gigs and can say there seems to be more problems with 'lashed up' young women, I would not call them ladies. They come up and request a tune and want it played NOW!!! I had this on Friday and this girl, about 20 really went off on one when I said I'd put it on in three or four tunes time.

The problem is of course, we are all human and when you get this approach, you can easily think "up yours, I'm not playing that!"

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

I'm doing my normal pub gigs and can say there seems to be more problems with 'lashed up' young women,

Nearly all of our problems have involved women too. Worrying.

[Shaun]

I'm doing my normal pub gigs and can say there seems to be more problems with 'lashed up' young women

Nearly all of our problems have involved women too. Worrying.

Me too. The women are worse than men. Why do they all seem to think they can DEMAND that they're requests get played right away?. I normally don't play their requests at all when they act like that.

[TonyB]

Probably another side effect of the smoking ban

Those that have given up are probably going through withdrawal and have the tempers to go with it.

Those that haven't given up are spending more time drinking because they can't get their nicotine fix.

Its to cold to go and stand outside, have a fag and a chat so they spend more time indoors getting hammered.

They also probably don't go out as much due to the present economic climate (and the smoking ban in pubs) so are less used to alcohol.

Changes in the education establishment. We are now seeing the effect of the lack of discipline in schools spilling over to the workplace as undisciplined school leavers are starting work.

The attitude of the government that makes this country such a miserable place to live so people are taking comfort in alcohol.

The depressing effect of the price of fuel.

Having the winners of the X factor imposed on us as entertainment.

Apart from that can't think of any other reasons but I'm sure I can come up with some more

[rob1963]

The attitude of the government that makes this country such a miserable place to live so people are taking comfort in alcohol.

...which has been made worse by the governemnt thanks to their changes to the licencing laws to allow all day drinking.

What a fantastic idea that was.....not

The amount of binge drinking is a very serious problem.

Firstly, we need to go back to the old licencing laws.

Secondly, we need to make drink much more expensive.

Thirdly, pubs must be more responsible & stop their crazy offers such as "All you can drink for £10"

Finally, all advertising of alcohol should be banned.

This things would at least START to solve the problem.

[CRAZY K]

Having discussed this with all my guys and several other people on here and other forums, why this year, do people appear to be getting more drunk than ever at Christmas parties?

We have had more incidents this December than I can remember before, involving drunk people, getting shirty for one reason or another (normal story - you won't play their request immediately etc), starting trouble, or knocking over and damaging gear.

People seem to go out on a company Christmas do with the sole intention of making idiots of themselves. These functions are all in Hotels, so you'd expect people to behave, but they don't.

Don't people go out the rest of the year?

I'm seriously beginning to lose my patience with drunken idiots now. Don't get me wrong - I like a beer or five, but I still know how to behave myself.

Anyone else experiencing more trouble and abuse than normal this December?

*awaits Steve's reply*

Lets face it--there is now a serious drink problem in the UK which everyone knows about except the Government and its a vote loser and revenue loser to do anything about it. So dont expect any action.

Why more drinking? Alcohol is dirt cheap 24 hours a day which doesnt help.

Apart from poor parenting I wonder if this is connected to stress levels and working hours imposed on employees now.

My youngest son has just jacked in a job with a big four Accountancy Firm (admittedly not at senior level ) because of the ridiculous " targets culture" being used both by Government and Private Companies.

He had to shift x number of invoices a a day, take phone calls of complaint etc and was instructed NOT to pay invoices within agreed time scales making more people angry and phone up----one guy in his department was already off work with a nervous breakdown.

Theres no excuse for bad behaviour and as I posted today my Wedding event Saturday was awash with booze but everyone was brilliant.

I also wonder if a lot of people get drunk at home before they even get to these events--you hear a lot of reports--and lets face it---its dirt cheap.

For some people alcohol is the ONLY CHEAP OPTION TO FORGET day to day life and work that is in many case BORING--

I dont suppose soaring debt levels and the realisation that they can never be repaid doesnt help much

Whilst not on the same scale of problem--we have to make it clear to Xmas organisers that for Line Dancing which is quite popular they have to finish by say 11pm because we know whats going to happen---trying to get drunks
to respond to a few simple instructions becomes Mission Impossible---having said that theres a lot of very reasonable people out there--BUT we have to work on the basis of worst case scenario.

We have a responsibility to the guy out there working with these problems (DJ or Caller) for his safety and you have to be careful.

If im working myself I dont worry too much.

I would have to correct a statement I made earlier in a thread about gigs where people who are willing to pay more money seem more reasonable when drunk--clearly this does not apply to Corporate Xmas Parties involving "staff"

CRAZY K

[Corabar Steve]

...which has been made worse by the governemnt thanks to their changes to the licencing laws to allow all day drinking.

What a fantastic idea that was.....not

The amount of binge drinking is a very serious problem.

Firstly, we need to go back to the old licencing laws.

Secondly, we need to make drink much more expensive.

Thirdly, pubs must be more responsible & stop their crazy offers such as "All you can drink for £10"

Finally, all advertising of alcohol should be banned.

This things would at least START to solve the problem.

Let's introduce curfews & bring back National Service while we're at it

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

The depressing effect of the price of fuel.

Slightly off topic, but it's just reminded me...they ran out of unleaded fuel at my local petrol station and I had to pay £1.06 per litre for some 'lower sulphor' type fuel yesterday!