Too Wasted

Late last night I accepted a radio booking from the inner City to the western suburbs. I arrived in the upmarket locality to find an outside light on and the front door open. Presently a fella in his twenties appeared in the hallway followed by an elderly chap, both carrying wine glasses. I immediately recognised the old fella as one of Australia’s most famous and well-regarded television personalities.

They hugged fondly in the manner of father and son with the old bloke appearing concerned for the young fella with some last minute chat, before watching him depart. The kid climbed in the front seat and in a regular voice ordered a western suburb.

He seemed normal enough until I attempted to converse with him. When he failed to respond I looked across to see his legs falling apart and head lolling around like a marionette, he was totally shit-faced. If he’d been a street hail in this condition, I simply wouldn’t have stopped.

From thereon in I had real concerns for his lack of body control and couldn’t decide whether it was alcohol or heroin. There wasn’t much of an alcohol odour at all and he constantly lapsed into the ‘nod’, falling asleep, even whilst attempting to use his phone. He must have finally got a SMS off and the phone rang. I heard a woman’s voice on the line. ‘Taxi’, he grunted, ‘coming home’. That was it, the call ended.

So I drove ultra smoothly in case he was that drunk he might spin out and throw up. At the same time I considered if anything went wrong I knew who his father was and where he lived, confident he would make good over any problems or 'accidents'.

Upon entering the street I had to constantly wake him to identify his house. But he paid without problems and unsteadily wandered off under a street light. It was then I noticed his emaciated upper arms, protruding from shirt sleeves like anorexic sign posts. He was a sick puppy.

Within ten minutes heading back to the City I was hailed by a hotel bouncer on a main road. On pulling up he motioned for me to turn the corner behind the shabby hotel. I refused and requested he approach the cab. I knew well enough when a bouncer stops a cab it’s usually for some hopeless drunk they just want to be rid of.

He opened the front door. ‘What is it ?’, I asked. ‘A job to Sutherland’, he replied. At midnight on a quiet Sunday evening this was some job, around eighty bucks. ‘Are they drunk ?’. ‘Yeah, but she works here’, he said, ‘she’s one of our dancers’. At least this was better than a patron. ‘She got any money ?’, I asked. ‘Of course bro’, he barked, obviously frustrated. Being an employee it implied some hotel guarantee if things went wrong, so I eased around the corner prepared to take the job.

Waiting on the roadway were two more bouncers, big Islander blokes dressed in black and communicating thru radio earpieces. One directed me to turn into a car park behind the hotel, which once again raised my suspicions. Sure enough, just inside the car park my headlights lit up a youngish blonde woman half-sitting, half sprawling on the gravel, motionless with her back to me either on the ‘nod’ or throwing up.

Even worse, after I stopped, the bouncers made no move towards her and she appeared totally isolated, legless and shit-faced. So I reversed out and took off.

Everything was wrong I reasoned driving away. If she really was a hotel staffer, where was the hotel manager or her work colleagues to assist her into the cab, rather than being stranded in a car park like unwanted trash to be disposed by bouncers. Sub-contractors whose detached body language showed no empathy whatsoever for her.

Yet due to her paralytic condition I simply didn’t have to take her. I felt terrible for her situation but there was no way I was going to allow others to foist responsibility on me. They supplied her booze, they took her money, they could take her home. End of story.

Comments

[sitfaced]

"she appeared totally isolated, legless and shit-faced"

Do you take a digital camera to work?

[James]

Thats the problem with the whole liquor industry in general.
Pubs and clubs are happy to ply people with alcohol all in the name of making a healthy profit, yet they expect the community to clean up the mess!
They claim that its the drinkers responsibility, yet one of the main effects of the products they sell is that it destroys ones ability to act responsibly in the first place!
But we will never see the government actually do anything about it, as one of the biggest state government's donors is the Australian Hotels Association.

[Yobbo]

"But we will never see the government actually do anything about it".

You must be joking, all the WA government does is harass publicans. The pub in question definitely committed an offense under the liquor licensing laws. If it was a cop that pulled up rather than a taxi, they would have been charged for letting her get into that state.

[Anthony]

Why is it always someone else who's responsible? Alcohol makes you pissed? Gee, that ain't news. The primary responsibility should be on people not to drink themselves into that state. Or if you do make sure you have some friends around.

[SurferCam]

Bouncers - what do you expect?

[James]

Anthony,
That may occur in WA, but it dosen't in NSW.
Breeches of the Liquor Act (1982) occur in almost every pub and club on a daily basis, but rarely does a prosecution take place. Any time the state government decides to take a real stand, the AHA puts its foot down and the pollies back off.
I am not anti alcohol, but you should consider that so much trauma could be reduced by establishments taking responsible service of alcohol more seriously.
Yes the main burden of responsibility should lie with the individual, but if you are willing to profit from the sale of a drug that is involved in more deaths then all of the illegal drugs put together, then you should be prepared to accept at least a small part of the burden. Especially when one of the main effects of the drug you sell reduces the consumers ability to make responsible choices.

[Belongum]

Worked in a nightclub / pub scene and for all the fun I had, it's not necessarily a pretty job behind the scenes.

I'd have been incredibly suss about the situation too Adrian. Even as sub-contractors operating as door anf floor security - they're generally around long enough to know who's who in that particular establishment. And again - generally - they're pretty protective of 'staff' in such places they work for... it goes hand in hand with the game of this type of employment.

Someone in this situation - given what you witnessed... I'd have buggered off in an instant.

Bloody alcohol as an industry give me the willies at times, but what do ya do eh?!

Cheers

Belongum

[shadow]

'If you are intoxicated you may be asked to leave the premises.'That sign always brings a smile to my face. That's what they sell. Intoxication!

[The Paper Boy]

Adrian, you say they supplied her booze and took her money so it was up to them to get her home.

About two to three years ago the nation was in outrage over compensation payments to people who decided to delegate responsibility for their personal safety and get away with it.

This is the same point. People know the consequences of drinking too much when they are sober. She's the one who had rendered herself incapable of getting home, not the alcohol. She, therefore, is the one responsbile for her actions, not the hotel.

[adamD]

So a few saying it's her responsibilty, a few saying it's the pub's duty and no one saying hey - how about help her.

I find this story quite sad. No one has full control over their life. Events take place that make people hit rock bottom or do stupid things -or maybe she was 19 and just making a mistake.
All I've read here is about people avoiding responsibilty by making the whole situation someone else's problem. It's her fault, or the pub's duty but definitely not anything to do with me.

I think the bouncers showed more empathy than the taxi driver. At least they tried to get her home. I just hope that they ordered another taxi and that she got home. So you might "waste" an hour helping and not get paid. So you might have to clean vomit out of your car. You might also return a daughter to a worried mother.

I have daughters and sisters and friends that, god forbid, should they ever find themselves at the bottom and out of control - I pray they get a more compasssionate response.

"It's the pub's duty."
"No, it's the patron's duty."
Actually it's both and more. It's the duty of family and friends to care. Most importantly it's the duty of any decent human being to help.

[Aurelius]

One thing's for sure, it aint the cabbie's fault she's smashed. But it's the cabbie who gets to drive around in a car that stinks of vomit if they hurl in the cab.
Wise decision Adrian.

[george]

adamd i bet you have never diven a taxi,then again i bet you live in balmain and weave baskets,if you feel so sorry for all these wasted cases you come out at night and drive them all home.

[Lee]

I think it should be right of passage (excuse the pun) that a cabbie make up his own mind, having taken into consideration what is in front of him...if he feels the situation isn't right somehow and his instincts are telling him to get the hell out of the place and away...that should be his choice. I, like many others of you, don't find myself in these types of situations night after night or day after day in our workplace...so it's not for us to judge. Decisions sometimes, hard though they may be, have to be made on the spur of the moment.

I've been in a couple of situations throughout my life 'when the hairs have stood up on my back' and warning signals inside rang loud and clear...and self-survival kicked in, whether consciously invited or not.