Man Slammed for Sarcastic Comeback to Date Who Won't Drink Alcohol

A social media post appearing to show one man's response to a prospective date revealing she doesn't drink alcohol has sparked angry debate online.

In a post upvoted 88,000 times, a Reddit user by the name of DarthSadie shared a screenshot from what she claimed was a text message exchange between herself and a man referred to only as "Tim."

Writing alongside the post, DarthSadie expressed frustration at Tim's apparent confusion over the fact she is teetotal. "Why is it such a big deal that I choose not to drink alcohol?" she wrote.

Once viewed as a social lubricant of sorts, there has undoubtedly been a shift in the attitudes around drinking.

In a survey conducted by business intelligence firm Morning Consult, 40 percent of drinking-age adults said they were drinking less now than they did five years ago.

The study also found around 43 percent of respondents don't drink at all.

A variety of reasons were cited with the most common being a desire to be healthier (67 percent), save money (55 percent) and lose weight (44 percent.)

Given the change in attitudes, the woman was perhaps understandably dismayed at her date's snarky attitude to her teetotal status.

In the messages featured in the exchange posted online, she asks him "Where do you want to go?" for their date. He responds: "Well, you don't drink."

When she replies "I sure don't" he tells her "that's weird" though she tries to keep things light by replying "you're weird" her date struggles to move on from the topic.

He continues to push for them to meet in a bar, explaining "that's my go-to first meeting idea."

In DarthSadie's defense, she's not opposed to meeting there either, suggesting they "go to a restaurant and bar type place" but he's evidently unwilling to leave the subject of her alcohol-free lifestyle alone.

When she fails to get a response, she writes again: "I guess I'm having a hard time seeing the issue" to which Tim replies, sarcastically: "Are you going to have water? LOL."

Writing in the comments underneath her post, DarthSadie confirmed: "Unfortunately I've found that it's not unique to him though. Whenever I say I don't drink, I get bombarded with "BUT WHY NOT??" until they feel like I've given a "satisfactory" answer. It's very annoying."

She said she ultimately decided against meeting up with Tim due to his response.
Most following along with the post were inclined to think that was probably for the best.

NigilQuid felt there was "no reason to be weird about it" while Ok_Yard_4646 expressed sympathy commenting: "People get like OFFENDED when I tell them I don't drink." Lubagomes added: "For me, the worst thing is people trying to persuade you into drinking intead of supporting a healthy choice."

Sam-Lowry27B-6 said: "People always want a reason but not being interested isn't enough. It's like with alcohol personal choice doesn't matter if YOU don't drink." Kavenus wrote: "As a dude who doesn't drink (often) I find this incredibly childish, do people base their entire social life around drinking?"

DigitalDash88, meanwhile, branded alcohol "the only drug people get mad at you for not doing" with UngratefulCliffracer theorizing that much of it may be born out of "insecurity" explaining that they have encountered people who "want others to drink as it validates them drinking as if they're secretly ashamed of it."

Newsweek has contacted DarthSadie for comment.