How to Avoid Embarassment

If you’ve ever been out to club and had one too many you know how embarrassing it can be to hear after the fact about your behavior the night before. Of course, one way to avoid this problem would be to simply avoid drinking altogether but since that’s clearly no fun there are some ways that you can make sure you don’t embarrass yourself the next time you go out and indulge just a bit too much.

One of the best techniques is to make sure that you are speaking in an intellectual and intelligent manner. Of course, if you don’t have anything intelligent to talk about such as current politics, popular books or films, then it might be best to just keep quiet. Also, if you don’t normally try to instigate this type of conversation, you might want to avoid it as well because you’re friends will surely notice the out of character behavior.

Avoid denying the obvious. If a concerned friend asks about just how drunk you are, avoid the temptation to deny it, thereby making the situation even more obvious than it already is. The last think you will want to hear tomorrow is how you kept denying how drunk you were as you stumbled your way toward the door.

Make sure you’re not pestering everyone around you. This is a sure fire way to let everyone in your group as well as everyone else in the bar or club know that you reached your limit a long time ago.

Take the time to listen to those around you. Offer a few corroborating phrases occasionally such as “Yeah, right.” Even if you don’t have a clue of what they’re saying it will look as if you’re following along. This is a great technique to utilize if you realize that you passed the point of holding an intelligent conversation a long time ago. You can still participate in conversation with running the risk of having everyone hear you slur every other word.

Avoid dancing if you realize that you’ve probably already had a few too money. This is one of the quickest and easiest ways to let everyone know that you’ve imbibed too much. More likely than not if you venture onto the dance floor at this point, you’ll hear all about it from your friends tomorrow. These are the kinds of stories that are difficult to live down.

Try to maintain a reasonable level of eye contact with others in your party, if you normally do so, but avoid initiating a staring contest.

Avoid the blank look on the face that many people tend to get when they’ve had too much to drink. Depending on exactly how much you’ve had to drink this might not be possible, but do your best.

Make a strong effort to maintain a low profile. Sit back, relax and enjoy the music and chatter of your friends. Avoid getting into arguments with others. Whatever it is, it usually isn’t worth it.

And, of course, if you failed to make arrangements for a designated driver before you began the evening, don’t hesitate to flag down a taxi to take you home. If you don’t think you can handle it on your own, don’t hesitate to get the bartender to call a taxi for you. While this might be an indication that you’ve had a few too many, it can prevent an embarrassing and possibly tragic situation. Having your friends realize you’re too drunk to drive is one thing; having them realize you don’t have enough sense to know when you’ve had enough is another.