Greetings.
I'm in quite of a pickle here, and just thinking about it will get me nowhere.
.
I attend a group hobby weekly.
Quite often we go for a follow-up hang-out in the local bar. I recall everyone else buying a drink and coming to sit down to have a chat.
I don't buy anything. I wait for the first of us ordering and then I follow them to the table.
One of our attendees has commented on my behavior twice so far.
First she said that I'm a bum. That I use the bar's staff and the place for my own benefit. There's a chance that she said that in front of someone else.
Last night she commented that I'm still doing this (we two sat alone for a while). She's afraid that they'll throw us out because of my behavior.
I explained that I rarely buy stuff from bars.
On the second comment I said that I'll probably continue this behavior to the end of times and they won't throw us out because everyone else spends money. And that my friend said that she or her friends do the same thing quite commonly.
I could have felt her loathing upon me.
I don't have the money to buy pricy consumables.
I have my own water bottle and sometimes snacks from a market to keep my belly full enough. Or then I don't eat anything and eat later.
I'm there because of the company.
The employees haven't commented anything about my behavior. I don't know, would they even care.
.
Thoughts?
Am I unfair or is she?
I'm thinking about asking her next time that should I just leave if I'm such a bother to her.
I'm also thinking about suggesting us to talk about this as a group.
.
EDIT: I don't think this is about alcohol. I believe most of them order something else cos it's late Monday and most people go to work the next day.
EDIT2: We don't have the tipping culture here.
EDIT3: Thanks for all the comments! You give my mind and feels some peace ๐
As a person who worked in the industry for a decade, they clearly don't care, or they would have said something. I'd only care if you were starting trouble and that is clearly not the case. Some bars will care about bringing in outside food or drinks, but that's about it.
My honest advice: just order a water from the bar. In most bars (at least in America) the water is free and the bartender will just assume you're the DD, and it might shut your clearly crazy/controlling friend there up.
What's a DD?
Designated Driver, i.e. the person who wonโt be drinking any alcohol so that they can safely (and legally) drive the rest of the group home. Mostly a US thing where driving is the primary means of transportation.
DD is common in Australia too. Sometimes they even give you free fizz to DDs.
Designated driver