Dear Hillary,
Every time my husband goes out with me, to dinner or even to a pub, he drinks too much. This would not be too bad if he did this quietly, but he is a most aggressive drunk and picks fights with people all the time. Some pubs have even barred him which leads to even more brawling. Even that would be tolerable if he knew how to fight, but he just brawls in a drunken manner and always comes off second best. To be honest, Hillary, he is hard enough to put up with when he is sober, but in his cups he is dreadful. It really is a case where you can only take him anywhere twice – the second time to apologize. This is doubly difficult for me as I do not drink alcohol, mainly because someone has to be sober enough to drive the car home, especially now the police have the roadside checking machines. What suggestions have you got, Hillary? There must be something I can do, surely. This problem has been going for five years.
Dear Amanda,
This is a common problem, so there’s lots you can do, Amanda. First off you could send him to the gym for a boxing course so he could learn to defend himself a little better. Though if your man gets quite legless with the drinking, perhaps that wouldn’t work either. How strong is your relationship? You could refuse to go out with him if he is intending drinking, which sounds like all the time. You could take up drinking yourself and try beating him up. However, I think that after five years of this you should be able to take a stronger stance and tell him to shape up or ship out. Nobody has to put up with that sort of nonsense any more. Don’t you either. Does he drink beer or champagne? If it’s the latter and it is a good vintage, I might even take on his rehabilitation for you.
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