Just Because You're Drunk...

Anonymous

Just Because You're Drunk...



Just recently Taco Bell Marketing Manager Ben Golden was arrested after assaulting an Uber Driver who had asked him to get out of his car because Golden was falling down drunk and could not give him proper directions. When the driver stopped to allow Golden to get out, Golden snapped and began beating him about the head until the driver managed to pepper spray him which was all caught on the drivers dash cam. Fast forward to Golden, now sober, making an apology claiming he was so drunk that he did not remember beating the driver up, and that "he is not that person," and he's "mild mannered." The driver says had he not had the dash cam, he 100% believes that Golden would in no way be trying to apologize to him and the only reason he is is because he was caught, its on social media, and as a result of the assault, police and lawyers have hit him with 4 misdeameanor counts of battery where he will be facing a year in jail or a $10,000 fine. Golden has also been fired from his job.


I will give Golden points for not getting in car where he would be driving drunk and somehow managing to hire an Uber, but that's where my sympathy for this case ends. To me, "I was drunk" is not an excuse for bad behavior because we all have a choice as to if or how much we are going to drink and we are subsequently responsible for the consquences of those actions. Some people think the consequences lobbed on Golden are too steep, but imagine if you were that driver and some jerk just started beating you up, would you be so quick to shrug it off not knowing how armed, angry or dangerous the guy could be? Also, personally having been a manager at a major company, what my boss told me early on when I was hired is that I was always being watched as a representative of that company whether I was on or off the job and advised me at office company parties and work vacations, never to drink because all it takes is some jealous staff member, or underling reporting you or snapping your picture or video and it being posted for people to feel like either you have a drinking problem or you are a poor representative of the company's brand. It's not fair on your off time at least, but its the reality of it, and in due time, I saw someone taken down by their actions at a party on social media.


Golden did go to the press to apologize, but I'm with the driver on this one, the only reason he's doing it is because he was caught on camera. He can't claim as he has, that "that is not who he is," because it very well is. I went to this really upscale engagement dinner once where the groom to be got plastered and began fighting and yelling at everyone at the party much to the embarressment of both families and was at the verge of being kicked out of the restaurant before his family escorted him out, but then he began fighting everyone else including me and got close to hitting me before his brothers managed to wrestle him down the the ground. Instead of a thank you for coming to the party note for the gifts, I got a long apology letter, but for me the damage had been done. I'm glad the police are sending a message to him and possibly others like him---the "I'm drunk" excuse isn't going to fly because unfortunately everyone around you in situations like this has to deal with the fallout of your actions that don't just disappear when the alcohol does from your system. People die everyday either from their own drunk recklessness or from the actions of someone drunk so its not just a laughing matter or a boys will be boys matter. The driver, who quit his Uber job after that incident, is lucky that it wasn't worse and the passenger better be glad the driver had mace, and not a gun.


Are we all human and do we all make mistakes, yes, but we also must learn from those mistakes and accept the consequences of our actions from the mistakes we've made. Some mistakes are harder if not impossible in the case of death, to recover from, then others, but getting so drunk that you black out or don't remember or you hurt someone is pretty serious and I hope he and others like him, get help and not use drunkeness as an excuse for bad behavior.

Just Because You're Drunk...
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