Enjoying a night out on the town with your friends can be so much fun, but it is also a time where you can be a target of bad behavior if you don’t practice some simple steps.
For a friend’s birthday we recently traveled to a new city and state to explore and celebrate it in a big way on a girls trip! We had researched all the fun places to visit and cool restaurants to try ahead of time and read as many reviews as possible in preparation.
It was a big city so we flew in and used rideshare apps to get around town since parking was an issue everywhere. That in itself can be an adventure! A couple of quick tips are:
1. Make sure you take the time to review the license plate and the driver’s description before getting into the vehicle.
2. Keep your app open to see the route your driver should be traveling.
3. It can be tempting to jump on your social media while you are being escorted around, but stay focused and alert to your surroundings.
This trip had a few eye opening moments that really made me think about being aware of my surroundings, and even more so while away from our normal surroundings.
We had a night out on the town planned and opted to visit a dueling piano type establishment. It was such fun belting out our favorite tunes with some incredibly talented musicians and a crowd full of people celebrating various things that ranged from bachelorette parties, birthdays, anniversaries and even a group that were in town for a college football game at a nearby campus the next day. Imagine the scene from “27 Dresses” when they were singing Elton John’s “Benny and the Jets”…so many laughs as I am certain we made up a lot of the lyrics ourselves!
Instinctively I’m always on high alert in situations like this and this night was no exception. We were all well above the legal drinking age and adult beverages were ordered. I had one drink and switched to Sprite and water for the rest of the evening. There should always be a responsible person or two in your group and I have no problem being that person, every single time. I had positioned myself to have a clear view of my surroundings and of my girlfriends enjoying the evening. I picked up on a man acting strangely near our group. He wasn’t as interested in the entertainment on the stage as he was with my friends and their handbags on the tables…not to mention their sometimes unattended drinks. I immediately went to each of my friends and told them to move their purses in front of them and keep their drinks in their hands the entire time. I’m not sure what he was up to, if anything…but he quickly picked up on the fact that even though my friends were enjoying the show, their handbags and drinks were no longer unattended.
When out drinking always designate one person to be responsible and situataionally aware for the group. Always keep control of your beverage.
The next day I explained to my girlfriends how easy it could have been for him to take a purse and slip out the door without easily being noticed. Or worse, slip something in a drink and during the loud, distracting festivities or a trip to the restroom take advantage of them. You can still have a fun time and be aware of any potential threats.
