To get annoyed with a policeman

[AitchGee]

I was stopped on the way back from collecting my boys from school, a trip of no more than about a mile. I pulled into our local supermarket, bought some gooey delights and left. Unbeknown to me, the local police had set up some sort of sunny-day sting on all the shoppers.

They stopped me. Pain in the butt, but what the hey, it's a job. So I answered a few banal questions, nothing was wrong, everything was in order.... Then it came "Sir, when did you have a drink last?" I replied that I had been drinking all afternoon. He asked me to blow into his pipe. I asked him what was wrong with drinking Vimto. Obviously I blew Zero

What got my goat was that as I haven't touched a single drop of alcohol since Dec 28th 2003 and gave up smoking some 12 months back, I could smell the distinctive odour of alcohol on his breadth as he was talking to me.

I asked him why he suspected me of driving under the influence of alcohol, he wouldn't respond. I asked him to tell me how many measures of alcohol he had consumed prior to picking on random shoppers (generally women). He suggested that I should mind my own business and be on my way.

I had my kids with me, so decided to slink away fuming. Suggesting that I may have been drinking alcohol, after all the effort abstaining over the years, I consider as an insult.

[GypsyMoth]

Well how was he to know you hadn't had alcohol? He found out the legitimate way!

[MiceHaveFeelingsToo]

Perhaps you're a crap driver and that made him think you were plastered?

[scurryfunge]

Mmmmmm......really?

[LaurieFairyCake]

You're wrong that it's an insult, it's just a normal stop and not personally directed at you.

You should have taken his number and called the station though as they would take his alcohol consumption very seriously.

[LoveBeingAbleToNamechange]

Well police cannot be served so would have to be before his shift, or from a little something he carries with him.

[JarethTheGoblinKing]

[belledechocchipcookie]

He's just doing his job.

[JellyBeansOnToast]

My troll radar is beeping, but anyway, I'll give this a go:

My dear, I am not sure that this policeman would have been aware that you had stopped drinking, let alone that the event occurred on the 28th of December 2003. You have him a rude, flippant answer when he was just trying to do his job. If he suspected you of drink driving and you had children in the car, it's even more important that he ascertained that you were sober.

Now get back under your bridge.

[TheMagnificentBathykolpian]

Really? This actually happened or is this a joke?

Assuming it is not a joke- The question from a policeman of 'have you been drinking' ALWAYS means alcohol. You could just have said no instead of a smart-arsed reply deliberately misunderstanding what is always meant by that question.

If you smelled alcohol and you give a crap, you could always report him.
If you feel he was rude and you don't think your attitude was the reason cos it pissed him right off, you could always report him.

What you describe, if not a joke, is just you being awkward for no good reason and making something simple into a far bigger deal than it needed to be.

I doubt he knew of your alcohol problem, so it was not unreasonable of him to ask if you'd had a drink. He's not psychic. He didn't look at you and think hmmmm, clearly someone who's got a drink problem and has worked hard to stay off it, let me ask them if they drink. That'll be fun.

Unless you wear a badge or something (do you?), how is someone supposed to tell?

I mean, if this is real, what was the point? Were you bored? Wouldn't it have been easier to just answer the questions and go?

[WhoAteMySnickers]

You got smart with him. "When did you last have a drink". "I've been drinking all afternoon". What did you expect?

And the smell of alcohol on his breath may not have been alcohol. Some mouthwashes have an alcohol smell a while after they've been used, and diabetes is one medical condition that springs to mind that can cause the breath to smell of alcohol.

[takethisonehereforastart]

YABU. He suspected you of driving under the influence because you told him you'd been drinking all afternoon.

You'd have to be an idiot to not understand he meant alcohol when he asked when you last had a drink.

I'll say again, YOU suggested it, not him. He asked you a routine question and you thought you'd give a clever answer.

So you were deliberately being an arse and ended up wasting his time and yours and now you are insulted because he took you at your word and breathalised you.

He should have done you for wasting police time.

[SeenButNotHeard]

Well, if you sounded as half cut in person, as you do in your post, I'm not surprised you were breathalysed.

Sorry, not really meaning to be flippant, but you op is more than a little odd.

If you told him that you had been drinking all afternoon, I'm not surprised they tested you - it's like saying "I've got a bomb" at an airport - they just can't ignore it.

If you were seriously worried that he had been drinking, you would have reported him by now.

[squeakytoy]

OP, if your post is serious, you sound like the kind of smartarse twat that deserves everything they get.

[Salmotrutta]

I'll bet most bobbies just love witty characters like you

And "Vimto"? Really? I don't know anyone who drinks that!

[kaid100]

Why play silly beggars with him? If the police didn't sometimes check that people weren't driving under the influence, there would be a lot more drink-drivers and a lot more deaths. It only take a couple of minutes of someone's time to do a breath test, so it's not a big sacrifice to sometimes have to do one. If the policeman never breath-tested someone if there was a possibility they weren't drunk, they'd hardly ever be able to test anyone at all. Blame the people that do drink and drive for the fact you were breathalysed, not the guy that's doing his job.

[TiggyD]

YWBAT
You were being a twat.

[bullet234]

The OPs probably a troll.
But I drink vimto sometimes.

[feckwit]

YABU to drink vimto. Vile stuff.

[mamofK]

I agree with all the above - you were an eegit tbh

[TidyDancer]

What a stupid OP.

[NormaStanleyFletcher]

YABU to get annoyed at a policeman for doing his job. And finding drink drivers (who possibly have kids in their car) is a worthwhile job.

[KurriKurri]

Why did you have a goat in your car?