Just inadvertently fed the DCs gin.

[ILikeyourHairyHands]

Sooo, we went to a Christmas market today at a place we visit often, afterwards we went to the farm-shop for some odds and sods and told the DC they could chose a soft drink to have with supper.

The shop is set up so alcoholic drinks are on a display on one side and soft drinks are on a smaller display opposite, posh fizzy drinks, fruit juice etc. They like Fentiman's rose lemonade and wanted to get a large 500ml bottle, but as they always argue about who gets most I suggested they get one of the smaller 275ml bottles each and they could have it with a straw at supper. All good.

We sit down for supper and they start drinking their lemonade and both proclaim 'It tastes a bit weird', I looked and it was the bloody Bloom Gin and Fentimans. Thing is, I know Fentimans do a pre-mixed drink with Bloom, I've had it before, the bottle is exactly the same, other than it does say Bloom Gin on the front, buuuuuttt, the drinks were with the soft-drinks, the bottles are the same, I wasn't paying that much attention because, why would I?

I'm not even sure what my AIBU is, I'll phone them tomorrow because I can only imagine it was a mistake when they were stocking the shelves, no harm was done and I'm not about to go all Daily Mail sad-face on them.

I was just a bit perturbed, what if a recovering alcoholic had picked it up, or a Muslim, or any number of people who don't drink for whatever reason?

Also my children think they are now drunk after imbibing all of 10ml and are pissing about instead of going to bed, so I guess that's why I'm a little bit irritated!

I'm always amazed on here how many people have never made any sort of mistake at all, ever, ever, ever because they are always careful and never, ever, ever, get distracted or confused. There are lots of academics out there doing research on human error who would love to meet these people because they would be interesting outliers to every bit of research that has ever been done in the field. We all make errors, we just do.

Presenting a large sample of people with two bottles with different labels, even if the contents looked different would result in some people picking up the wrong one, and many more people would do it if they were trying to multi-task or were in a crowded or noisy environment. Sometimes I suspect people just like to feel superior to the rest of the human race down here getting stuff wrong and brushing our teeth with antiseptic cream. Pride comes before a fall!

In a situation where time and attention is limited we tend to default to "seeing" what we expect to see; if the bottle is Fentiman's shaped and full of pink stuff then our brains are likely to helpfully fill in the label saying "Rose Lemonade" to save us the effort of reading it - because every other time we've seen it that is what it said. This would especially be the case if we don't know that the gin version (which sounds lovely) exists. Now that the OP does know then I suspect she will be more alert to the label.

The solution to this type of error is to make the environment less error prone, put the rose lemonade and the gin version far apart, as they would be in a supermarket, so that there would be a clear "alcohol section" signal over-riding the "lovely soft drink" visual signal which would (hopefully) make the shopper more alert to the label. Telling people to be more careful generally is ineffective in reducing slips like this.

And now you are ready to tackle my safety exam...

Those bottles are very similar. If you habitually buy the same lemonade, do you really read the label carefull each and every time? Or just pick up a bottle that looks like the bottle that you always buy? Especially if it's sold with other soft drinks.

I know someone who used ibuprofen gel instead of lube.

Must have been a very boring shag.

"I can't really feel anything, Derek*..."

*the person is not really called Derek.

at your drunk kids

Begs the question did the nippers have that much of a hangover this morning;?.

Excellent post chemenger

Yvaine I just spat some of my tea out

Well I hadn't known about Fentimans with gin. Now I do, my next train journey will be much more fun. Thanks OP's DCs

Until comparatively recently mothers regularly used alcohol to sedate their children, in the form of colic medicines, cough mixtures, etc.

At this time of year there is much to be said for it. I'd keep them topped until New Year, myself.

Haha! I've done this let my mother do this

Soft drink Schloer-type thing. Merrily allow 5-yr-old to have a glass of it. Starts complaining of feeling "a bit funny" over Sunday lunch. Pass the bottle to tee-total DH - who discovers the sparkling non-alcoholic drink is not actually non-alcoholic! Oops. DC slept it off!

I did feel guilty as did my DM but then reasoned to myself that all Christmases when I was small involved a glass of Cinzano & lemonade for the kids, and we're all unaffected thus far.

It WILL get brought up at every inopportune moment though, OP. "Do you remember the time, Mummy..."

YvaineStormhold LOL! can't have been that much of a shag, ibuprofen is for the parts that you do not want stiff;!

DS1 used to only drink water if I told him it was gin. He's never had gin

Yeah, I can see how you made that mistake. Give the shop a gentle heads-up.

Definitely worth flagging it up to them. I suspect whoever put them out may not have noticed the gin part. At a glance it just looks like a new design for rose lemonade.

There is no opportunity for a compensation case there

When they can prove (with a quick photo) that drinks containing spirits were mixed in with the soft drinks, it's possible. Alcohol is always separate, and in this case it was clearly a mistake or oversight that led to it being placed with the lemonade.

If it were me, I'd be on to the farm shop to point it out so that they move them away from the softies, and then to fentimans directly to make a polite but pointed complaint in the hope of getting a voucher for nice constructive feedback.

Well I called them, I was very nice and said I was just calling to let them know it had happened so they were aware. Apparently they've just started stocking the gin version and it was intentionally put with with the other Fentimans products. The very nice woman I spoke to was very apologetic even though I said it was my fault for not paying enough attention and I wasn't making a complaint, just letting them know there was some potential for confusion.

She said they would be moving them to with the alcoholic drinks because in retrospect putting the two right next to eachother could easily lead to it happening.

Civilised conversation, everyone happy. Job done.

Great outcome, OP.

Regards the thread as a whole, I'm a bit niggled by the whole "but people can read" contretemps. There's a lot of people out there with sight issues, some serious, and some minor (not realising they need glasses now because the change has been so gradual or simply not realising the depth of change in their prescription). I imagine they get by with the aid of product placement and packaging shapes. It's certainly what I did when I was recovering from a minor eye injury.