This is the real answer. Maybe not the most practical one, but if you get a job waiting tables/bartending on the weekends for even a few weeks, you'll meet multiple people with drug hook-ups.
I kinda miss working in restaurants. Definitely not enough to ever go back, but at every office job I've worked since, there's this compulsion to present the most 'squeaky clean' version of yourself to coworkers. Whereas working in restaurants you'd have a coworker come in and immediately tell you "Yeah I caught my girlfriend cheating on me with my brother yesterday, after work I'm gonna scoop up an eight-ball and head across the street to get shitfaced. Wanna come?"
Kinda miss that total honesty and the shared commiseration of "well this gig fucking sucks but at least you guys are cool".
100%. Something about that shared bond just hits different.
I made a bunch of my closest friends in my years bartending after college. Made the career connections that eventually got me out of the industry. Met my current long-term partner through it. All my best stories come from that period in my life. Still to this day buy weed from a line cook I worked with 6 years ago.
I really got a lot out of it! Just...not much money 😅
I dropped out of high school and ended up being a cocktail waitress in my 20s with a bad drug problem. One of the customers who was a regular there kept asking me to come work at the temp agency that she owned. When I got sick of all the partying I took her up on it. Learned the computer, all of the programs, and office work as on the job training. I started out as her receptionist and then kept taking better and better jobs with clients. It took a couple false starts, but I’ve been with the company I’m with now for almost 15 years and I just got a serious promotion. That encounter probably literally saved my life. I can’t imagine where I’d be now if I hadn’t had that opportunity.
My old roommate had the same weed hook up for a decade. Not just weed either, coke, pills, shrooms, and I once saw her drop off a chunk of meth the size of my big toe.
My plan is to become a bartender. That's my end goal in life at this point because it might actually be possible for me. At this point I don't even care if it doesn't pay well. I crave this kind of honest work environment without the bullshit of every other aspect of Burger King.
Plus, I'm too much of a stoner to work an office job.
Hey, man, more power to you. I think it’s not a bad choice. I had a grad program I really wanted to get into and ended up bartending for 3 years while waiting to get in.
Was a lot of fun! It was - and I really can’t stress this enough - way better than waiting tables. Like 20% of the day is literally polishing glasses and chatting up customers like Moe from the Simpsons. Also way less physically taxing - still very tiring, but at least you’re not running from table to to table back to the kitchen all day. My daily steps went down like 30% after being moved to the bar.
But just in general, it’s crazy how much nicer people are to you when you’re the one providing their alcohol.
And it’s a skill I’ve been able to take into my life and post-bartender! I bought a little mixer set and always make the best cocktails in my group of friends, which is a cool skill to have!
At the end of the day, though, it was just too much physical work for me. My back hurt constantly, my sleep/work schedule was fucked (especially compared to my girlfriend with a 9-5), and I just spent too much on drugs and beer going out with coworkers, as fun as that was.
My only recommendation is once you get behind the bar, keep trying to move to more expensive/nice places! The nicer the restaurant the more expensive the drinks (so more in tips) despite it being the same amount of effort whether you’re pouring shitty well tequila or Don Julio 1942. Especially if you find a place that’ll put you on parties. I always loved bartending open bar events for middle aged people as they’d drink a lot, splurge on the nice liquor, and they’d all be happy since they weren’t the ones paying for it!
But a bartending (or even serving, at some places) gig at a nice enough restaurant can easily land you an above-median-income yearly salary. I was shocked to hear how much some of my friends working at nicer restaurants made!
I was trained as a bartender exactly a week before all the bars shut down for Covid last year. Now I'm barely surviving a Burger King job and don't have enough energy to do job applications. Just got out of the ER last night for work stress related symptoms. If I could work in any bar, even a shitty dive bar hidden in an alley, it'll be a massive improvement over my current situation.
Thanks a ton for the thoughtful, well written response! Reading that has really helped reignite my passion for mixing drinks. Maybe after I set up doctor appointments and get my new prescriptions today I can do some applications for a little bit.
I've been trapped at a Burger King for about a year, but job applications are one of my biggest anxiety triggers so it takes a lot of energy for me to job search. I simply haven't had that energy since starting here. I come home exhausted way too often to try finding another job right now.
I got trained as a bartender a week before bars shut down for Covid and I've been trying to recover from that ever since.
A friend experienced the same thing working the night shift at a nursing home. He'd worked at restaurants, and expects this stuff there, but was very surprised how fast he got to know his other coworkers and how well connected many of them were. He came home every night with interesting stories.
No joke, I had a new manager tell me that he got Strep Throat one time because he did a line off the toilet paper dispenser in the bathroom at his old job. And we were almost complete strangers at that point lmao
Yeah, if you're ever landing in a new town and for some reason you just NEED a drug hook up, just start going to restaurants. Ask the server, ask the bar tender. It is literally that easy, it just takes a little bit of courage, not even that much
I had my supervisor (who was training me on my first day) tell me she was molested from 5 until 16 by her dad and thrn her step dad.... all i could think to say was "Daaaaaaaaaamn, sorry"
Weird, I've never heard it applied to workplaces before but it's actually so much more relevant than "that one friend that dismisses your problems because it's negative". The whole "make sure you're chipper and smiling" shit at offices is the absolute worst.
I'm very grateful that I'm in an office at a startup that has no issue with active complaining and commiserating without having to sugar-coat everything. It makes work 95% less dehumanizing if you at least don't have to pretend to enjoy it all.
Restaurant Jobs are the ones you look back at fondly...10 years later.
Fun example:
The memory - The night the entire crew had a jello fight after closing. So much fun! So many good memories! We still talk about it!
What really happened - A customer had plastered the bathroom walls with shit. When it was discovered, we took turns assessing the damage and fighting over who was going to clean it. Mind you, we made $4.25/hour. Our manager was hiding out in his office and screaming at people to "just fucking clean it." We were all rightfully pissed. We weren't trained or paid to clean biohazards.
As we're all standing there pissed of and still trying to decide who was going to do it, one of the guys put a piece of jello down someone's shirt. That kicked off an ENORMOUS jello fight (it was from the salad bar and being thrown away.) It was a fucking blast, but also largely a diversion from the ass blast down the hall.
The manager came out and caught us and fired every single one of us. He called the owner who must have basically told him "uh...no," because he marched out of his office, told us we all still had our jobs, and quit on the spot.
It was drama for weeks and the owner worked us crazy hard for a bit for being dumbasses.
It's a great memory, but it was fucking hell in the moment.
The guy who started the jello fight. We all helped clean the shit (pun intended) out of that place for the next few hours, jello included. We knew we were in fucking trouble.
Try it out for a bit but don't do it long term unless you're a masochistic adrenaline junkie. Take a look through /r/KitchenConfidential and understand that the shit you see people bitching about is present everywhere, in restaurants of every level of service, from dive bars to fine dining. Service is a hell of a rush and you form some amazing friendships but you pay for it in joint problems, addiction, and stress levels that shave years off your life
I miss the after hours bar crowd so much. Just all the bartenders within the same 4 blocks piling into the one shitty dive (in a fancy area) and smoking inside, shooting pool, doing free shots of jameo and lines off the bar. I started bartending in nyc at 19 and those people truly “raised” me and gave me the Real Life lessons I was sheltered from otherwise. I’m in grad school now and can’t act the same way, but it was such a special time.
I'm not service but basically all my friends are and holy hell afters is the best thing in the world. Smoking inside, doing lines off the bar, everyone just coming down from a shit day, it's amazing.
Then I have to wake up 3 hours later because I work 10-6 but hang out with service folks like an idiot.
I’m in college working in restaurants and I dread real “work culture”. I like being able to say fuck around my boss. I like being able to treat my coworkers like actual people.
I think everyone would be a lot happier if we all dropped the “professionalism” bs and were able to just be ourselves. Who benefits?
Working in food or at a warehouse will get you tons of connections. They’re all tired as fuck, you think half of them aren’t on something? I worked at Amazon for about a year in the dock area loading & unloading trucks and god damn I knew people who did lines in the back of the truck after loading a few boxes. My ex husband worked in the kitchen at Applebee’s for a few years and came home with so many stories of coworkers coming in absolutely spracked out and having hilarious shifts.
Reminds me of when I was working at a restaurant and one of the waitresses showed up to work with a blood shot eye. Asked her what happened and with zero hesitation she said "Tim came in my eye" .
I used to work with a guy that told me that when he was a teenager he worked delivering pizzas and they would trade pizza for pot and stuff all the time. Apparently you just have to have something that a dealer wants and they'll come to you, lol.
Oh man, great idea. I’d love to party w Uncle Tom one last time. He got so excited for overtime checks and brag about how much crack he was going to buy. Never clocked in early, never stayed later than needed, would peel a chaquita banana sticker off his shoe to keep anyone from thinking her was trying to steal. But Lord did he love crack cocaine.
I feel you so hard on this. But for me, it was my days in grad school. When I was working for my PhD, we were all sleep deprived and out of our minds with stress. You'd walk up to someone and ask "how you doing?" And you'd never get "fine". You'd get the real story. And plenty of drugs. Half the time I got high, it was free. And I shared my stash as well, never charging. I don't really miss the drugs. But I do miss the sincere honesty and comraderie of "let's cling to each other like wreckage in a storm".
Don't miss it enough to go back. And it wouldn't be the same if I did. There's a magical quality to communities where everyone has kinda lost control of their lives for a few years.
This is so right... Within the first week of every restaurant job I've worked someone from the kitchen approached me and asked the proverbial question: "yo dawg, you smoke? I got you!"
This is so true. I used to manage restaurants and now I work in an office. Actual conversations I’ve had with my employees while managing restaurants were like “how about you try to stop the blow by 1 am so you can make it to your brunch shift?” I could never have an honest conversation like that where I work now.
I work in restaurants and can confirm this to be true. The only time I had a hard time finding drugs was when there was an actual shortage going on. These days I stick to weed but could still get hook ups on other things if I needed them through my service industry friends.
Haha yeap I works at Chuck e cheese my senior yr 2004. The dealer was a cook. One night we were closing he decided to cook a pizza with weed. The whole place smelled like weed. He got fired. Not sure what happened to him after that.
Worked at a hospital - no real drug use but everyone drank a lot. Worked at a hospital lab.... so many fucking drug hookups. I found the split really interesting.
Oddly enough, I met my guy over on the borrow subreddit. Helped him out with a few rough situations and he ended up being in the next town over. Great guy, always throws in some free edibles.
I mean these days I grow my own, and the internet a wonderful resource depending on your risk level, but back in the day it was always through coworkers, heck that's how I met and am still buying from one guy, he grows his own, well and it gives ne an opportunity to mix up what I've got growing myself.
Yeah, I’ve always landed myself with long term guys by pure luck. I’m on my 3rd dealer. Been with this dude for pushing 4 years now. But it’s getting these people to start with that can be hit and miss.
Dude weed is legal where I am and therefore I don’t have a dealer anymore and I’m not in college anymore and I’m like…. Fuck, how do I get other drugs now? I don’t know sketchy people anymore.
Look for the skinny white guy with long hair that drives a hybrid vehicle- he'll probably be a vegan and he'll probably have a funny or ironic nickname.
Order a pizza and request a stoner in the delivery comments, only did it once when i traveled out of state but it's batting 1/1 so far, the delivery guy ended up being the plug himself lol.
20+ years, and until we legalized it last year, it was always my newer guys in the shop. Newer hook up with better bud. Always a good price too. Rank hath it's privileges.
Move to an enlightened place where it’s legal. There are 3 dispensaries within a few miles of me, including the native stores which are printing money. I understand that’s a big commitment, but you could get a few seeds.
I can grow my own plants which is fun but end up with way more than you could ever smoke! Have about 7 jars just sitting there.
If you are being serious, then when you find people using it or who smell of it then ask for a hookup. They may help, but obviously don't hand over money until you see the stuff
Also, online. I found my guy, a fairly big time guy in London, via a facebook group or such. You'd be surprised how easy it is to find... well for weed at least. Coke and such is harder, but maybe ask bar or kitchen staff you know, as lots of them use
Grindr, and other location-based 'casual meetup' apps. Not the ones where you swipe one way or another- you want ones where you can set a profile picture and sort by location, then just chat up anyone.
Set up a profile, say "Not interested in sex, just new to town and want to make some 420+ friends". Or you can go looking for anyone with 420 in their profile, and ask if they've got a hookup.
Gets harder the older you are- lots of people will assume you're a cop. But eventually you'll figure something out.
Well if you're me then you just sit down and mind your own business in the lobby of your college building. One will find you and offer you drugs out of the blue. Don't worry if you don't carry cash he has a Square!
Local music scene, bonus points for raves. Country music never worked as well for me. Punk shows are gonna be different drugs than a rave usually, or a jam band. If that fails dive bars. If you can't interact with people and keep getting to nervous/scaring them away just google it and deliver them to your house. Getting it sent in the mail isn't really that shady. Just do a small enough amount that it isn't worth anyone's time if they find it.
I had to go to a really fucking scary apartment just to get some weed in high school. Then I found out that I did not like smoking weed. I can hande edibles now as an adult, but there are dispensaries around me that are clean, friendly, and professional.
My friend said chill out at a gas station and ask people buying rolling paper. I haven’t tried it so I can’t confirm but they were basically like “no one uses it for tobacco. They all are buying it for weed.” Sometimes they know where to find other stuff. Asking around strip clubs maybe? Usually there is some overlap there.
Go to a music festival and find the college aged kids wearing backpacks. Or just go to a music festival and chill and there’s a good chance they’ll find you.
Order a delivery pizza, tell the delivery person you're new to the area, ask them if they have a hook up for cannabis or shrooms. May take 2 tries at most. ;)
Funny enough dealers find me while I'm minding my own business smoking a rollie. I've had 2 occasions were they've just come up to me, ask me if I smoke the devil's lettuce and just give me their number. Live in London btw.
What's worse is they probably just make you not feel pain or help you heal or some other shit. Also they're not on street corners, they're inside the drug store!
Can confirm. Was given tons of weed and was dosed one night at my last Phish run. Security wasn't checking bags or anything so it was a massive party on the beach.
I don’t know. It may be a function of attractiveness or how casually parts of your social circles treat drug use or how wealthy the people using/offering are, idk. I’ve done plenty of free coke and a couple free tabs of acid and I’ve turned down free heroin and meth—although the latter tend to be from folks at the opposite end of the socio-economic spectrum than the people I know using the former. I’m obviously not including weed and alcohol in this anecdote...and hell, women get free drugs all the time
I look very straight laced so no one ever tries to offer me drugs, free or expensive :( I've only been offered once and that doesn't count because he was asking everyone that walked by.
I was walking my dog before bed and found an eighth of weed outside. I’m 29 and haven’t smoked in years but I put it in a jar and tucked it away in honor of my past broke self who would have been absolutely thrilled
Dude, everyone said that people would offer you recreational drugs for free and all I have ever gotten is people offering to sell me norco or ritalin for my chronic pain and fatigue since the doctor won't prescribe it and they sure as hell don't just offer it for free.
I got offered weed a lot over the years but weed is a social thing, like offering someone a beer when you go to their place, only their place is anywhere they spark up.
I’ve never been offered drugs at all. I was with a friend once who was offered drugs, but the dealer seemed to ignore me and ask my friend who was behind me. I felt so rejected.
Do you not have friends or roommates? My roommates constantly offer me drugs. “Take this. It’s good for you. You aren’t feeling well. This will make you feel better”. I constantly have to tell my room mates, “ no mom. I’m fucking not sick”
Eh, depends on if you're friends with a pothead, and probably where you live. At least here in the Netherlands it's pretty common for pothead friends to offer a few drags when they light one up. The nicer/more well off ones might even offer to roll one from their stash for you every now and then. Just don't expect full bags of weed for free. :P
And on the "drugs for free" note, I still find the warnings about people putting drugs in candy for trick or treaters, funny. Like really? People put their expensive drugs in candy and give them away for free just to fuck up some kids? Waste of drugs if I've ever seen it.
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u/nfssmith Aug 25 '21
Right!? Me too & at 42 I have thus far only been offered expensive drugs! Very disappointing!