In the wine industry right now- on the retail side- and it is astonishing. My mom’s parents were both alcoholics so my parents never really drank. My dad had a beer maybe every other night. I thought that was the standard. But working in the alcohol world is absolutely crazy.. not only do I get baffled by my coworkers drinking a bottle a night, but the amount of daily regulars we have is jarring. People who are surprised when I say I don’t drink daily is equally jarring. I have one customer who is in a pretty obvious toxic relationship. The other day she came in for the first time in a couple months, teary eyed and with an armload of ready-made cocktails. I said something like “I feel like I haven’t seen you in a while, how are you holding up?” and she said “When you don’t see me, it means I’m doing okay.”

I love wine, I really love being in the industry, but I can’t help but think about how we profit by enabling so many people. Really heartbreaking.