A bit different from my usual rants

So this weekend was interesting to say the least. I usually tend to be a secretive person with the intense things in my life, but I felt I needed to share this one with all the other 20 and 30 something women out there. Much like every other Saturday night, this past Saturday I got dressed, did my hair and make-up and headed out for a night out on the town with my girlfriend. It was just two of us – some people were out of town and our other usual suspect doesn’t exactly enjoy partying and bar hopping anymore.

So anyway, we headed out playing it safe by taking a cab and staying with-in reasonable walking distance from my place. We went to the Saddle Ranch on Sunset – make a note of that location, for after I share my story, you’ll want to remember it – to have a couple of drinks and watch drunk girls fall off the bull. Neither of us were wearing anything too revealing or suggestive. We found a spot at the bar to call home for a few hours, sat down, ordered a couple of drinks and talked amongst ourselves. The bartender walked over, introduced himself and was quite friendly. All good so far. We made conversation with other people around us, and really were just having a good time. Two drinks later the bartender walked over with some pink shots that were on the house. I asked what it was and he responded with “the bartender’s secret recipe” or something to that effect. Without thinking twice, we toasted to the bartender and downed them. We had one more drink, decided it was time to walk over to another bar, closed our tabs and walked to the bathroom.

That’s where my memory of the evening ends. My friend tells me we walked down the street to another bar, where according to her I made out with some guy. Again I say, I have no memory of any of this. She some how got me out of there and into a cab. A few falls and a couple of stops to puke along the way, we made it safely to my apartment. To this point, all she found odd was that I had only had a couple of drinks and was sick. She says she thought to herself it was odd, because I can usually drink a lot more and am perfectly fine. I spent the better part of the early morning puking.

The morning after I woke up to see if she was still on my couch but she was gone. I noticed I was still wearing my clothes from the night before, changed, and bee lined it back to the bathroom. The room was still spinning. I went to lye on my couch where I passed out for a few hours. When I woke up again I noticed a hickey on my neck (are we in the 8th grade?) and text messaged her to ask about it. It’s when I learned what had happened after we left the Saddle Ranch. I figured I was ok, so I called my friend and told him to come on over and I hit the shower. While in there, the room started spinning and I got sick again. I bundled myself up and went to lie down, I started shivering and was freezing cold. I passed out.

At some point my friend came over (luckily he has keys to my place) and thought I was on drugs. He says it took him about an hour to get me to wake up. He kept asking what I was on and all I could say was that I was hungover. After a few hours, I finally woke up. We talked about the night before and how sick I had been and realized I had been slipped a date rape drug. After analyzing the events in my head a few times, I put two and two together and thought it had to be the bartender. That night, my friend spent the night with me to make sure I was ok and says I fell asleep talking and was out cold until the next day after 14 hours of sleep.

I share this so other women out there can be aware of their surroundings. I have always been very cautious, I don’t take drinks from strangers, I never put my drink down anywhere. Could my friend and I have done anything differently? Maybe. But my point is that if it could happen to two women in their late 20s, who consider themselves very street smart, it can pretty much happen to anyone. The lesson learned here is NOT to take free drinks from anyone, even the bartender. I don’t wish what happened to me on anyone and thankfully, I wasn’t taken advantage of. But the feeling of not remembering anything at all the next day, is bad enough. The thought that there is a human being that would do that to a person is sickening. What did he get out of it? Nothing. And for all he knows that very dangerous drug could have killed me. In the long run, I’m thankful it was just me. I can’t even begin to imagine what would have happened if we were both drugged. My friend is a tiny little person. If that crap had the effects it had on me, it might have killed her.

My point? Be careful ladies. We really can’t walk around trusting anyone, even bartenders.