Ari Benson (25) is an air conditioning repairman, working for his own thriving coastal business. He was very excited to be catching up with some old school friends at the Greenview Hotel for a few drinks last night after a long work week.
However, he was called to a job late yesterday afternoon, and ended up arriving about an hour late to the pub. He was very concerned to see his mates already drinking, and suspected it may not have even been their first beverage of the night.
He felt the need to immediately announce passionately that he "had some catching up to do", and he dashed off to the bar to grab a pint of beer and what looked like a neat scotch. It was not long before he had achieved his objective, getting a nice buzz on and well and truly having "caught up" to his friends.
By that stage, however, he had gained a seemingly unstoppable momentum. The catch-up drinks hit him harder than expected, and he failed to slow down at all once he had caught up. He started to talk absolute shit and miss the point of most of the yarns being told by his mates. He has been informed that he was kicked out of the establishment at an embarrassingly early stage of the night.
He doesn't remember much of the night, apart from very concerning flashbacks to various random moments from the night, including many people inquiring as to how he managed to get so drunk so quick. And his shirt seems to suggest that he spilled a litre of some cola-based beverage all over himself.
He knew he hadn't handled himself well when he woke up this morning. His head was throbbing and his phone was full of text inquiries from his mates as to how he "pulled up". He knows all to well that those texts are a very bad sign. He then spent the whole day trying to decide whether to try to piece together his night, or instead try to move on.
In the end, he pretty much spent today in the foetal position, regretting his horrible approach to last night's outing and trying to manage his monstrous hangover.
This is not the first time that "catchup drinks" have sent someone to oblivion, and it won't be the last. Spare a thought for old mate Ari. He's doing it tough today.