Do you know why people "Cheers"? (A story from the "old days")

Sometimes on a blind date, I like to break the ice a little by spouting off one of my favorite bits of trivia (whether or not it's actually true, I really never bothered to check... but I enjoyed hearing it from someone else, so I figure some people might find it interesting as well... and telling said bit of trivia requires drinking - usually something alcoholic - so it's all good to me!)  Here's what I usually say...

"Do you know why people 'cheers'?"  After waiting for the obligatory shaking of the head, I continue.  "Back in ye olden days, when people poisoned each other's drinks, people would bang their cups together (ie. "cheers-ing" - is that even a verb?) as an act of good faith.  This would cause the liquid from both cups to spill into the other - thus proving that they, in fact, did NOT poison each other.  So... Cheers!  I didn't poison you!"

We clink glasses and the ice is officially broken.  Date on.

Except in the case of... (and I really couldn't help the pseudonym here... haha)

Sam.

Sam was yet another awkward dater.  (Aren't we all to some extent?)  But he and I hit it off enough that our date made it past the first drink.  Hell, we made it past the first bar!  So after I ordered the first drink at bar number two, I clearly need to "break the seal" and so I excused myself... and my drink... as I took a trip to the ladies room.

When I returned from what I would assume to be the first of many potty-breaks that night, I started to take a sip of my beer.  Mid-sip, I was greeted with "You know... you should never leave you're drink alone."  Sam continued very matter-of-factly, "You never know if someone might have slipped you something."  ...and I spit my drink back into my pint glass.

Check, please!

If only we had 'cheers-ed' my return from the ladies room!  Huzzah!  (Guess I should've kept my favorite ice-breaker for later on in that date!)

Really, Sam? I understand the point he was trying to make, but maybe when a first date returns to her drink with a relative stranger she's thinking she has at this point built a rapport with, that's probably not the time for him to be giving her life lessons.

***

And would you believe that Sam actually called me later to 'figure out where he went wrong'?!?  Hmm.... alluding to the fact that you may have slipped me a roofie probably wasn't the best move...  Just sayin'...



Photo Credit:  vmiramontes