I stopped at the grocery store on my way home tonight. At one point I was in an aisle near a mother and her teenage daughter -- the mother was visibly drunk and was just harranguing this poor girl. The mom was manuevering the cart and yelling at the girl to pick things out for her, then bitching if she picked up the wrong size bottle or brand...The girl looked over at me, mortified and I tried to give her an encouraging look...
At the checkout, they got in line behind me and the mom went to buy cigarettes - I helped the girl unload some stuff off the bottom of her cart and I blurted out "I have a dad like that, it sucks, doesn't it?" She was quiet for a minute and then said, "I just graduated...I'm free in two weeks." And I said, "Congratulations...oh and congratulations on the graduation too" and we both started laughing.
~~~
I remember going with my dad to buy booze. He always took one of us kids with him - which was a win-win situation -- on those trips, he would buy us anything we wanted and he could come home with more than just booze, thus avoiding my mom's barely-concealed wrath. Good times, people, good times.