Mainers Break My Heart When I See Them Doing This at 5 AM

Let's get a few things straight right out of the gate...

I am not, and never would shame anyone who was an addict of any kind. It's already a hard enough life. That said, I'm also no angel. I've made lots of bad choices in my lifetime, like most of us have. No one is truly innocent in life, but there are certainly tons of victims. And, how people deal with their pain and trauma is up to them. I'm no judge.

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But every day, I have to be at work at a fairly early hour. Often, you'll find me rolling into any one of the nearby convenience stores to snag a ginormous coffee and a fleet of donuts that I share with no one because I'm a glutton. But a good deal of the time, I watch people buying several nips at once. You know, the tiny bottles of booze.

Let's just look at this for a second...

What does turn my crank from time to time, is seeing someone sitting in their car in the dark part of the lot, swilling a couple of those nips, and then taking off and heading to work. Dealing with pain and trauma with addiction is one thing, putting people in danger is another.

First off, you're drinking and driving. Additionally, what job do you have, that it's ok to show up half in the bag? Do you drive a vehicle? Are you in charge of other people's safety? Are you being at all safe with yourself? Suffering on your own is no one's business, but if you're drinking behind the wheel or on the job, then it's everyone else's problem now too.

But what can you do?

I know stores can't, and frankly shouldn't, do anything. Not everyone who buys nips is breaking the law. And you can't tell which is which. But nothing makes me more sad at 5:00 a.m., than seeing someone who's struggling so hard, that they're drinking hard in the morning before the sun is even up. I wish there was something I could do.

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I suppose I should've taken a plate number and called in the person who was drinking and driving, but it all happened so fast. It's sad that I feel like it's all I can do... rat a person out. But, what if saves someone's life?

Maine can also be a little weird when it comes to our booze laws. Let's look...