Seemed Nice
She stared as the man reached over and took another long sip from her drink. This wasn’t the first time he’d done this during the course of the evening. But he seemed like a nice enough guy.
As the music thumped louder and the dizzying lights swirled around her, she decided she was just being paranoid. Her eyes swept through the club, searching for her friends. Wait… What was he doing?
Reason To Celebrate
Lily Powles, from Lincolnshire in the UK, was working the first evening shift at Gulliver’s Nite Club. She glanced at her watch as the place started to fill up.
Twenty more minutes and her shift at the club would officially be over. Her friends would be arriving soon, she thought. And she had reason to celebrate.
Last Shift
Working as a server and taking the late shifts hadn’t been easy, but Lily desperately needed the cash. Then finally, after countless interviews, she had been offered a position as a sales representative at a large insurance firm.
With her new job officially starting on Monday, she felt like nothing could get her down that night. Until he walked in.
Making A Beeline
With a wide smile, the well-groomed man pushed his way to the front of the bar, making a beeline for Lily. She’d seen him hanging around the bar before.
He asked for his usual rum and Coke, but took Lily aback when he skipped the routine chit-chat and came right out with a request for her phone number. Lily was lost for words.
Politely Declining
Lily was in a good mood, so she gently brushed off his aggressive advances. She was used to men in the club approaching her, but she had one golden rule that she lived by: never mix romance and work. Besides, club policy strictly forbade it.
But the man wouldn’t leave it alone. He kept asking "what was wrong with him" between every other customer she served. He was starting to make her feel uncomfortable.
Persistent
The man finished his drink, but didn’t leave the bar. He hung around trying to get Lily’s attention as she kept herself busy. Everywhere she turned, he was there with that wide grin. “When do you finish your shift?” he asked her point-blank.
Being excited for the end of her last ever shift, Lily blurted out that she would soon be finishing at Gulliver’s Nite Club for good in a few minutes. His eyes lit up. She really should have kept her mouth shut.
Just One
Realizing this would be his last chance, the man sidled up to Lily when she clocked off and insisted on buying her a drink to celebrate. “Just one…” he pleaded, flashing her that smile.
Knowing she wouldn’t ever have to see him again once she was out of there, she thought there was no harm in getting a drink out of tolerating him all night. But she was dead wrong.
Running Late
The man asked Lily what she wanted to drink. “Surprise me,” she replied, hoping that getting her the drink would distract him just long enough for her friends to arrive. She sent them a message. “Running late,” they replied.
Quick as a flash, the man appeared next to her again, drinks in hand. The grin was somehow even wider now. She really should have been keeping a closer eye on him.
Strange Behavior
The first time he accidentally grabbed her drink instead of his, she didn’t think much of it. But when it happened a second and third time, she began to get annoyed.
Was he doing it on purpose? What was the point of buying her a drink if he intended to keep both for himself? With her drink barely touched, she messaged her friends again, but this time they didn’t even reply. Lily was on her own.
Just In Time
With a nervous glance at the door, Lily was relieved to see her friends finally walk in. She stood up and raised her hand so they could spot her easily in the crowd.
But when she looked back down and saw that the man had quickly moved her drink again, she was more suspicious of him than ever. What was his game?
Perfect Excuse
Lily now had the perfect excuse to walk away from the awkward situation. As all her girlfriends swarmed around her, exchanging hugs and congratulating her on her new job, the man was left awkwardly at the bar with no way to get her attention again. She saw him slope off to the bathroom.
Now was her chance. If her gut feelings were correct, the man was about to reget hounding her all night.
Bold Move
In one swift movement, without even her friends noticing, Lily swapped drinks with the man before moving to a bigger table at the back of the club.
She kept an eye on the man when he returned to the bar. He seemed miffed that Lily and her friends had just up and left, but was clearly too nervous to approach her again with all the girls around her. She really thought she’d seen the last of him.
Dancing On
Whenever she got up to dance, she could feel his eyes on her, making her skin crawl. But, determined not to let the situation unsettle her and ruin her last night at the club, Lily kept dancing.
She avoided his gaze as best she could and he was soon lost behind the crowd on the dance floor. But she wouldn’t be able to avoid him forever.
Gone?
Glancing back to the bar in the corner, she suddenly realized that she couldn’t see the man anymore. Finally she could relax! Lily and her friends danced and celebrated into the small hours of the morning.
It had been a night to remember! The girls stumbled bleary-eyed out of the dark club and into the steely city sunrise. But when Lily saw who was in the street, the nervous feeling from earlier that evening came rushing back.
Karma
The creepy man from the bar was there, passed out in a puddle. Lily just stared at him, very aware that if she hadn’t had the instinct to act quickly, she could have been in serious trouble right now.
It was obvious that she had been the man’s target for the night, and she was determined not to let him do that to anyone ever again.
Twitter Warning
Rattled, Lily immediately posted about her experience on Twitter. “The same lad robbed my drink twice last night, and put something in my glass when he bought me one back,” she wrote.
“I swapped our glasses when he went to the toilet and later found him laid flat out in a wet puddle.” She added, “Thanks for taking one for the team whoever you are - rather you than me, hun.” It wasn’t long before her post exploded.
Going Viral
In a matter of hours, Lily Powles’ story had accumulated over 11,000 retweets, 175,000 likes, and hundreds of replies.
Most people who saw Lily’s tweet were horrified that a man had tried to spike her drink, expressing their shock and outrage. But surprisingly, there were a lot of naysayers who commented as well.
Accusations
One Twitter user wrote, “Nice story. Didn’t happen though,” while others accused Lily of sharing false information of her ordeal to get attention. These comments, however, were quickly refuted by Lily's hoard of female supporters.
“So many men here who don’t believe this because they’re lucky enough not to live this as reality on a regular basis,” one commented, angrily. Many shared similar stories.
Similar Stories
“A similar thing happened to me,” another woman wrote. “A guy “accidentally” knocked over my wine a few years back and offered to buy me another.
“I accepted as I thought he was being courteous, but then something felt off so I left it. In the next bar, I caught him standing in the corner and staring at me.”
Staying Safe
The lesson Lily’s story brings to light is that it’s always important to be careful, especially at bars, parties, and nightclubs. Unfortunately, some people don’t always have good intentions.
Don't become a victim, always watch your drinks! But “spiking” doesn’t only happen to women, as another user pointed out, “To all the men saying 'never happened', my MALE partner has had his drink roofied at a nightclub before.”