What to do if you run into students while drinking
If a student approaches you while you are intoxicated, the best immediate response is to briefly say hello and quickly remove yourself from the area. The real difficulty comes the next day if students cross boundaries by spreading inappropriate rumors about your appearance or behavior on your personal time. This leaves young teachers angry and unsure of how to address the situation in the classroom.
What the numbers show
Counted from the threads quoted below. How we count
- People have been saying this in most months since September 2026.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Saying a brief hello, wishing them fun, and quickly walking awayDid this help you?
- 2Letting students approach first and keeping interactions shortDid this help you?
- 3Relying on friends to help navigate or exit awkward situations quicklyDid this help you?
- 4Acting as sober as possible and avoiding taking photos or videosDid this help you?
- 5Reporting the students to administration or a Title IX coordinator for sexual harassmentDid this help you?
- 6Setting strict verbal boundaries by deadpanning that personal lives are none of their businessDid this help you?
- 7Using humor or sarcasm to deflect the comments in the momentDid this help you?
- 8Ignoring the comments entirely to avoid drawing more attention to the situation (the Streisand effect)Did this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Today at school I’ve had several student come up and say they heard I was dressed like a hooker, stripper, or whore.”source ↗
“I am beyond pissed and don’t know how to respond to this. I am a fairly young teacher at 24 but I was heading to a party on my personal time.”source ↗
“what is best practice if a child comes up to you while you’re intoxicated? Obviously I’m not going to go up to any of my students should I run into them, but I’m worried that they might recognize me and approach me.”source ↗
“One evening as I finished off a pitcher, one of my students came up to me and said hi. I was mortified. I said hi and quickly skedaddled away.”source ↗
“going back in tomorrow I don’t want those boys to think it’s okay”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 5How to stop hallway distractions when door windows can't be covered
- 18Why am I always sick since I started teaching?
- 2How do you provide drinking water in a remote portable classroom?
- 2Parents walking into classrooms unescorted after school
- 4Why are teachers getting written up for using the restroom?
- 3Why do strangers think it's okay to touch my toddler?