February 7, 2026 at 8:23 pm

Designated Driver Was Helping A Woman Find Her Friends, But His Own Friends Got Upset Because They Didn’t Want To Wait

by Heather Hall

Group of women having fun at a bar with people they don't know

Pexels/Reddit

Doing the right thing doesn’t always feel that way in the moment.

So, what would you do if you were sober at a bar and a very intoxicated stranger asked for help, but your friends were becoming increasingly upset?

Would you tell the person you had to leave? Or would you make your friends wait until you knew the intoxicated person was safe?

In the following story, one designated driver finds himself in this situation and does the right thing.

Here’s how he handled the situation.

AITA for delaying my group from leaving a bar because I was helping someone?

So last night, my friends and I were out bar hopping in Nashville to have some fun. I didn’t want to drink, so I stayed sober, and about 1 out of the remaining 4 people in my group decided to stay sober as well.

Towards the end of the night, this girl, whom I will refer to as S, comes up to me, saying she lost her friends and asks if she can borrow my phone to call them, to which I oblige.

During the course of this interaction, I noticed she was exceptionally intoxicated because she dropped my phone a couple of times, couldn’t stand still, stumbled around, slurred words, etc.

He didn’t want to just leave her like that.

Seeing this and her failing to get a hold of her friends, I was slightly concerned, so we sat on a bench on the roof while she continued to try to call. At this point, my friends are ready to go and let me know.

The problem is, S has my phone and is insistent that she needs to contact her friends, and won’t give it back, which isn’t a huge deal to me. Well, my friends who were also getting pretty intoxicated, tell me that she’s not my problem and that we need to go (just cuz they were tired, not because we had something planned or urgent).

After failing to get a hold of her friends for a little longer, S complains that she’s cold, so in an attempt to compromise, I decided the best course of action was to take her downstairs to the first floor, where they had benches she could sit in the heat while she waited for her friends.

After about 20 minutes, he was free to go.

As I said earlier, she was pretty intoxicated, so I had to hold her so she didn’t trip down the stairs or something. While going down, she kept insisting she needed to call her friends, so she sat on the stairs and kept calling people for 5-10 minutes.

I was finally able to convince S to keep coming down the stairs, and luckily, before we reached the bottom, we ran into some people that she knew, and they took her from there.

The whole interaction may have taken 20 minutes tops.

His friends were mildly irritated with the whole thing.

When my friends regrouped, and we were in the car, they were complaining that I delayed our departure and that I didn’t have to do that, and they were mildly upset that I made them wait.

I feel like I’m going crazy or something because why are they getting mad that I decided to help someone who needed it.

And even if I did want to she was holding my phone pretty tight and it just feels wrong to wrench my phone out of this confused girl’s hands, which I told them but the kept repeating that it wasn’t my problem?

AITA?

Wow! They would want someone to help their friend or relative.

Let’s see how the folks over at Reddit feel about what he did here.

This person wishes more people were like him.

Drunk Girl 3 Designated Driver Was Helping A Woman Find Her Friends, But His Own Friends Got Upset Because They Didnt Want To Wait

Here’s a good thought.

Drunk Girl 1 Designated Driver Was Helping A Woman Find Her Friends, But His Own Friends Got Upset Because They Didnt Want To Wait

Another reader who thinks he did the right thing.

Drunk Girl Designated Driver Was Helping A Woman Find Her Friends, But His Own Friends Got Upset Because They Didnt Want To Wait

He should do this every time, no matter what anyone else has to say.

It’s always best to help a drunk person than just leave them.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check this one out about a man who created a points system for his inheritance, and a family friend ends up getting almost all of it.