MY GLASS, MY CHOICE: Justice For Residents of Oud Sluys Senior Community, Who Are Being Stripped of Their Rights to Hard Liquor at Bingo Night

Residents of a senior housing complex have risen up in revolt against a “patronising” ban on alcohol in their communal living area.

From December 1 the Oud Sluys apartment complex in Maassluis has forbidden “strong drink”, such as port and gin from the daytime area, including during group activities such as bingo nights. Wine, beer and cider will still be allowed.

Seniorenwelzijn, which runs the complex, said the move was designed to comply with “local health policy and social developments relating to growing old healthily”.

But people living in the complex slammed the ban as “patronising and childish”. Some hung hand-painted banners from their balconies with slogans such as “70-80-90 – baas in eigen glas” (in charge of my own glass).

Other banners displayed messages such as: “Advocaatje? Not any more”, “stop being patronising” and “talk with us, not about us”.

I know this story doesn't seem like a big deal on the surface. Or even beneath the surface. It probably seems like a story that isn't worth anyone's time to blog about, let alone read. Especially considering this particular old folks community isn't even banning alcohol from the communal living area altogether. Only the hard stuff. And even more especially considering this is happening in not-America. But I'd like to stick up for the old folks of the Oud Sluys apartment complex, who the tyrannical Dutch monarchs are holding under their thumb. 

Senior citizens in retirement communities across the world are constantly being treated like second-class citizens, and having rights stripped away from them. Have you ever seen Happy Gilmore? You know the way Ben Stiller treats Happy's grandmother at Silver Acres Retirement Home?

This is exactly how 90% of employees at all retirement homes everywhere treat their residents. 

In some cases, rules/laws made for seniors are justified. For instance, you can't let a 95-year old gentleman who doesn't know his own name and can hardly see 10-feet in front his face operate a vehicle, because that vehicle will likely end up parked inside of an unsuspecting family's living room. That's a public safety issue. People forget that the same women drove her car into the Barstool Sports Milton office on two separate occasions. 

But when you go making rules to combat a problem that hardly exists, then you're just power tripping on people. Then you're treating them like children. And that's when people get pissed.

From the sound of it, the old Dutch couples in Maassluis weren't guzzling Jager bombs & starting fist fights at the Oud Sluys bingo night. I'm sure most nights at Oud Sluys are nothing more than a friendly group of neighborhood olds getting together and shootin' bingos over a nice full-bodied red from the vineyards of Groningen. Maybe there's been some instances of people getting a little too sauced up. Maybe someone let a Dutch slur fly once or twice. But show me a retirement community who claims to be slur-free, and I'll show you a retirement community full of liars. 

Most importantly though, putting a "no hard alcohol" rule in place isn't going to help anything. The main reason they seem to be doing this is for the "health" of their residents. 

“I don’t see it as being patronising,” Theepas added. “It’s been shown that alcohol in general, and strong drink especially, is really unhealthy. So we have to choose as a well-being organisation whether you draw a line, and we have to draw a line.”

He said there may be some room for negotiation over drinks that are “on the border between strong drink and light alcohol”, such as Advocaat. “We could reconsider whether we can allow an Advocaat.”

But a glass of port is out of the question, he said. “That’s much stronger. We’re not doing that.

But if these folks are anything like me, and someone who's been given authority tells me I'm not allowed to do something… even if it's something I've never thought about doing before… then it's, "Fuck you, I actually do want to do that thing. More than I've ever wanted to anything in my entire life as a matter of fact. And I'm going to make your life hell for telling me I can't".

So if they're telling me I can't even drink a glass of port wine, because it's bad for my health, and because every time I do end up telling Hildabeth to "suck my wrinkly dick" when I hit a clutch G56. Then sure as shit at the next communal living area event, I'm gonna show you just how disrespectful I can get off the 5% ciders. I'll show you how quickly I can destroy my liver with a good ol' fashioned pilsner.

You gotta pick your battles when it comes to dealing with retirement communities. You have to show them respect, and treat them as equals. There's plenty of times you have to put your foot down. In many cases, you simply must protect people from themselves. That's literally your job. But if you want the residents of your senior community to respect you back when the time comes to enforce a necessary rule, you can't go abusing your authority and power tripping on them over every little thing. Just because their family has moved them into a retirement community doesn't mean their life is over. If anything, now is the time they should really be letting loose and living their best life. 

Let the old folks drink what they want. If someone gets out of hand, deal with that person individually. That's what you're there for. Justice for the seniors of Oud Sluys. I stand with you. Your glass, your choice.