He took another long sip from her glass, and she couldn't help feeling suspicious. He had done the same thing a few times before during the evening, but she tried pushing the feelings away. She told herself he seemed nice.
She thought the thumping music and swirling lights were adding to her paranoia. She decided to look for her friends and scanned the club but stalled when she saw what he was doing.
The Evening Shift
Lily Powles worked the first evening shift at Gulliver's Nite Club in Lincolnshire, UK. She noticed the place had started filling up by then.
Her shift would officially end in the next twenty minutes, and her friends would also be arriving. She was excited to celebrate, and she had plenty of reason to.
A Job Offer
It wasn't easy for Lily to work as a server and take the late-night shifts, but she needed the money. She had finally been offered a job as a sales representative at a large insurance firm, but it had taken countless interviews to get there.
She officially started her new job on Monday and felt like she was on top of the world. But everything changed when he walked in.
A Man She's Seen Before
Lily spotted a man she had seen a few times before, and he was coming straight to her. He was pushing his way to the bar, and she saw he was well-groomed and smiling.
He usually asked for a rum and Coke, but Lily was shocked when he blatantly asked for her phone number. He usually spoke small talk to her, but that didn't happen today.
He Was Persistent
His advance seemed aggressive, but Lily let it slide, considering she was in a good mood. Working at the club had made her used to men approaching her, and she had an essential rule that she followed. Despite the club policy forbidding it, she never mixed romance with work.
But the man persisted and repeatedly asked her why he was so different from all the other customers she served. She was starting to feel uncomfortable.
Unavoidable
The man's glass was empty, but he didn't leave the bar and tried his best to get Lily to talk to him. Despite trying to keep herself busy, she seemed unable to avoid him. It wasn't long before he asked her when her shift was going to end.
She was bubbling with the good news, so much so that the words just bubbled out of her. She told him it was her last shift working at the club and almost immediately wanted to smack herself for saying anything.
Winning Her Over
As soon as Lily clocked off, she was by her side and offering her a drink. He pleaded with her to get one drink with him and smiled at her, hoping to win her over. It was his last chance, and he was desperate to make it work.
She decided to tolerate him for a little while and agreed to one drink. Afterward, she would never see him again. But she had made a big mistake.
Getting Her A Drink
Lily told the man to surprise her when he asked what she wanted to drink. She hoped her friends would arrive when he was away from the table and decided to shoot them a message. They replied, saying they were running late.
He was back sooner than he expected and handed her a drink. She noticed he was smiling wider now but couldn't put her finger on why.
More Than Once
She noticed him accidentally grabbing her drink instead of his at some point, but she wasn't fazed. But she started feeling weird when she saw him do it a second and a third time.
She thought his behavior was odd, considering he had bought the drink for her. If that was the case, why was he drinking both? She had barely touched her drink and wanted to escape the situation. But when her friends didn't reply to her following text, Lily realized no one could help her.
They Arrived
Lily glanced at the door again, feeling nervous. She immediately felt better when she spotted her friends walking in and didn't hesitate to wave them over.
She looked down at the table for a moment and was taken aback when she noticed the man had moved her drink again. What was he doing? She eyed him suspiciously.
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 head off to the bathroom.
Now was her chance. If her gut feelings were correct, the man was about to regret 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 her friends 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.
Drink Spiking
In the unlikely case that you haven’t heard of it, drink spiking is when drugs are placed into someone’s drink (usually alcoholic) without their consent or knowledge.
The intent is to make the person who has been unknowingly drugged more vulnerable or even incapacitated – which usually leads to the assault or robbery of the person whose drink has been spiked.
"Roofies"
Two common pharmaceuticals used for drink spiking are GHB and Rohypnol, also known as “roofies.” These drugs can make a person feel more inebriated than they really are even if they have only had a couple of drinks.
Both GHB and Rohypnol cause confusion and memory loss, and they can be fatal in large doses. And the frightening part?
You Won't Notice
While the symptoms of being dosed with GHB or Rohypnol will vary depending on the person’s size, weight, and level of inebriation, the most frightening part about drink spiking is that the person will not notice a difference in taste, odor, or appearance in their drink.
The drugs take effect in just 15 minutes – so if you or someone you know starts to feel strange when you’re out partying, get help right away. Another frightening thing is just how prevalent drink spiking is.
Similar Stories
“A similar thing happened to me,” one 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.” And one bartender also had a story to share.
Confessions Of A Bartender
One bartender told his own story on the app Whisper and confessed to witnessing a man tampering with a woman’s drink. The incident took place at the bar he worked while he was on a bartending shift. The woman appeared to be the man’s date.
"Last night, I saw a guy drug a girl's drink,” he wrote on Whisper. It was then that he decided to turn the tables on the man.
Turning The Tables
Realizing that he’d seen the man slip some kind of drug into the woman’s drink while she was in the bathroom, the anonymous bartender knew he had to step in and do something.
So he waited until the man wasn’t looking, and shrewdly swapped his drink for his date’s. “When he wasn't looking, I switched the drinks. Watched that guy drug himself," he confessed. And he’s not the only one who has seen spiking take place and put a stop to it.
Everyday Heroes
Three women from Santa Monica also shared their story. While a man’s date was in the bathroom, they saw him taking out “a little black vial” and dropping something into his date’s drink.
After witnessing the drink being spiked, the women decided to go to the bathroom and warn the man’s date. Of course, the unsuspecting woman was completely shocked.
Her Reaction
The woman was “shocked and kind of numb” when she learned what her date had done. The three hero women took their story to facebook, where one of them expressed their surprise.
"I was expecting to hear 'We just met,' but I got: 'He's one of my best friends'." It turned out that the woman had known the man for a year and a half, and that they worked together. Then, the four women came up with a plan.
Handling It Like A Pro
The shocked woman returned to her date after she had learned the truth in the bathroom and pretended there was nothing wrong.
She avoided the spiked drink, ordered a water, and tried to make conversation to keep the man there. Meanwhile, the three heroes were alerting the staff, finding the incident on the security serveilance footage, and calling the cops – which lead to the man’s arrest.
Staying Safe
The lesson Lily’s – and indeed every other woman’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.”
Common Targets
56 percent of women in the U.S. have been victims of drink spiking in nightclubs, house parties, festivals, and bars. More than half of the spiking incidents occured while the women were at college, and most happened while they were on a date.
But, shockingly, women aren’t the only victims. Among men in the U.S., 44 percent say they have unwittingly consumed spiked food or drinks.
What To Do
Although the effects of spiking can vary widely, the general symptoms are dizziness, nausea, confusion, visual problems, and unconsciousness.
If you witness someone spiking someone else’s drink or suspect spiking, the first thing to do is tell the bar manager, bouncer, or other member of staff. If their condition gets worse, call an ambulance and do not let them go home alone or with someone else. If you or someone you know has been spiked, call the police as soon as possible – spiking is illegal.
In order to protect the privacy of those depicted, some names, locations, and identifying characteristics have been changed and are products of the author's imagination. Any resemblances to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, are entirely coincidental.