QUOTE(bondiguy @ Nov 23 2006, 01:47 AM)
Well yesterday I suffered some foot in mouth disease.... I felt like vanishing after this. Here's the story;
At my house my hot water is heated by gas. After a month or two of problems with out existing old gas heater we decided it was time to buy a new one. The guy that lives a few doors up installs them for a living so we asked him to come down and hook us up with a new one. He said he'd install it for cost price and wouldn't charge us anything extra.
Now in Australia it is almost custom to buy anyone that helps you out like this a case of beer. So knowing he was coming around I got a case of beer. he came, installed and got it up and running. I paid him for the system and then said, "here mate, here is some beer. Thanks for helping us out."
He did not want the beer (I thought he was just being polite) so I insisted he take it as a favour. After a minute of back and forth he said, "Last year my brother died from years of alcohol abuse and I swore I'd never drink again."
I could have died....

Hey man, you gotta let yourself off easy on this one. Just the fact that it's "almost a custom" means that it's practically expected. ie, that it's really an insult if you don't at least offer. Not being there, I can see how it would be uncomfortable to "insist" but since that's part of the whole process, you were only following custom. I went a year with out drinking anything (from March 05-March 06), and always put my friends at ease when they were drinking around me. I use to have to push full beers away, that were bought and paid for, then explain why I wasn't drinking. The onus to make accomodations is with the person who is going against custom, no matter how "unfair" that may at first appear.
On a side note, I ran into a guy from "down under" tonight. I happened to mention that I knew someone from Bondi Beach. When I pronounced "Bondi" I said "Bondee".I was corrected, it's pronounced Bond-I. I always thought it was Bondee. It made me wonder, what pronunciation were you guys using?