Drinking at work?

[RhondaHonda]

We have a full bar at my office with draft beer and an amazing liquor selection. There’s about 25 employees. People usually have a drink or two on Friday afternoons or if a big deal closes. It’s awesome and the company alcohol policy is clearly spelled out that employees are responsible for their own actions.

 

[stranger706]

The Airbus factories in Europe serve wine and beer during lunch.

 

[Dean]

That would have gotten me fired at the nuclear plant- after testing.

 

[supton]

Late 90's I worked (as an intern) at a place that had cases and case of beer under the counter in the breakroom. Beer o clock was mid afternoon on Fridays, although it started around noon when us interns were finished for the summer. Place had flex time and I'm guessing those cases took a beating during late night attempts to finish projects.

At the current job we had employee appreciation day last summer and I think this was the first time that wine and beer were available. I think we could have up to 2 drinks? maybe 3, don't remember now, I got to try some fancy beer which was nice. Otherwise it's a nope at work. [Oh wait--with WFH still in full force... never assume what is in coffee cups during evening conference calls!]

 

[AutoMechanic]

If you are caught with alcohol on my work property it’s an automatic termination no questions asked. HR will be waiting in the managers office with paperwork faster than you could turn around probably. Lol. Even if I did work for a company like that I would not do it. For one I’m underage for that right now and two my family doesn’t like alcohol so I would not want to disrespect them. It would not bother me but I’d be worried about people going home and stuff like that.

 

[nthach]

At a desk job, BFD unless you **** up and cause the company to lose business, violate company policy or make advances on your coworkers(but if you’re high up there, it’s a slap on the wrist or a severance package if there’s cause to fire).

But, a blue-collar job around machinery or in dangerous places, no. But, the UAW got away with drinking on the job(and used it as a lever against GM during strikes and when Roger Smith decided to shake up how things are ran). A six-pack lunch was common at the UAW. I know a person or two high up there with one of the carpenter’s unions - he tells me he’s had guys show up to work drunk or high and action had to be taken.

 

[samven]

The company I worked for use to allow a beer or 2 at lunch and we had great open bar Christmas parties at a local Hotel Ballroom until 1 guy killed his wife driving drunk on the way home from the party and sued the company for providing the alcohol. It sounds crazy but he won a large settlement and the open bar and beer at lunch stopped. We still had Christmas parties but you had to buy your own alcohol if you wanted it. This was back in the 80's, I cant imagine how much worse it would be now.

 

[Skippy722]

When I was 18 we had a potluck on night shift, one guy brought beers for everyone and they kept trying to get me to have one… I had to tell them god forbid I get pulled over and have any alcohol in my system I’d be royally screwed. I’d never drink at work though, I’m clumsy enough sober.

 

[PandaBear]

A few years ago when the kid took over the business they started having a "beer cart" Friday once a month. At about 3pm they roll around a beer cart with ice cold beer. At first I thought it was a cool but since then it has gotten way out of hand and has turned into nothing but a drunk fest. The big thing now is jello shots and the lady sitting next to me keeps a bottle of Malibu (what ever that is) at her desk and I've seen her pour it into her drinking cup on non beer cart days.

Any one else work for a company that allows this?

I don't partake or I should say I grab a Bud light clamato and take it home, no way I'm taking a chance on driving, I learned my lessen 40 years ago.

Apple has Beer Bash every month. Security on site to make sure you aren't leaving with alcohol and you aren't "drunk". Sometimes cops checking the traffic at the first intersection outside the parking lot too.

I'm sure it cost way more than just a couple cans.

 

[PandaBear]

The company I worked for use to allow a beer or 2 at lunch and we had great open bar Christmas parties at a local Hotel Ballroom until 1 guy killed his wife driving drunk on the way home from the party and sued the company for providing the alcohol. It sounds crazy but he won a large settlement and the open bar and beer at lunch stopped. We still had Christmas parties but you had to buy your own alcohol if you wanted it. This was back in the 80's, I cant imagine how much worse it would be now.

Most company parties I have been to give out alcohol vouchers and you can only drink up to 2. Most people don't drink more than 1. If you get drunk at work that's basically the end of your career (you have self control problem).

 

[Duffyjr]

Thanks for all the replies, I wasn't sure how most would take my rant. Don't get me wrong I like to come home and have a beer and sip my tequila so I'm not against drinking.

First there is no policy or at least I've never signed anything. When it first started most just had a beer and that was it but since then like I said it way out of control. Yesterday one owner was having his bourbon and water which he keeps in his desk, the other owner had a mini fridge installed next to his desk and is always full of Busch light and drinks pretty much daily, you can smell it on him, one lady always has those little bottles of Fireball in her desk, I could go on and on and it wasn't even "beer cart" Friday, that's next Friday, always the first Friday on the month. I've been told on occasions some stay and drink late into the evening.

For you wanting to know what kind of company it is we print just about anything you could want, from post cards to wedding albums, we also have commercial accounts, one is with a popular mattress company. I work in customer service in the office but back in production there are fork lifts driving around, all sorts of machinery that one could easily get hurt and from what I hear it's just about as bad back there.

I do think some day something is going to happen, either someone will get hurt or hurt someone driving home.

 

[Donald]

The IBM cafeteria in France sold beer and wine just like soda to have with your lunch. But this was a decade or two ago. Unsure about now.

 

[Andrew1972]

Our company gives out a beer or other beverage at St Paddy’s or certain other days.

 

[Sayjac]

So do they drink Homer approved, Duff beer? Sorry, looking at your member name, couldn't resist. I have nothing to add to others' comments on the advisability of the practice.

 

[JustinH]

I used to work for a large hospital chain. The physician lounges used to serve wine every day, along with fancy meals. This was for credentialed physicians only.

Other than that, there is no booze at work.

 

[Astro14]

No booze for us at work…passengers, not to mention the FAA, would take a dim view of that, I imagine…

That said, holiday parties, Friday afternoon get-togethers, and work group social events were a common thread in Navy life. When I was based in Great Lakes, my reserve unit had a core group that were good friends, and monthly drill weekends often included a Saturday evening at Buffalo Wild Wings.

My concern was the safety of those folks following the gathering. Not because I would get in trouble for allowing it, but because a DUI, or worse, accident, could potentially be personally devastating, and would certainly, absolutely certainly, be detrimental to their career.

So, my official position was this: I would personally pay for a cab for whoever needed it. No questions asked. No judgement. They didn’t even have to tell me who took the cab, let any person pay for a shipmate, and I would cover their cost. No questions asked. I didn’t want the concern of ”skipper finding out” to influence the good decision to not drive.

None of them ever took me up on that offer, though I suspect that rides were given by fellow shipmates when intoxication level required it. They kept it out of my view, and that’s fine with me, as long as everyone stayed safe.

I think the key point in any workplace consumption of alcohol is the clear guidance from leadership on the boundaries of acceptable behaviour and universal understanding of what keeping everyone safe means.


I will add that I did join them a couple of times. Wouldn’t have been appropriate for me, in my position, to regularly socialize, but I also felt it was important that I accept the invitation at least once or twice. Naturally, I bought a round, and naturally, they suggested that I try the Mango Habanero wings, claiming (with obvious intent) that they were “surprisingly mild”…

 

[Touring5]

I used to work for a small engineering company that did something similar. After realizing potential liability issues (employees getting into wrecks or DUI after leaving), the owner put the kabash on it. This was in the late 80's and I can't fathom any company allowing it today.

 

[Aredeeem]

Back in the late 70’s I worked for the railroad and we would deliver rice and hops to the Busch brewery in Newark. Their lunch room had an entire wall of taps for their employees, and us too of course. That would be unheard of today.

 

[Chris142]

I have seen guys that hung around after work and drank. Not me I want to get as far away from that place if I'm off the clock.

Never heard of drinking and being on the clock though

 

[bunnspecial]

I don't drink at all and never have, so it's never been anything that would necessarily affect me.

I've always worked in Acadaemia. At my last job, there would be a few special occasions where they would serve alcohol. The graduate student organization in the department(of which I was president for two years while still a student) typically was part of two of those occasions. That's actually the only time in my life I've bought alcohol . Our first was the back to school/welcome back picnic/BBQ which was usually about 5:00 on a Friday afternoon and we would serve beer. I never saw anyone get silly at that one. The other-every year we would invite a Nobel Laureate to give a couple of talks, take them to the Kentucky Derby, and also have a banquet for them. The banquet was in the evening and we had pretty free flowing beer and wine there-I did see a few people get silly.

The big and surprising one, though, was the Christmas party, which the department did. To avoid university purchasing regulations, etc, I'm pretty sure a few faculty members would buy all the alcohol. It was generally beer, wine, and bourbon. It would start at 11:00 or so, often on a mid-week day, and reliably a few people(some of the same every year) would go completely overboard. I can remember our then department chair being one of the ones one year. It honestly was a side of a lot of people I'd prefer not to have seen, and given that most would leave immediately after.

I can remember one year still in graduate school, though, where we had a group meeting scheduled after the party and half the students in my research group along with my advisor had been in the "probably a little too far" club that day. Our group meetings were often notoriously long anyway, and that day was miserable as I think it dragged on for about 5 hours as some stumbled through presenting data and a few had slipped out right before the meeting to buy more beer and continued drinking during the meeting.

The last smaller scale one there were defense parties, where generally after someone defended their thesis or dissertation they'd pop a bottle of champagne and everyone present would sign the bottle as a keepsake/momento from it(given how big of a deal that occasion is). I do remember one, again in my research group, where they broke open a metal can of some stuff that people always brought back from China...that one was interesting although I cut out before it got too wild.