Do you drink booze at lunch?

DatabaseHead

How's the policy at your work? Can you rip back a few and head into the office, or is it teetotaler only?

cyberguypr

Policy at my place says you can't work "impaired", so that's relative. My peers have done one at lunch and that's it. We leave the good stuff for after 5PM.

DatabaseHead

cyberguypr wrote: »

Policy at my place says you can't work "impaired", so that's relative. My peers have done one at lunch and that's it. We leave the good stuff for after 5PM.

Same.....

I had a manager who would rip back 3 - 4 Miller Lite's at lunch. I would just laugh while sipping on my painfully disgusting water.

EANx

The US drinks less at lunch than overseas does, I'll give people a pass up to two. (Miller Lite is water so doesn't count :P) (I'm joking about giving people a pass for more than two Miller Lites, but not joking about it being water)

DatabaseHead

EANx wrote: »

The US drinks less at lunch than overseas does, I'll give people a pass up to two. (Miller Lite is water so doesn't count :P)

My dad used to have a bottle of scotch is his desk and would have a few before he left for the day. This was circa 1975 - 1980

LeBroke

DatabaseHead wrote: »

My dad used to have a bottle of scotch is his desk and would have a few before he left for the day. This was circa 1975 - 1980

Each one of the PMs at my old job had a fully stocked bar in their desk.

VP of PM was pretty much a high-functioning alcoholic. 4 PM on Friday to me: "Less thinking, more drinking. Your cup looks empty there buddy."

Another one of the PMs: "I have a meeting in 5 minutes and I COULD NOT GET THROUGH IT SOBER. I heard you have something in your desk." I had vodka in my desk at the time.

One sales guy that used to work there literally brought a giant bottle of Jameson (1.14L) and kept pouring people shots on St. Patty's all day.

We also had a keg for Fridays which would usually be open so if you wanted a beer or two after work it was acceptable. Unfortunately, some graveyard CSRs at our other office kept not only drinking (which people probably would have ignored), but also making a giant, unrecognizable mess all over the kitchen (like spilling beer everywhere and not cleaning up), which got everyone mad. So they had to lock it down to Fridays only.

Yeah it was a pretty alcohol-liberal place (easily 30% of our staff were Europeans, with another 20% Latin Americans so that did wonders for having an awesome company culture).

That said, most people wouldn't drink beer at lunch for one simple reason - you get tired after drinking.

DatabaseHead

LeBroke amazing story thanks for sharing.

I over heard and exec once say to another exec, I need xanex I haven't had a chance to get a drink. This was at 9 am lol.

SteveLavoie

We have a beer fridge for Friday 4PM and later.. strict rule.

Otherwise, no express rules, but I would'nt expect to be authorized. Also, when doing some consulting jobs on client side, even if they offer me a beer, I dont take it, if the job is not done. Imagine, you screw up, or something really unplanned happen , then after the client can say that you took a beer.. Were you drunk ? It make you look so unprofessionnal. At least sober you can either be incompetent, or unlucky, but not unprofessionnal

UnixGuy

@LeBroke sounds like you worked in a bar


It's relaxed here...no one cares....although the only job where there were rules against drinking on the job was at a university (go figure)..

I personally don't drink at lunch, unless it's a work event and people are drinking AND I feel like one

netsysllc

In a former life as an automotive mechanic, I had a coworker who would drink a pitcher of beer at lunch almost every day. Had several others including him who would also drink a couple tall boys or a six pack on their way home from work.

alias454

We have beer in the fridge and on tap. We can drink anytime we want. Myself, I have a beer if I feel like it but don't partake in the office happy hour since I have a long drive after work. Never seen it be a problem.

no!all!

Every now and then. Usually during the summer months on a slow Friday though.

RHEL

I don't go out of my way to drink at work. However, if I'm going out to a restaurant with co-workers, its not unusual for a couple people to order a beer with their lunch. Nobody is getting hammered.

Except the one dude who drinks 2+ at lunch and does mixed drinks to hide the smell of alcohol on his breath. He's a bit different.

If I'm going to have more than 1, I take the afternoon off.

knownhero

Used to have a couple at lunch in the summer. Then I couldn't handle the intense feeling of wanting to sleep, so I stopped. Fast forward a few years and now I hardly drink.

E Double U

Common for my group to break out the beers starting at 16:00 usually on Thu or Fri.

ThePawofRizzo

I've worked several places over the last couple decades, and probably would have faced disciplinary action at most if I'd have had even one beer at lunch. My current boss would probably be OK with such occasionally, but I wouldn't even try unless he had one in his hand himself. At meetings with vendors after 4PM, of course, even if we were going back to do something for a bit afterward, and one drink would not be an issue typically.

While I'm not a teetotaler, I am a lightweight. One beer, and sometimes only a half, gets me buzzed. Two beers, and I'll wait at the bar sipping water or diet soda for a bit, just to be safe driving. If I did drink much I'd just want to go to sleep.

Fulcrum45

Several years ago when I worked as a Junior Net Admin at an accounting firm we had a company sponsored post tax season party at a nearby bar. I had a few beers (maybe 4?) but was altogether feeling fine- nothing I couldn't wait out several hours before driving home- one of my unfortunate talents is the ability to drink most people under the table. Anyway, around 6 pm one of the senior partners of the firm stopped by my table, and in front of my coworkers, asked for my car keys and informed me that one of the other partners was going to drive me home. I was mortified. Everyone at the table looked at me like I was an alcoholic. The guy who drove me home was pretty empathetic about the whole thing. He tried to explain that she was just being motherly and looking out for her employees but I was convinced I was going to get fired that following Monday. Trying to explain to my wife that even though money was tight I may have just drank myself out of a job? That was fun. Early the next morning she had to drive me the hour commute to pick up my car and was pretty ticked. In hindsight I was just being paranoid and I'm sure their heart was in the right place but to this day I'm very leery when it comes to drinking with coworkers. Anymore I would rather just drink at home alone.

DatabaseHead

Hahaha Fulcrum great story!

This turned out to be a worth while thread......

Clm

LeBroke wrote: »

Each one of the PMs at my old job had a fully stocked bar in their desk.

VP of PM was pretty much a high-functioning alcoholic. 4 PM on Friday to me: "Less thinking, more drinking. Your cup looks empty there buddy."
.

Sounds like my old job. My director use to give his card to employees to do beer runs. The employees use to drink beer daily they kept it stock in the fridge

LeBroke

A few more fun things about my previous job:

One guy would roll a massive joint before leaving work since he didn't like rolling it outside.

Beer Fridays usually turned into, well, keggers, especially at the other office. Only thing we couldn't do was a kegstand because the keg was inside a tiny keg freezer and attached to a tap.

A few guys we had explicitly took the job from overseas (re: Europe) because it was based in Vancouver (yes, they were stoned all the time, though usually not at work).

Most people at my office (dev/IT/PM) biked to work. Most people at the other office went either clubbing, or hosted parties within their own friend groups.

One guy (very Russian): "In Rasha hyu do not drink to get drunk. Hyu drink BECAUSE NOTINK TO DO." I'm going by to his place for vodka this weekend...

...If it wasn't for 60 hours a week, 24/7 on-call, and starting to go grey at 30, I'd really miss the place.

NavyMooseCCNA

I thought those days ended with the Dot Com era. I remember having beer/wine on Friday afternoons at work until Y2K....in 2006/2007 I worked for a place where the IT department would get vodka and Red Bull on Friday afternoons...but senior management had no idea this was going on...even the IT Director didn't know...he rarely associated with the unwashed.

E Double U

Fulcrum45 wrote: »

Anymore I would rather just drink at home alone.

Or you could use public transportation...and fall asleep on the train well past your stop after whiskey night with colleagues

JoJoCal19

Damn I really need to stop working at large mega corps. Never worked where anyone drank during/at work, but one smallish InfoSec consulting shop I interviewed with down in Tampa had cases of beer stacked up in the conference room and when I looked at it then looked at the guy who led me to the conf room he stumbled through a sort of answer. "uh umm it's for an event after work".

Ertaz

I'm reformed. I'm so Baptist now that I don't even tap my feet when the music is good.

Kinet1c

It's not something I do at lunch time, never have and never will. I have seen it done before though in previous jobs during and after work hours.

One job used to have a happy hour where an exec would come around your desk and drop a beer on your desk. It's not something I availed of. This same job, had a number of people on my team who would pour liquor in to a soda during the day.

Current job has a beer fridge which gets opened on a Friday at 4pm, only exception would be a midweek social event and again it won't be opened till late in the day.

Another company would book out a bar on a Friday evening and have all drinks paid for all night... anything you wanted.

LeBroke

Kinet1c wrote: »

It's not something I do at lunch time, never have and never will. I have seen it done before though in previous jobs during and after work hours.

One job used to have a happy hour where an exec would come around your desk and drop a beer on your desk. It's not something I availed of. This same job, had a number of people on my team who would pour liquor in to a soda during the day.

Current job has a beer fridge which gets opened on a Friday at 4pm, only exception would be a midweek social event and again it won't be opened till late in the day.

Another company would book out a bar on a Friday evening and have all drinks paid for all night... anything you wanted.

So, now I feel bad for not taking a job that would have given me an opportunity to transfer to Ireland

shochan

So, how many of you "while drinking" ever crashed a server...forgot to save a config after exiting the console...or accidentally spilled your alcoholic beverage and fried a device?? LOL!
Cheers!

[Deleted User]

I will drink with co-workers after business hours but never have I drank at lunch and gone back to work. I've made jokes with my co-workers because there is a store nearby that sells little bottles of Jaeger and Redbull so we would joke about doing Jaegerbombs then go back to work. Yeah let's see if that turns out well!!

volfkhat

Half our team drinks pretty frequently at my current place of employment.

i have a liter of Vodka in my desk at all times; we hit the vending machine when we need a mixer.

Happy Hour generally starts daily around 4pm... but sometimes sooner (depending on the escalations).

Today, we decided to take it easy; we broke out the 'box wine' and only had a few libations.

Interestingly enough, i don't have any alcohol in my home.... nor do even go out drinking socially.
All my inebriation is 100% work-related.

And, before you ask.... NO, drinking at the job is NOT allowed.

But what are they gonna do.... Fire us????

i work at a MSP.

DatabaseHead

Survival of the fittest

logisticalstyles

Only if the boss is paying for the drinks.
My last job used to have a happy hour on the first Friday of every month around 2:00 PM with Beer, Wine and Champagne. It was a software company and things were very relaxed around there. In fact when those happy hours came around my manager would break out the hard stuff and we'd have a few shots.

My current job just started doing a monthly happy hour but if happens after 5. Every once in a while they will break out some beers in the afternoon and allow you to drink before 5.