CKA1

For us, we have a number of recovering alcoholics on staff, including the President and one of his department heads.

Come Christmas, we had for years had an in house party. Open bar (actually it was a help yourself bar) and good booze, but nothing fancy. Wisers, Crown and Absolut mostly. After we started having trouble with workers drinking at work, we switched to having a regular Christmas party at a local golf resort. Open bar and I've never seen anybody getting sloppy. When we had in house parties, (and often we'd have people bring in wine and beer for regular events during the year) we had some serious drinkers, which is very common at our facility, you would hear stories about "Jim, Joe and Jake went drinking after the official party and Jim lost his shoes and Jake was hauled off in an ambulance. Oh, that Jim, what a card!".

One of the things I remember the most was that when a worker found that drinking Scotch, out of his car in the parking lot, and trying to hide it from other people wasn't such a great idea. The President came over, made a speech about when he recovered from drinking and how he had to make lifestyle choices. One thing he made very clear is that when somebody is an alcoholic, especially in the early stages of recovery, you can't go to the bar with your work buddies and be expected to sip a cola. It's very difficult for people like that to not say, "Heck, it's been two weeks, I deserve a martini".

That speech pretty much ended our institutional drinking on site. I can only remember the one time where we went down the street to a bar to celebrate a secretary's retirement after that and we mostly left after a few shots.

That said, the President has never objected to our bringing our clients out for dinner and lubricating them (not us) to get better terms on a contract or for a piece of work. If that happens, it's okay to write two Chivas and sodas on the bill, but you also need to be sure there's meal receipts and such with you to prove it wasn't a company sponsored bender.

Wongo

I wish, can't even drink a company soft drinks reserve for CEO and clients

CosmosHuman

I've been told I should drink.

BamaVol

Did you want a second opinion?

You should drink.

CosmosHuman

Thanks. Its the stress of being a social worker.

BamaVol

As far as I can tell, all jobs have stress. Bourbon makes being an accountant tolerable.

drwilliams

Only to yourself...

BamaVol

Then you're not drinking enough.

jhartley15

NEVER at my company. Not during work hours, not on your lunch, not on a business trip, not at company parties, not even at conferences where you are representing the company.
I am jealous of the rest of you!