I wouldn't have been able to go anywhere near the office. We drank in the airport lounge before leaving, then stopped in the Soave region for wine before lunch. I crashed at about 5:00 pm and didn't wake up until the next morning

I my first job it was the custom to go to the pub at Friday lunch time and drink a lot. The "middle bosses" lead this activity and I guess the "upper bosses" were somewhere else doing the same. Guess the development of British industry and innovation came to a grinding halt.

Company no longer in the FTSE100.

Onboard AA 124 MIA-RDU right now drinking a Vodka and Diet Coke :D

Who Still Drinks With Lunch?
 

Diet Coke's lunch? ;)

Haha no, just a small Roast Beef wrap that was about four bite's worth of food. The Diet Coke was probably more substantial.

Must depend on county. No one would bat an eyelid in the UK if you had a pint of beer/cider or glass of wine with lunch. There is a difference between drinking and drunk. Should add this would be when dining out, not just in the cafeteria.

Thank you, that's very well said and the crucial difference. My younger brother was saying last weekend how he "never drank before 5". I said why 5? Why not 4 or 6 or 7 or 8? It's just an arbitrary number that became acceptable with no real logic behind it minus it used to be "quittin' time" at a lot of factories.

It's so strange that people in our society think it's is okay for someone to have 8 drinks at 7 PM but not 1 drink at 12 PM.

The legacy of our Puritan forebears.

Well, not *MY* Puritan forebears, because at the time of the Puritans, my forebears were trying to avoid the Czar's pogroms and the like.

Forced to drink (a lot) as a NATO liaision to the Russians in Bosnia and as an auditor to company plants in Hungary and Italy. Otherwise, not so much. One company I worked for - years ago - sent out a tongue-in-cheek memo asking staff to please drink alcoholic beverages with a lot of odor at lunch rather than vodka since they wanted clients to know employees were tipsy and not just stupid ;) !

The Martini Lunch has been fading for a while in the US. I usually have some wine with Lunch in France or Beer in Germany. I'm not much of a drinker any longer. Mostly water or coffee these days.

When I was just out of business school, I was hired by an Alcoholic. I mean first rate. He'd tie one on EVERY night. I don't know how many plants I killed at the bars in Marriotts pouring Scotch on them. He'd have 10 Scotches a night and expect you to keep up with him. However, he never touched Alcohol for Lunch. Never. After 6 PM, the sky was literally the limit. He'd be so inebriated that I'd have to carry him to his room. Then at 7 AM he was up and ready to go for a quick breakfast then off to work.

These days, I enjoy Alcohol once in a while as a relaxing way to unwind. One glass of something. No big deal. I do it for lunch if I want. Problem is, it makes me tired sometimes. Not good at lunch unless you are J. Edgar Hoover and you can nap in your office for a few hours in the afternoon.

I had a colleague like that several years ago. Straight and sober through the workday but pounding drinks one after another starting at 5pm. Several of us guys thought we could keep up with him because we were physically larger. Nope. One after another of us learned the hard way not to go round-for-round with him. I think he was born with a tolerance to alcohol because he wouldn't be as blitzed as the rest of us and come morning he'd never have a hangover.

Never ever beeing forced to drink, today's most volontary was:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/22984349-post273.html

I just turned 21, and I dont drink much at all, and never during the day.

Once I have some alcohol, Im not going anywhere. I am relaxed and staying in for the nigh (unless some one else is driving).

At a lunch reception today, a friend celebrating his wife's birthday, there was enough Gewurtztraminer and white Bourgogne to wash down all the smoked salmon and seafood with.
:)

Had a small expert group visiting our newish premises in China on Friday.

I could clearly see that a gent and lady of the group, married but not to each other, were flirting and whispered to our local partners to get the premium baijiu out for lunch.

Everybody was in great spirits, we got the commitments hoped for and the "couple" left merrily in a train towards Shanghai...Feeling a bit Chinese now. ;)