So, Who Still Drinks at Work?
 

Boy, I can't remember any officially sanctioned serious work drinking since the mid-70's. I was working for an apparel manufacturer with HQ in Boulder, CO. Christmas week was a regular boozefest. Bottles of liquor, gifts from various suppliers, began appearing in the Purchasing Manager's office. Anytime after 11 in the morning, it was not considered inappropriate to stop by for a shot.

Throughout the years, I have been aware of the odd bottle kept in a desk drawer, but drunk mostly on the qt.

In 2000, I was Controller for a small software company in Charlotte, NC. After 5:00, occasional informal gatherings in the President's office would include the offer of a bottle of beer from his office fridge. I don't recall anyone having a second, though.

In 2010, I left a job as Finance Director for a foundry in Oxford, Alabama. A parting gift from my IT department was a bottle of Woodford Reserve. At 4:00, we closed my office door and 5 or 6 of us polished off the bottle.

I haven't seen alcohol consumed at work since, although I do see moderate drinking at company sanctioned events offsite (including last weekend's company picnic at a water park that happened to sell beer).

My company will sometimes bring beer and wine in if we have something to celebrate or they just want to be nice.

Example: just before we moved offices, they had an islands-themed going away party one Thursday at 5pm that featured make-your-own Singapore Slings and Mai Tais.

Example: when we moved to the new office, they brought beer, wine, and cocktails and we all celebrated at 4pm or so

Example: when management wanted to encourage people to talk honestly at a Management Feedback meeting, they provided beer and wine for the meeting (at 1pm).

I worked for a French bank a few years ago and it was not uncommon for Friday afternoon to include a wine & cheese gathering. I never saw anyone over-indulge, but it was definitely a social affair. Other than that, I don't recall any alcohol in the office.

I have, once in a while, had a beer with my lunch. Very infrequently and only when my afternoon calendar was clear.

So, Who Still Drinks at Work?
 

My friends who work at Zappos.com drink all the time. People will walk through the office handing out wine or shots.

I have whiskey at my desk, but it is real estate industry where rules are relaxed.

So, Who Still Drinks at Work?
 

I'd swear half my company is drunk everyday.

So, Who Still Drinks at Work?
 

Well, I got a box of wine samples in the office last week (I buy product for airlines) and divvied them out. Same the week before except it was a proper evaluation so only hardened wine lovers got to bring them home. Happy Friday happens occasionally
but 90% of us drive to work, so that's a dead loss...

So, Who Still Drinks at Work?
 

...?!!!!

my friend is the liquor buyer for his small professional firm in major city, every week, ~$200+ bottles

I did at one job. I was with Enterprise Rent-a-Car and most of us were right out of college. The boss one day passed out beers and we sat around enjoying them. Then I had to head out and I got to my car and was driving and realized after a mile I'd been still sipping a beer :eek: Good thing no one else saw.

Also, one job I had where I was an electrical supply salesman working out of a warehouse had beer in their vending machine (this was before I got there). If you knew the deal, you pressed the "out of order" button and it came out. Worked out great until someone got into an accident and blabbed about where the beer came from so they stopped that :rolleyes:

So, Who Still Drinks at Work?
 

Many people I know, including Mrs. Lee and myself, work for younger companies where drinking in moderation is perfectly fine. It's not out of the ordinary for me to see or hear of office pantries stocked with beer and wine, and I've visited places with regular keg deliveries.

(None of these companies are in the beverage industry, either.)

I have colleagues, including overseas, who keep wine, beer, and sherry in their offices but AFAIK it's only consumed socially at the end of the day. Work social events always have wine and beer but very rarely is hard alcohol available (increasingly even at cash bars). For on site events, we usually use caterers so that they're responsible for serving the wine/beer rather than letting folks help themselves due to liability concerns.

So, Who Still Drinks at Work?
 

I work in a government bldg. Possession of alcohol on site is illegal.

For a long time our corporate policy has been no alcohol on site. We are allowed to serve it at appropriate off site functions, meals, etc. but I've never seen any openly served in any of our buildings.

Most of my colleagues have tenures measured in decades, but we've been hiring more from the outside to try and rejuvenate things. After a rough year last year, a recent marketing hire made for all of us an otherwise appropriate "stress relief" care package as a thoughtful morale boost gesture. I say "otherwise appropriate" because it contained a single-serve bottle of vodka. When she gave one to our division attorney he gently pointed out the issue. Nothing happened to her, but it was one example of why she didn't see much future with us and just announced she's moving elsewhere.

This kind of drinking happens a lot in asia and in europe. Why must it be such a taboo in the states? it's one of the reasons i don't want a job in the states

In Asia, it can seem almost mandatory. I don't think that's good. For example this happens in Japan, but IME there's much less drinking in China.

Depending on the nature of the employer, it may not be unreasonable to prohibit alcohol on site. Would you want workers to be drinking at a nuclear power plant even after they've finished work for the day? Also, it looks bad for pilots to be observed drinking at airport bars and doesn't inspire confidence in the safety standards of their airline. Many restaurants prohibit drinking on the premises not only because they feel that is leads to problems but also because of a concern that people might help themselves to the restaurant's alcohol without paying for it.

So, Who Still Drinks at Work?
 

Lunch without a fine bottle of red wine is a sin. I was thinking about this just the other day when I was enjoying the delicious roast beef (carved on the trolley of course) in my club with some fantastic Domaine de Chevalier 2000. It makes the conversation with your guest so much more interesting!

So, Who Still Drinks at Work?
 

While there are certainly more puritanical abstainers in US vs EU, as alluded to corporate policies are more about liability issues; employers could be liable for any issues caused by serving alcohol to an employee. I'm sure that's what drives our policy, since alcohol consumption is allowed off-site.

The self-imposed non-consumption of alcohol during work hours also has to do with competitive pressures. Those of us with such jobs can't afford to waste an afternoon drunk, or worse, make a big mistake due to being impaired. Just like what's happening to smoking in the EU professional class, that will curtail EU work drinking more than any taboos.

What's happening?

My guess is if a smoker is outside the building on a smoke break and something significantly bad happens that could have been prevented if you were at your desk?

But what does that have to do with the EU, or with drinking at work?

I work for an Air Traffic Control Company; you will be no doubt be pleased to hear that alcohol is banned on site and there is a strict alcohol and drugs policy.

One less worry (Swanwick?)

:)

Keep me safe brother. Not just on BA but also in the Piper PA46 Meridian.

Cheers

My company hosts the occasional happy hour on the patio outside the cafeteria.

Serious work drinking? No. My nature of work is one where it wouldn't be physically dangerous (i.e. working with machinery or heavy equipment), but everybody has far too much to do, not to mention the potential for embarrassment should it impact work quality.

But every company I've worked for has observed weekly Beer Fridays, where beer magically shows up in the fridge and most people will crack one open around 3-4 pm. On certain Fridays, special circumstances (i.e. celebrating completion of a large project, wishing a departing employee well, etc.) dictate that the beer is replaced with fine Scotch, always in the same timeframe and level of moderation.

We've never had any issues with it. Everybody knows taking it to excess would mean the end of it. My employers have all been the variety that don't confuse activity with results... they recognize the contributions (and often, long, hard hours) that employees have put in all week. So when Friday afternoon rolls around, they allow them to be human and socialize/unwind a little bit before heading home for the weekend. It fits in perfectly well with a high performance culture.

I work in a chemical refinery. I do not want my co-workers drinking on the job. Too many lives depend on their paying close attention to what is going on.

At my last employer, a group of us met in a bar after work once a week. One of the rules was no discussion of work. It was a nice team-building exercise and I miss that.

The HR manager there had a drinking problem. I remember sharing an elevator with her and another coworker coming back from lunch. The elevator stunk of alcohol. The coworker asked the HR manager what she had had for lunch. When the HR manager replied, "Soup", she asked if it was cream of bourbon. The woman eventually checked herself into rehab.

When I'm working from home, I almost always crack open a beer in the afternoon to get through the conference calls. My corporate office, however, is a soul-sucking hellhole, so there is no booze on site.

My wife keeps a bottle of bourbon and a couple of tumblers on her bookcase in her office. Then again, she's an attorney, so I believe the booze is a requirement.

Mrs Camarones worked for a startup a few years back that had onsite biotech research labs. There was a steady turnover of the beer kegs that the members of the QC dept stored in one of the cold rooms.

We did that when I worked for Enterprise Rent-a-Car right out of college. it was great, we had a bunch of bars we'd hang out at, a dozen of us fresh out of college kids killing a bunch of beers, flirting, plotting our revenge on the company, all still decked out in our stupid mandatory ties and shirts. When I look back on my time at the company, that's what I miss the most.

For us it's beers in the fridge and wine in the cupboard. While there are no official rules the etiquette is mon-thur it's OK to drink after normal work hours and on fridays 4:00 is beer o'clock and the first person to grab a drink should offer to get one for everyone in the office. It would be unusual for someone to have a drink at lunch in the office but if people are out for lunch (either with clients or a birthday lunch or just going out with colleagues) it would be pretty normal to have a beer/wine or two.

Company sanctioned events, both on and off-site, but that's about it. At my first job, a few of the engineers that shared a nice, large office and I would occasionally gather for post-work drinks, in their office.

I have a few friends with alcohol issues. They do their best but I can tell sometimes they lapse. It's probably more common than people think. People who drink a lot can hide it surprisingly well.

We have a subsidised bar in our office, do I win? :D There are also numerous occasions where alcohol is provided for free during and after working hours, company meetings, team events, opening of an envelope, there's always an excuse. I once attended a 10am meeting the week before Christmas where mulled wine was served. The joys of marketing!

We have an on-premises beer hour after work on Thursday evenings ("Thirsty Thursday") in the software development group at my work.

At work, drinking.

Is your company currently hiring?:p

While I'm not a fan of excessive drinking, IMO having a few drinks with your co-workers in a civilized setting is much more effective than most of those stupid, modern teambuilding exercises.

I remember my first job, when I was 16, working in an ad agency who had a brewery amongst it's clients, that meant weekly beer delivery straight from the brewery, and then, at 3-4pm on friday, beer time! Even for us underaged employees in the promotions department!

I consumed beer at work several days this week. Not a daily thing, but it happens probably once every couple of months generally. More often when they feel more team building is needed. Hmmm...maybe I should do something to make morale worse...

Liquor used to be common (like an exec who kept an extra office as a fully stocked bar), but I think there was "an incident" that put an end to that company-wide.

I had a job interview recently and upon arrival was seriously upon arrival asked if I wanted any water or beer.