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What do you think about Alcohol in the Workplace?

S

steppinthrax

Diamond Member
I interviewed at a company a few weeks ago. It was an advertising company. They had a huge fridge full of beer in the company lounge (small company). It's one of their perks. They made a big deal about it.

To me it was kind of ridiculous. I understand alcohol at the workplace every once and a while (parties). But in the open all the time during the work day? You will have that one employee that may lose control and/or you will have to babysit. Seems like lawsuit territory.
 
I've got an exhaust fan and a Hakko FA430. They do a pretty good job with the fumes but sometimes I still get a bit light headed.
 
It's probably a trap; they just fill the fridge full of beer for interviews and whoever says "RIGHT ON!" is someone they know not to hire.
 
ask them if you can smoke and slap female employee's behind as well


Was Don Draper there as well?
 
I would ask around to see how many people actually drink it...

Maybe it's there for show and only drank at parties. But then again my friend said his work did have beer pong tourney every Friday at 5pm. But that made a little more sense, off hours but still in the office.
 
my friend works for a big Australian company and they allow alcohol at their workplace. supposedly it's a stress reliever. it's not like you're getting wasted.
 
steppinthrax said:
I interviewed at a company a few weeks ago. It was an advertising company. They had a huge fridge full of beer in the company lounge (small company). It's one of their perks. They made a big deal about it.

To me it was kind of ridiculous. I understand alcohol at the workplace every once and a while (parties). But in the open all the time during the work day? You will have that one employee that may lose control and/or you will have to babysit. Seems like lawsuit territory.
Click to expand...

Well the Sex industry is always going to be a little more open to things like drinking on the job etc..
 
You know, you can drink to not-the-point-of-drunkenness.

A lot of start ups do that - and most of the employees either don't imbibe or they have one at lunch and that's it. It's just a cultural thing, makes you look hip, attract "cool" people.

It's probably a net benefit, if your employees are eating lunch in the cafeteria and returning to work quicker than they would if they went to Applebee's for lunch and had a burger and beer there.

ballmer_peak.png


Corporate owners frown on it for liability reasons.
 
Alcohol affects everyone a little differently.

How would this company handle a situation where an employee goes a little over and drives home. Killing a child....

How would this company handle a situation where a group of dunk men gang up on a recent female hire, raping her????

I can imagine when the court case comes up.

Attorney: Were you under the influence.
Perp: Yes
Attorney: Were you also at work at the time.
Perp: Yes
Attorney: Does your employer know you were drinking on the job?
Perp: Oh yeah, shit where I work we have a big beer fridge.
Attorney1:..........
Attorney2:..........
Attorney3:..........
Attorney4:..........
Judge:............
DA:..................
Court Transcriptionist:...............
 
I think it's pretty common in small companies like that. Maybe not the company filling the fridge with beer, but in places where I've worked there was always some beer or wine in the fridge. We used to have regular Friday afternoon Margarita parties at my last place, starting about 3PM most Fridays.
 
steppinthrax said:
Alcohol affects everyone a little differently.

How would this company handle a situation where an employee goes a little over and drives home. Killing a child....

How would this company handle a situation where a group of dunk men gang up on a recent female hire, raping her????

I can imagine when the court case comes up.

Attorney: Were you under the influence.
Perp: Yes
Attorney: Were you also at work at the time.
Perp: Yes
Attorney: Does your employer know you were drinking on the job?
Perp: Oh yeah, shit where I work we have a big beer fridge.
Attorney1:..........
Attorney2:..........
Attorney3:..........
Attorney4:..........
Judge:............
DA:..................
Court Transcriptionist:...............
Click to expand...

I'm going to go ahead and say that you are not a good fit for this company.
 
steppinthrax said:
Alcohol affects everyone a little differently.

How would this company handle a situation where an employee goes a little over and drives home. Killing a child....

How would this company handle a situation where a group of dunk men gang up on a recent female hire, raping her????

I can imagine when the court case comes up.

Attorney: Were you under the influence.
Perp: Yes
Attorney: Were you also at work at the time.
Perp: Yes
Attorney: Does your employer know you were drinking on the job?
Perp: Oh yeah, shit where I work we have a big beer fridge.
Attorney1:..........
Attorney2:..........
Attorney3:..........
Attorney4:..........
Judge:............
DA:..................
Court Transcriptionist:...............
Click to expand...

What.

As long as you're getting the job done, who gives a damn? I have friends who work in startups who keep hard liquor in their fridge, and they are extremely productive.
 
steppinthrax said:
Alcohol affects everyone a little differently.

How would this company handle a situation where an employee goes a little over and drives home. Killing a child....

How would this company handle a situation where a group of dunk men gang up on a recent female hire, raping her????

I can imagine when the court case comes up.

Attorney: Were you under the influence.
Perp: Yes
Attorney: Were you also at work at the time.
Perp: Yes
Attorney: Does your employer know you were drinking on the job?
Perp: Oh yeah, shit where I work we have a big beer fridge.
Attorney1:..........
Attorney2:..........
Attorney3:..........
Attorney4:..........
Judge:............
DA:..................
Court Transcriptionist:...............
Click to expand...

This all hinges on people being responsible. But, if I'm too buzzed to drive, I'm filling a mug with coffee and writing documentation for an hour or two. Free productivity for my company. Sort of. (Well, how sober do you have to be to take screenshots, ...right?)

I am also trying to imagine a scenario where I would be 1) drunk enough to think sexual assault was a good idea, and 2) sober enough to actually peel myself up off the floor and actually assault somebody. Not coming up with a lot of scenarios there.
 
Alcohol boosts creativity at the expense of focus.

So for some professions it makes sense; most it doesn't.

Advertising would be one field where it may very well be beneficial to the company to allow alcohol.
 
dave_the_nerd said:
This all hinges on people being responsible. But, if I'm too buzzed to drive, I'm filling a mug with coffee and writing documentation for an hour or two. Free productivity for my company. Sort of. (Well, how sober do you have to be to take screenshots, ...right?)

I am also trying to imagine a scenario where I would be 1) drunk enough to think sexual assault was a good idea, and 2) sober enough to actually peel myself up off the floor and actually assault somebody. Not coming up with a lot of scenarios there.
Click to expand...

Everyone is diff.

But all it takes on ONE situation. Where an employee does something like that. Maybe one that doesn't respect women (you know). One thing leads to another. You have a bloodbath on your hands....
 
I've worked for a small private owned company and a fortune 500 one that both had alcohol in the fridges. Both were company "sponsored" in that the company itself encouraged if not outright bought the booze and it was part of a social hour on Fridays typically. Wasn't abused, and no shenanigans were had.

It's cool. Interesting part looking back is that both were basically in the financial business (accounting and stock trading).
 
I also recall that at my last company, we had a large sales department and a couple of the guys had a bad habit of boozing it up pretty good at lunch some days. It was a challenge to the sales manager, as he'd often have to pay close attention to their mental state when they returned and would sometimes forbid them from making calls unless they were sober.
 
rudeguy said:
Because you are already trying to change the way the place runs. Because you think you know better and are smarter than the owner. Because you're a dick.
Click to expand...

LOL,

The company pay was low. I found their pay was low across the board. In addition their hiring demographics included young (early 20s) employees with no dependencies and/or real resp.

The owner/manager asked me directly (towards the end of the interview) asked me directly, What are you making now???? When I gave them the answer, his subordinate (who was asking me tech questions) did a double take to his manager and they both put their heads down. Just a joke....

So it was a wrong fit for many reasons....
 
I had an interview at Pabst Blue Ribbon once. The interviewer was drinking a beer. I couldn't tell if it was a trick or if he was inviting.

My current company told me that they used to years ago but gave it up in case of liability issues.
 
Typical American thread. No Alcohol in the workplace. Pretty much all of europe people drink their spirits at work.
 
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