Beer at work?

[mjdonnelly68]

The software company I work for has had a 'beer:30' policy since it was started in the mid 80's.

We have a kegerator in our break room. Recently a bunch of employees decided to start brewing together (on weekends at the office) and putting the beer on tap at work. It's a great morale booster.

Over the years we've had a couple of employees abuse the privilege, and they didn't last long at the company.

The most interesting thing I've found about our 'beer:30' policy is that while few people take advantage of it almost all of our folks brag to their friends about it.

It's a great recruiting tool.

 

[dkwolf]

Three years ago, not a chance on earth. Then, the rumors of a corporate merger started floating in, and how much more relaxed the atmosphere was. As our office manager started learning the new culture, a couple cases started showing up on Friday afternoons - sometimes as early as 3:00. It's purely a psychological thing, but working late on a Friday somehow sucks a lot less when you've got a beer sitting next to your monitor. It's to the point now that the bottom drawers of the fridge in the break room are almost reserved for beer, and it's a not-very-well-guarded secret that there's a bottle of Jim Beam tucked way back under my desk (back where a client can't see it should they walk through). The head office has a fridge tucked away back in the server closet strictly for beer.

I do know of one coworker (in another office) that is very strict about not drinking. She doesn't have a problem with anyone else consuming though, and will join the after-hours party, and just stick to cherry pepsi. She's about a 20 year AA and NA member (with some stories you wouldn't believe), and I admire her ability to stick with it.

 

[jekeane]

I used to be a pastor. I would put some baileys and kaluha in my coffee for elders meetings.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

I have business dealings with a tech company. I took the Director of Engineering out for lunch one day and he ordered a beer, so we got to shoot the s**t about craft beer and homebrewing all lunch.

After lunch he took me on a lab tour. All their thermal chambers were named after craft beers. One had a sign on it that said "TEST IN PROGRESS. DO NOT OPEN!"

He popped it open... Full of craft beer ;-)

 

[Diaperload]

I recently started a new job at a distributing company. We distribute local craft beers. There is a tap coming right from the huge keg cooler. It's free to all employees. However, there is a big sign that says "No drinking straight from the tap and no drinking while on the clock." Very understandable and yet very cool.

I'm a merchandiser so I don't get to the warehouse often...maybe twice a month to turn in mileage sheets.

There is usually a pallet of misc. brew with 5 bucks posted on it. Go to the office girl, hand her 5 bucks and take home a case of beer. We also have a 10 dollar pallet that is usually for the imports. I saw some St. Bernadrus abt 12 and some Delerium on that pallet.

 

[elkshadow]

I worked at a greenhouse one time in Fort Collins where the work was so tedious we could drink and do other stuff on breaks and nobody really cared. If there was any "head work" that day we'd be cool and stay sober but if it was 8 hours of boredom, we'd take nips of peppermint schnapps in our coffee on break and take fresh air breaks outside every hour or so. Fridays we'd knock off at noon and party with the owners til about 5 or so and they'd pay for all the party supplies (which was a couple 5 gallon kegs of craft beer, food and other stuff) and keep us on the clock until we left.

As a side note, every time we got our paychecks there would be some cash in there with it. Usually 20 but sometimes more. They also had creative benefits like twice a year you could get an extra paycheck. You'd say you want an extra one this week, they would average your hours and you'd get two checks and a 20 in an envelope on friday.

I loved that job and those people.

 

[Beernik]

I would be better off if I was found with a dead hooker on the job than an open beer bottle.

 

[drainbamage]

No beer on the job for me, I work for the government. Actually...I've been told the employee handbook allows for 2 drinks on lunch break, but I haven't tried too hard to find it in writing. Not to mention, my boss has never touched a drop of alcohol and feels uneasy about anyone else having some while working. The way I hear it though, back in the 80s, drinking in my office was commonplace.

The other job I had a few years ago had a kegerator in the back, but there seemed to be an unspoken rule that it was for the surveyors only and the engineers should steer clear. Something about professionalism. :cross:

 

[Taylormade]

In the Air Force, we had "safety briefings" every Friday at noon which always involved a keg. We had to hang out and team build until 2:30 or so but often we'd still be there shooting pool, playing darts or whatever at 7pm.

Currently, I work for a large engineering firm who's policy is no alcohol on company premises, but if you look in the board room's kitchen, they have a fully stocked bar and my guys across the country are known to have mini fridges in the server rooms stocked for the 11pm cutovers and other monotonous IT tasks.

I generally work from home now and there are certainly days where I pull a draft at 2:30 after a painful conference call.

 

[edroberts]

We used to have Beer Friday... until some people started to make it Vodka Monday, Tequilla Tuesday...

 

[andrhamm]

I work for a software startup (about 50 employees now) and alcohol is just a part of the culture I guess. We have a 3-tap kegerator in the office, with 2 taps reserved for commercial kegs and 1 for my homebrew. Right now we have Downeast Cider (so good) and probably a Harpoon beer (they are right down the street). We also have a "bar" and a DJ booth and throw some pretty cool parties. There is also a cocktail hour every once in a while around 6pm. I've never seen anybody abuse the privilege of having the kegerator. Sometimes people will have a pint at lunchtime (rarely though), but mostly the beer is had no earlier than 4pm, but there is no hard rule... nobody wants to embarrass themselves so everybody is pretty responsible about it. People generally are pretty stoked to try homebrew too, which is a good feeling for the homebrewer (me lol).