I work in corporate retail in the USA. It's generally acceptable if you're out of the office on a business lunch. Cracking open a beer in the kitchen at lunch probably wouldn't have any immediate consequences but you're probably looking outside of the company for a promotion.
this post was submitted on 18 Mar 2025
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Lol, yeah I was definitely picturing a restaurant setting. Drinking white cider in the alley on your lunch break, or going to a toilet cubicle with a bottle of vodka, really projects a different image...
yeah I like to have around 7 at lunch and then puke and shit and piss all over my desk
Depending on your company culture, 5 to 10 drinks may be considered the socially acceptable limit for a work lunch. Pissing at your desk is mandatory. Shitting and puking is optional.
your are in Asia also
no.
In the US at a white collar job. 1 (2 max) drinks every once in a long while for a work lunch is acceptable. Depends on how comfortable you are with your coworkers and if anyone else seems willing to drink a beer or two.
I'm a welder, and no I would not. It's not allowed on the shipyard. But even if I could, I wouldn't. I'm a professional and I'm working with high power tools & equipment. I need to have a clear head.
The trades aint what they used to be π
Used to work in marketing, UK. There was a frew beer fridge, with instructions to only help yourselves after 1630 on a Friday. Beers at lunch were fairly standard on a Friday, less so on other days but not unheard of.
When I go lunch I go home for the day. I only work in the morning.
So, no need of alcohol to cope with overwork.
im taking a shit
Since I work from home... this is totally acceptable.
Software guy. Most productive/distraction free time of the day is mid-afternoon. Drinking at lunch would just take that zone away and push everything to the next day.
Happy to wait till 5pm, or whenever feels like a good time to do a git push.
git drunk
alternatively, iβve found the bulmer peak concept to be entirely real: a drink sometimes helps you to just do rather than spending too much time thinking about if what youβre doing is bestβ¦ it can help with decision paralysis on the micro scale
that said, you can train yourself out of decision paralysis and as someone gets more experienced this is likely to be less and less helpful
Depends on what drink it is, I think that a beer would be acceptable in most places, hard liquor brobably not.
I used to think it was unprofessional. But once I had a few jobs where employees were treated like crap, I changed my mind.
IT worker in system analysis and design in the public service in Canberra, Australia.
There's no official policy though many of my co workers believe a lunch time drink is not allowed. I have often enjoyed a couple of glasses of wine or a beer at lunch, have never made a secret of it, and have never been told off or warned by anyone above me
Alcohol is bad for you health. Workplaces should be better so folks donβt feel the need to injest poison to tolerate it.
Pretty much everwhere I've worked; there's a no alcohol or drugs clause in the employment contract/policies. So officially it's not permitted; but one beer, or a couple hits from a dab pen (weed vape) hasn't been uncommon in most places either; just don't let management see it.
It gets to be a big liability for the individual then tho, even if the company don't regularly enforce the rule, you're opening up an easy way for someone to get you out of your job if they take a dislike to you sore any petty reason...
Bartender. I don't get a lunch break so I just drink on the clock.
Years ago, I was working on a house where there were several nests of these wicked looking red wasps. I had been working around them all morning quite safely. At lunch, I drank half a beer, and was almost immediately stung twice when I went back to work. I don't know if it affected my timing or my scent, or something else.
No. My job depends on results. Alcohol affects my production. Therefore, drinking on workdays is a very dumb thing for me to do.
Where I work, it's a non issue. As long as it doesn't impact your work and nobody notices it (foul odor or behaviour), nobody could care less.
UK/Astronaut
We take a fifth of gin everytime our home country whizzes by, so that's a full glass over the entire workday, and it tends to make the job go faster.
You drink in space??? What kind of gin? What's being drunk in zero g like? I'm gonna vomit just at the thought of a space hangover mate
Hell yeah, spirits only though since no one's yet found a 'medicinal' reason to bring beer along. I like a bit of Hayman slo gin, we've got some Schadlerer schnapps, and plenty of clear bottles.
Being drunk's pretty much the same but it hits you way faster and passes quicker too, hence why you only do a little bit at a time. No one's vommed yet, but got plenty of towels around for other reasons just in case
Other reasons like zero-g orgies?
Just one?
Part of my job involves operate hoists that are lifting several tonnes over the general public. Anything that is even impairment adjacent, like being tired, will get you removed from that position. If you are actually impaired youβre fired no questions.
Almost was crushed cause of a rigger ππΌ. I'd never work with a drunk one.
When I worked in kitchens and bars? Regularly
Now, driving a forklift and using a nail gun every day.. Iβll wait till I get home
No. Work is giant liability now days.
UK IT dev here. When I started working in the field back in 2000ish it was perfectly fine for IT staff to pop to the pub. Did for many years. Then in my 20s it became normal to have drinks after work rather than during work. Then when marriage etc came along, it became neither.
Canadian IT worker.
I refuse to drink at work parties. Everyone else does and I get some peer pressure to drink but I don't care. Its normal to see people get super drunk and embarrass themselves which is why I don't even start.
Specifically at lunch, if I'm not driving and others are having a beer I will but only one. If I'm driving, it depends on how I'm feeling.
Working from home I've been known to have a beer or two on a Friday afternoon by my self.
When I left my last job we had a meeting at the end of the day with the guys I got along with and anyone they wanted to invite. There was about 15 people from different departments with their cameras on having a drink or smoking (pot) if they didn't drink as a goodbye. Was a nice goodbye. Lol
I've drank, and got drunk, at exactly one work function in my current capacity. The living hell that was a day of serious meetings with 3 hours of sleep and a wicked hangover/still being drunk has made all other functions water and bed by 9:30 affairs.
Luckily everyone in the meetings had either made the same mistake before, or were functioning alcoholics, so the fallout was just being a pile of misery.
If a VP decides to take everyone for drinks at a club after the official function, at absolute most show up to nurse one drink then leave. Do not be the last one out the door.
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I went back to work once (programming) after a couple of beers at the bar. Turns out not a job I can do while drinking.
Obligatory
I see no problem with a single drink at lunch, specially with your team. It helps you relax and build rapport imo.
At my previous job, my manager would take our 5-6 people team out for lunch and a beer for anyone's birthday and at the end of the year. I miss that.
My current job doesn't allow it, so going out for lunch with co workers is a little more stiff, and so is my relationship with my manager.
Last christmas I had to work during the break with only 1 co-worker, we snuck out and had pizza with a berr. It was great.
US/Engineer
At my first job, a fairly large firm with a few hundred people, I remember the furtive glances around the table as everyone didn't want to be the first one to order a beer. Once a single person ordered one, several others would too. The boss was fine with it, but nobody did it in front of the boss's boss. We never had more than one, though.
At my second job, a small, new company with 12ish people, it was pretty common. Sometimes someone would bring a six pack to share into the office on a Friday afternoon. Usually, the owners would join in.
At my current job in the public sector, the culture just isn't there. Nobody drinks at all during work hours. I don't drink as much anymore, anyway.
Used to work for a company that started out as a US startup for IT Services, later it was purchased by a large German company.
During its startup days, you did not dare drink alcohol at lunch time.
After being bought by the German company, you did not dare NOT to drink alcohol at lunch time. Especially if someone from Germany was visiting. They viewed it odd that we had an aversion to drinking beer at lunch.
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