Drinking on the job may be part of the game, but you can still bend the rules

Heavy drinking on the job was brought to my attention during Mad Men. It seems like there's always an excuse for the men on that show — particularly executives Don Draper and Roger Sterling — to open the decanter and pour a glass. Which begs the question, “Do ad men still drink that much?”

Douglas Quenqua recently wrote a blog post for the New York Times about the pressures of drinking for work. Coercion is never good, but it sounds pretty chill to make deals over a glass of Glenfiddich.

I understand the lack of desire to drink (as well as the desire to), and certainly no one wants to feel obliged to sip a gin and tonic if your boss orders it — especially if you don’t care for gin. But if the bar is where the action happens — that is, the dialogue about the next business venture — then go.

Play the game. The perception that if you don’t drink, you won’t do well in business is silly. All you have to do is sip the wine at a tasting — you don’t drink the whole glass — or fake it at the bar with tonic water over ice and a lime wedge.

Jozo comments on the article, saying, “I’m glad that alcohol allows colleagues to see a side of me they might not see otherwise.” And Cheryl says, “You can fake the drinking — or over eating — without calling attention to yourself, because most people don’t care that much about you.” She continues, “If it’s a heavy drinking group — or getting drunk is part of the culture — you might want to find another sort of work.”

More than 90 people commented, and they make valid points. All I can say is this is a luxury problem. In this market, should we really be complaining? Can we afford to do so?

I’d rather toast to having a steady job.