You’re not at a bar: No drinking on the job
Some have liquor bottles under their desks or in drawers, and others mix their booze with orange juice and pretend like it is part of breakfast. You even have some people who walk in with a Starbucks cup as if they stopped there on the way to work, but if you get near to the container, the fumes that hit you may knock you out.
It may not seem like a biggie to some individuals, but drinking on the
job is only OK if you work from home with your laptop while wearing your
‘jammies’. Once you are in someone else’s space or an office environment, leave
the booze until the closed sign is put up and the office shutters come down.
Drinking on the job is a no-no for several reasons, and chief among them
is the matter of safety. If you are operating a crane, wrecking ball or a tractor,
you should stay away from alcohol. You should even avoid simple liquids like
cough syrup, which is also loaded with some alcoholic derivative that makes you
sleepy, thus compromising your safety and that of those around you.
Drinking interferes with your ability to process rational thoughts, and it even dulls your reflexes and reaction time. A lot of people believe that they can drink and still be OK behind the wheels until the reality of an accident occurs. Heavy machinery is not the only thing to fear if one is inebriated.
Aside from physical safety, drinking can impact your work by making you do and say things that you wouldn’t normally think of doing. Yes, we know a few happy drunks, but in general, drunks are mean spirited and reckless with their words. Can you imagine someone who has been ‘sipping on the sauce’ and working at a counselling centre or worse a suicide hotline location, and someone calls or comes in desperate for help? This tipsy individual may say something that could negatively affect an already vulnerable person.
Other than safety and
negative behaviour, drinking while at work can also lead to other issues such
as tardiness, office fights and squabbles, absenteeism, reduce workplace morale
and create an overall negative reputation and image for the organisation. If
the management of any company turns a blind eye to drinking, they are not
serious about staying in business.
— Written by C.W.
