The "Two Martini Lunch"

[Lady Day]

On my last job, a beer during lunch was fine by managers, so long as you didnt come back smelling like it, or were inebriated.

My current job, heck, they buy the beer for the office sometimes. No random tests here, just that corporate 'hiring' one, then to some its 4:20 all around and dont forget the Guinness

LD

 

[Laura Chase]

Whenever we go out for lunch at my work, we have some cocktails (me) or beers (the guys). There is an amazingly excellent cocktail bar here right next to our office that we frequent, Ruby. They make really extraordinarily amazing cocktails, perhaps the best ones in Europe. I'd love to go there now and have a pisco sour.

 

[arthur]

alive and well

I am a union carpenter here in chicago and on friday the bars are packed with tradesmen and business people alike.Two martinis(beefeaters,straight up blue cheese olives)and a nice lunch are a luxury I'm not ready to give up.

 

[Mike Hammered]

"Fitness for duty" policies may have something to do with the problem.

 

[Ugarte]

When I was last in the advertising field, we would have Dirty Martini Friday...the boss bought the booze, but I was in charge of making them.
Didn't get a lot done, but had fun!

I'm sure it's an unfair portrayal, but from watching Mad Men on AMC, you'd think that Madison Avenue functioned primarily by the swilling of booze, the chasing of skirt, and smoking an endless chain of cigarettes while BS'ing your colleagues. And of course being impeccably dressed.

Those wacky creative types....


Mark

 

[scotrace]

And that is why Advertising remains my first love...

 

[Nash Buckingham]

Just watched my first episode of "Mad Men" this week and realized I need to re-decorate my office.

I may have to hire a driver though if I could - the "Two Martini" is nothing compared to what these guys seem to down in a day!

I should have gone into advertising too Mr. Scotrace!

 

[Martinis at 8]

I do it, but then I am my own 1-man business.

M8

 

[kamikat]

The two martini lunch has never been part of my life and as far as I know not a part of my field. When I was going to cosmetology school, my instructor (an older gentleman that got his start in the biz as a Navy barber) always stressed NEVER having a single drink before picking up your shears. You can cut yourself or your client. It's always been a personal rule to never do hair after a single sip. After work, hair stylists tend to really enjoy drinking, just not on the job.

 

[The Shirt]

At my last place of employment - very stressful, very belligerent - we would say we were headed off for a coffee break. Needless to say we scooted down the corner and enjoyed the 2 for 1 happy hour special. It made the screaming seem funny at least.

Now at a great place - we just mention cocktails on the patio to the lady in charge around 3. She's the first one out there. I love it here.

Personally - 2 martinis makes for a very fun Jen. However 2 has the potential to lead to the horrible 3 which makes for a Jen on the floor.

 

[duggap]

You guys keep that up and you can start going to the meeting with me.lol

 

[Nash Buckingham]

At my last place of employment - very stressful, very belligerent - we would say we were headed off for a coffee break. Needless to say we scooted down the corner and enjoyed the 2 for 1 happy hour special. It made the screaming seem funny at least.

Now at a great place - we just mention cocktails on the patio to the lady in charge around 3. She's the first one out there. I love it here.

Personally - 2 martinis makes for a very fun Jen. However 2 has the potential to lead to the horrible 3 which makes for a Jen on the floor.

I didn't think the third was all that horrible, except I found after my head cleared, #'s 4 and 5 didn't have much effect. Of course, no work is done afterwards

So # 3 is "Happy Landings"? Choose a place with carpet on the floor! I like your supervisors attitude though - oops it's nearly 3:00

 

[The Shirt]

I just did a walkabout stating how darn thirsty I am...

 

[John in Covina]

Who went and spoiled it for the rest of us?

The difference in some places is night and day. Maybe it has to do with insurance for the company.

While I do recall 1-2 beer lunches in the 80's as we tended to frequent more the pizzaria, specialty place over the high end restaurant & bar scene at lunch, so much "zero tolerance" has come up that the concept of conviviality has dimished to nil. The company might get sued somehow.

If you worked at a big company, you had a chance to find your future spouse there too, but not any more. Most places out this way have rules against seeing your co-works after work for fear of being sued.

You can't get a reccomendation from former employers because some one will get sued.

Anybody notice a theme here? Sued.

Any way, what developes is an attitude "If if it is unfair equally then it is fair" in company policy.

 

[maff2k]

When I worked as a network engineer we used to enjoy a couple of pints at lunchtime. This rose to three during the dot-com boom (walked to work). Fell back to one or two when that bubble burst and we had to earn our keep!

I work on the ambulances now and as such it's a BIG no no to drink at work!

I am surprised at the random testing - must be a US thing as I doubt that UK law would ever allow such practises.

Just as a closing note. The pub we drank at used to do some fantastic real ales. The barman would not ask us what we wanted but instead ask us how many we were staying for. Depending on the number he would serve us pints of various beers in a certain order so that we could better appreciate them!!

 

[Noindex]

I own a small construction comapny here in Las Vegas. I usually have what I call cocktail Friday's where some friends, vendors, subs come by for a few drinks around 1:00, nothing big.

The unions have been compaining of the death count this last year from men working on the MGM City Center Project....7 or 8 have died. The unions complained that the builder was forcing the workers to work more quickly and less safely. They actually staged a one day walkout to address the issue. After that report however, a story ran in the Las Vegas Review Journal showing many workers on their lunch break across the street at bars drinking beer and hard liquor. Some of these guys were iron workers who walked back across the street to work. I think that quited the union.

 

[Geesie]

"Fitness for duty" policies may have something to do with the problem.

Which has become absurd. If "fitness for duty" was the real policy, nobody would investigate or even care unless you weren't doing your job well. If you can have a couple drinks at lunch at do your job fine in the afternoon, that should be okay. And if you think you can but you can't, then you get to find a new job.

Prohibitionists never went away. They're still trying to push the idea that 'the only responsible drinking is none at all.'

 

[Barbigirl]

not so very long ago

In the beginning of the '00 years I worked at a place that had slack hours and a martini bar two blocks away. I enjoyed a number of 2 or 3 martini lunches and just laid really low in the afternoon til it was time to catch the train. The lunches weren't specifically work related though, just fun.

 

[MEDIUMMYND]

For me never before 6pm lunchtime drinking ruined many a man.

 

[filfoster]

Radio Marti ni

Born too soon. Many references to Mad Men in this thread and how many of us wish we had livers that could tolerate that level of alcohol consumption? Yes, quite a few hands up. Ah, I have both mine in the air, sorry.
Don Draper was a Korean War vet but his his pal Roger may have been WW2. One claim to "the Greatest Generation" had to be their wonderful tolerance for booze. We stand in a shadow of awe of these drinking, smoking, non-seatbelt wearing builders of 20th Century American prosperity.
Drinking with customers or on your own when 'on duty' is strongly discouraged where I work and live (at a bank in Cincinnati) but when I started 32 years ago, it was not uncommon for the senior types to have the two martini or cocktail lunch. I dated the daughter of one who enjoyed a nightly pitcher of martinis with his wife. He lived to be over 80, which is an idea for a thread.