Drinking with Coworkers

[MetalPants]

Just curious about those of you who drink/socialize with coworkers outside of the job. Does everyone just go with the idea of hey a group of people getting together for drinks, or is there still the work dynamic going on?

I ask because Thursday evening I am taking a small group of my coworkers out drinking and dancing, and I really don't want the evening to be dominated by work conversations.

 

[Finn]

Ive gone to a ballgame, a night club, homes and sports bar with people from work. It was always a blast and we hardly talked about work.

 

[ThankQ]

We have cow orkers in Oklahoma. Sheep orkers and pig orkers, too.

I don't drink with any of those nasty ass bastards.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

Going for a drink at the end of the working week with co-workers is something we'd do infrequently, but on enough occasions that we kept the morale up. We did have the problem of talking about work, though, and I was usually the one who wouldn't want to talk about things at work, and not just for confidentiality reasons.

We have cow orkers in Oklahoma. Sheep orkers and pig orkers, too.

I don't drink with any of those nasty ass bastards.

We have orca-orkers. Orca-orkers are cool.

 

[RoJoHen]

My coworkers don't even have a work dynamic at work, so going out for drinks is rarely a problem. I do it all the time.

 

[Timby]

An after-work cocktail or two isn't a terrible idea, but if you work in any sort of a professional environment, going out with co-workers for a night on the town seems loaded with potential hazards. Say you (or someone else) has one or two too many, and suddenly you blurt out, "Man, co-worker XYZ is a real son of a bitch," and you forget that co-worker XYZ is right there with you, too, then you've just introduced some poison into your workplace, just the same as if someone starts talking smack about someone who isn't there that night, but word trickles back. Or if you wind up saying something inappropriate to a female co-worker. Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

I'm just of the opinion that mixing any long-term consumption of alcohol and doing so with co-workers is a really bad idea. There are so many things that can go wrong (some of which can cost you your job, particularly in an at-will state) that combining co-workers and leisure doesn't seem worth it. My work associates are my work associates ... my friends are my friends. I keep those two lives separate.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I understand that some of the people where I work go out drinking together. At one time I considered going with them. I had one coworker who worked with me in a previous job, and we started here at the same time. She wanted to try to fit in with people here and she went out drinking with them one night. She reported back to me that they were the most miserable people she'd ever had the displeasure of spending an evening with. All they did the entire time was bitch about how much they hated their jobs, hated management, hated New Jersey, hated basically everything. So, yeah, that nixed that idea.

 

[Shatnertage]

^ Hated New Jersey? Say it ain't so.

Back when I worked in a real work environment, I used to go out with my co-workers all the time. We worked swing shift so it was pretty natural to head down to a nearby bar. It was a lot of fun, but you've got to be prepared to get to know everyone very, very well.

No problems as long as you don't act like any more of an idiot than everyone else.

 

[RoJoHen]

^ Hated New Jersey? Say it ain't so.

Ugh, I hate New Jersey. I will never return.

Back when I worked in a real work environment, I used to go out with my co-workers all the time. We worked swing shift so it was pretty natural to head down to a nearby bar. It was a lot of fun, but you've got to be prepared to get to know everyone very, very well.

No problems as long as you don't act like any more of an idiot than everyone else.

It really depends on the type of place you work, I think. Many of my coworkers and I are practically family. I've been to their houses. I've driven them around. I am the godfather of their children. Next week, I'm going to get a haircut by one of my coworkers so she can pass her Cosmetology class. Many of my coworkers are roommates or are married and have kids together. We are very much a family.

 

[Cheapjack]

In America, do you call cabs to get home, after drinking? Do you ever walk home? I know in some places, it gets down to -60 degrees. So if you were drunk, and fell over and knocked yourself out, you might get frostbite.

 

[RoJoHen]

If I'm driving myself, which I usually am, I just don't drink that much. I often become the designated driver and end up taking people home.

That said, many of my coworkers have gotten DUIs and now have suspended licenses as a result.

But yes, cabs are available if we need them to take us home. There have been situations where our designated driver has ended up getting drunk, so we just call a cab and then pick up their car the next day once we've sobered up.

Of course, America is quite large, so I'm sure there are places where cabs are not available.

 

[Spot's Meow]

At the last place I worked my co-workers would get together for drinks quite often. Sometimes I would come along, but I don't drink much. It almost always turned into a bitchfest about all the things wrong at work and all the people there they didn't like. Definitely a lot of gossip. There was talk of other things in life too, but it was hard not to talk/complain about work when it was the one thing we all had in common. You can complain to your friend or spouse but it's not the same as complaining to someone who has been there and seen what you've seen firsthand. It was nice to blow off a little steam about work but it often went on way longer than I was comfortable with. They could go on making fun of people or complaining about policies for hours.

And then that would be cause for some weirdness at work because there would be inside jokes that others wouldn't get. Those who didn't go out that night or weren't invited would feel left out and even get jealous. And of course there were the things I remembered from the night before (since I don't drink) that no one else seemed to (or at least wouldn't admit to), like the various people making out or confessing feelings for one another. Things only got that crazy once or twice though.

 

[Canadave]

In America, do you call cabs to get home, after drinking? Do you ever walk home? I know in some places, it gets down to -60 degrees. So if you were drunk, and fell over and knocked yourself out, you might get frostbite.

Trust me, it's quite possible to walk home drunk without dying in -20 C weather.

Anyway, I drink with my co-workers quite a lot, but I also work for a student newspaper right now, so the environment is a little different.

 

[RoJoHen]

In America, do you call cabs to get home, after drinking? Do you ever walk home? I know in some places, it gets down to -60 degrees. So if you were drunk, and fell over and knocked yourself out, you might get frostbite.

Trust me, it's quite possible to walk home drunk without dying in -20 C weather.

Anyway, I drink with my co-workers quite a lot, but I also work for a student newspaper right now, so the environment is a little different.

Yeah, I'm a bartender, so drinking with coworkers is almost a given.

 

[Warp Coil]

I've become close friends with some of my co-workers, so going out drinking with them after work for happy hour, or seeing them outside of the office for purely social activities is no big deal to me. I have co-workers who I have grown close enough with that we've vacationed together, house/pet-sat for one another, joined a bowling team, participated in weekly trivia games at a local bar, gone to movies with, celebrated holidays together, etc.

Granted, that is a small, select group of people I am referring to. But there have been occassional work-related happy hours (people getting promotions, or leaving the company for new and exciting opportunities, or even just saying farewell to the unfortunate ones who have been laid off during the tough economic times). I have no problem meeting up with people for a few drinks. I have only gotten drunk at a work-related happy hour once. It was for a close co-worker of mine who was leaving. I had too much to drink (good thing I'm a "happy" drunk!) and paid for it the next day. People were poking fun and joking with me at the office about it, but I didn't really care. It was all in good fun.

 

[Holdfast]

Just curious about those of you who drink/socialize with coworkers outside of the job. Does everyone just go with the idea of hey a group of people getting together for drinks, or is there still the work dynamic going on?

Totally depends on who you're going out with, and what kind of person you are too.

I mean, some people bring work with them, some leave it behind, and some will leave it behind but suddenly find it again if the shit hits the fan.

If you want to play it safe, go along but don't drink much and stay under the radar.

Personally, I went along to some work parties/get-togethers but not as many as I was invited to. I like some boundaries, and also, as things progressed and I was in more senior roles, some distance helped. Having said that, I now work for myself and still meet up with friends I originally got to know through work, so it's all a balancing act.

Short answer? Apply common sense, in the absence of that, some moderation!

 

[RoJoHen]

Or just get wasted and see what happens!

 

[Holdfast]

Or just get wasted and see what happens!

Plan B is always a good plan.

 

[Bisz]

We do it all time seeing as most of the time we aren't at home but on dispatch somewhere, so going to a bar and drinking together is preferable to going back to our crappy rental apartments and drinking alone.

 

[An Officer]

Depends on the people. You will find both the awesome and the fail.

Personally, I think it is possible to make drinking with co-workers work for you, I have seen a promotion or two happen that way.