I believe the drinking culture in the U.K is at a critical level... I only notice this when I chat to people from different countries... otherwise, when I'm not snapped out of this mindset, I take it as quite standard. In my previous job... our manager would take us all to a bar on particular Fridays (when we had done well) and put his card behind the bar... and every employee would be encouraged to drink themselves silly - which most would do. The "fun" part would then be the following day, when everybody would disects who flirted with whom, who disappeared to go home with whomever-else, and so on, and so forth... All social activities, including lunch, revolved around drinking... The British culture is like a society of alcoholics... Have you found this so in your own city...? Or have particular stories to tell, whether opposite or similar...?
I don't think it's as you describe here, but then my personal experience comes from that of a mid-20's university lifestyle.
In regards to drinking, to each his own. However, British drinking culture has always seemed rather excessive to me. Although I'm in Canada, most of my family hails from the UK. I recall going to visit my uncle in Holland (he's originally from the UK) and we hit downtown Amsterdam a few times during my visit. There I was amazed at how much fun people were having at all times of the day/night... it was lively and yet civilized (Amsterdam is an absolutely amazing place... NOT for the drugs!). While we were sitting at a patio, we noticed a rather portly gentleman and his friends... the man was completely naked, roaming the streets -- sloshed out of his mind. My uncle pointed out that the guy was English (from his noisy voice and his friends' clothing) and that they were the only ones that typically come cause trouble in Holland. Keep in mind, I'm not calling all Brits drunks in the least! But there definitely is a heavy drinking-oriented culture that, although not unique, is definitely becoming more of a rarity today.
I believe you might be right, but this might just be the way it's portrayed in British media (most Danish tv-channels are broadcast by British companies based in London ) It's been a while, but afair, we are also pretty good at getting very drunk. However, it has become fashionable for employers to not be enablers in this; you'd be hard pressed to find a company that hasn't got an alcohol policy these days. There's the Julefrokost (~christmas party), of course, that sounds like what you're describing; good food and drunken flirts -It has even been found that the most repairs to photocopiers are in December (when these parties take place) -the photocopier companies won't say how much weight is too much for their machines
If anything, the drinking culture is getting worse... the habit with friends would be the buying of rounds of shots (the purpose of which is to get tipsy as quickly as possible)... so by the time you were done in a short hour or so, you might have downed 5 or 6 shots, courtesy of your friends, and bought a round or 2 yourself... It's almost seen as not very team motivated to not engage! You might duck out of the "charlie" being passed around in the loo... but you better prepare yourself for a three sheets to the wind evening if you agree to go out... for this reason, I find myself less and less willing to go out and "bar hop" in order to supposedly unwind and socialise towards the end of the week... which is to say from Thurs to Sun non-stop...
My family at home has a rather intensive drinking culture, but it's not an alcoholic drinking culture, and things don't "revolve" around alcohol, they just include alcohol. Anyway, I'm from a family of Irish-Italian Ohioans.
Irish and Italian... that has to be a rather intensive drinking combination. I've associated with a few Irish, and they seem to have an endless supply of drinking games... which leads me to believe a lot of evenings entertainments revolve around this... and isn't Ireland home to one of the cities that has the highest concentration of pubs in the world?
Yes, Britain's drinking culture is outmoded, pathetic and embarrassing, wholly responsible for many of our social ills. I can amuse myself without getting uselessly blind drunk, and I find drunkards highly obnoxious and deadly dull.
What he said. I enjoy a drink when I go out to a pub/club, but by that I mean I enjoy drinking to a point that I'm a bit more socially confident and 'merry'. Then I do what a large proportion of our population seem unable to do and stop drinking. The thing I hate most about it is the people who come into work/school/whatever and start conversations with 'I got wasted last night!' expecting admiration. One of my favourite discoveries recently is that Boston Tea Party in Bristol is now open as late as the clubs, its a nice alternative if you fancy a fun social night away from the drinking culture.
Well I know some groups of people over here who are like that around friends. But drinking and work are two things that never go together, at least not that I've seen so far in my life. I wouldn't even talk about drinking at work, it would be pretty taboo. If I was good friends with my co-workers we might go out drinking at night or something, but probably wouldn't chat each other up about embarassing drunk stories the next day at work. And the boss certainly wouldn't be drinking with us...to me that would feel like a college professor going to a frat party...just weird, not right.
^ The managers were the worst culprits for coming in with hangovers... one even came in of a morning with the newest member of the team - a 20 year old, who had been too wasted to go home, so she'd gone home with him... you do the math! It was a hotbed of gossip. He denied it, but she later told us that she'd had a crush on him for some time, and she'd taken her chance... aided by copious amounts of alcohol, of course. It all comes back to the alcohol.
I can say that D.C. has a drinking/happy hour culture of its own. Unlike, say, Chicago or New York City, you can get cheap drinks in D.C. from 5-7PM. Interns, college students, research associates and young professionals do a lot of their networking with a drink and a plate of hor d'oeuvres in one hand. Even at work functions, it's not unusual for there to be wine and beer offered in the evening-- especially on the Hill.
North Dakota is number one in the nation when it comes to binge drinking and drinking and driving. Not bad for the 48th most populous state...
Yeah, I was about to say that reminded me of college. Although the beer is better in the United Kingdom, since in college, it's often a keg party (of course, it's far less expensive to pay $3 for a cup and have as much shitty beer as you want). I don't go to bars often, so I can't compare that culture. The only experience I have with non-college drinking are people who have a few beers while watching a sporting event or raging alcoholics who are more or less anti-social, so I wouldn't call that a culture.
I have noticed that binge drinking seems to be a major problem with people my age. I have also come to the conclusion that becuase my parents didnt make alcohol taboo or off limits that I know my limits and have responsibility with alcohol. My parents taught me as soon as I hit puberty about the goods the bads and the uglies about alcohol. There were some stories in there too that I wish I never knew about my parents *shudder*. In the end I think people just lose control of themselves when they see the stuff and it disgusts me. I drink till I get a light buzz and then I either maintain or I stop all together.