111–120 of 190 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you can tolerate a very tiny amount of alcohol, bitters with soda is a great cocktail substitute. There's also "hop water" beverages that I really like that have no calories.
Non-alcoholic beers have also gotten quite good.
Just avoid the over-industrialized ones, like you'd do with normal beers.
One data point: I grew up in the U.S. but have lived in Japan for the past forty-one years. I freelanced for Japanese companies for my first two decades here, and I have worked in academia for the last two. In both contexts, socializing does indeed often involve alcohol. But I have had what I consider to be two successful careers here without ever drinking alcohol in my life. I have also known Japanese men who were successful in business and who did not drink at all.
Yes, there are social situations where not drinking can be awkward. But, in my experience at least, if one just explains that one doesn’t drink, one can get through those situations without conflict or avoid them entirely without negative effects on one’s social life or career.
Also anecdotally: Some of the biggest social drinkers I have known in Japan were Americans or Brits. For some of them, there seemed to be a negative correlation between drinking and business success.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I don't think I've ever witnessed a bar fight, and no one I know has been involved in a drunk driving crash I grew up drinking and lived in alcohol culture(s). At 25 I moved to another state, didn't drink and mostly circulated in non-drinking circles. Before 25 I saw plenty of alcohol fueled fights. They weren't in bars but neither was I. I've been on both sides of drunk crashes (not driving) as were (possibly most…
> I've been on both sides of drunk crashes (not driving) as were (possibly most of) my friends. That is a crazy statistic that would be a clear signal for me to move away.
When there's not much to do and you live in an area designed for cars, a shocking amount of people will just not give AF and drink drive. Can't afford cabs but can afford the bar.
Even in the US, in tech firms, it's pretty common to have happy hours where everyone drinks a bit. I don't drink at all due to my sleep apnea, and don't even have caffeine after 1pm for the same reason, so I'm pretty much always in this kind of awkward position of sipping on a water throughout the night while coworkers get more and more inebriated. I don't think it's ever directly hurt my chances of promotion or anyt…
My experience at a bigtechco where they have a weekly happy hour with free alcohol is that it's a pretty small minority that partakes (~20% out of the ~20% of in-office folks that attend these after work events). I've also never seen anyone have more than ~2-3 drinks total. The median number of drinks is 1 by far. This is all post-covid though, perhaps it was different in the before times.
I can't comment much about nowadays, as I haven't worked from an office since 2020. But from what I've heard, you're correct, those times are somewhat behind us in most of the companies.
This presentation from the Long Now Foundation makes the proposition that drinking helps create society https://longnow.org/ideas/drinking-10000-years-intoxication-... > Drawing on evidence from archaeology, history, cognitive neuroscience, psychopharmacology, social psychology, literature, and genetics, Slingerland shows that our taste for chemical intoxicants is not an evolutionary mistake, as we are so often told.…
I think the "with food" bit is underrated. Bar/pub food in the West is crappy almost by definition (the occasional gastropub notwithstanding) and many/most people don't eat anything at all, while if you go drinking in Tokyo, food is an absolutely critical part of the izakaya (Japanese pub) experience. It's also quite socially acceptable for women to go to an izakaya and drink oolong tea instead of alcohol all night l…
As a rule of thumb the more blue collar the pub the better the food will be - Builders Clubs and Trade Union associated places tend to have the best food followed by Sports clubs. These places have their own issues though namely poker/slot machines (Gambling is a big problem in this country).
I think the differences are mostly cultural I have zero desire to go out drinking with people from my workplace. We have exactly one social event a year - which is the work Christmas Party and that is a fairly tame event.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> My argument would be that these social intoxicants allow for the reduction in anxiety stress which enables a ego reduction Just a counterthought: If I your anxiety stress becomes reduced, you might be less anxious to call your boss an idiot. :-D Seriously: if you become less afraid of the social consequences, this actually might increase your ego. I know quite some people who in my observation have a stronger ego u…
Yes, the point is that it’s reducing the anxiety to unmask. Your boss may in fact be an asshole and unmasking would make you feel more incautious about being yourself, which might mean a narcissistic outburst from all your pent up frustration.
Terribly unhealthy but it supposedly accomplished it's purpose
(1) What could it mean to have a harmonious culture that is not inclusive? How could a culture be inclusive without fostering harmony between groups?
(2) The author does not answer the question she asks -- -- directly, but the final sentence is a quote from a Korean woman: "We care about the opinion of others." Are we supposed to infer that Koreans have a non-inclusive culture because they care about the opinions of others? Does that even make sense?
The contrast the author draws between cultural harmony and inclusive things is perhaps reliant on some specialized meaning of the terms -- the author is perhaps using them as terms of art -- but I suspect that the general reader will find the contrast itself contradictory.
Why don’t women push for a more inclusive work culture?
In societies that idealise collective harmony, challenging superiors can be deeply offensive. When chatting to two professionals in Seoul, I introduced a little role play. In a hypothetical company meeting, I politely put up my hand and said,
“I would like to propose that we end our company drinking culture. When people drink, they may make mistakes, do things inadvertently, which can make others uncomfortable”.
I spoke softly and gently; I really endeavoured to be placid. But my Korean friends were shocked. Sang-hee grimmaced, “It lacks nunchi”. Minjun (her male friend) was equally puzzled,
“I would be amazed. I mean this positively. But why is that person imposing their views on others? Why don’t they just drop out?” (translated)
To ease their discomfort, I suggested a more sympathetic story. “Let’s suppose her boss was drunk and put his hand on her thigh. She doesn’t want to confront her boss, but wants to solve it indirectly”. Sang-hee was still displeased, adding
“We care about the opinion of others”.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I avoid both coffee and refined sugar and then the list of alternatives really shrinks. Herbal tea is a good one of course, and in a bar one can often get pure apple juice.
Wait, why is sugar bad but apple juice okay?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you can tolerate a very tiny amount of alcohol, bitters with soda is a great cocktail substitute. There's also "hop water" beverages that I really like that have no calories.
Non-alcoholic beers have also gotten quite good.
Also laguinitas hopwater is the bomb and I like it better than actual IPAs
This presentation from the Long Now Foundation makes the proposition that drinking helps create society https://longnow.org/ideas/drinking-10000-years-intoxication-... > Drawing on evidence from archaeology, history, cognitive neuroscience, psychopharmacology, social psychology, literature, and genetics, Slingerland shows that our taste for chemical intoxicants is not an evolutionary mistake, as we are so often told.…
[flagged]
I don't drink, at all, ever. I came to the conclusion quite some time ago that it's been the cause of far more problems than it's ever solved, and it's just better for everyone if I never pick up a glass again.
That said, I know plenty of people who somehow do have that chip installed that allows responsible drinking, in moderation, in appropriate settings - and I would never be so judgemental as your quote. There do exist plenty of people who can drink in moderation and without any real negative consequences. Who am I to begrudge or look down on that, and indeed who are you to?
There's certainly a lot of people for whom alcohol consumption, knowing all the facts, would indeed be "weak, immature, and reckless". Knowing myself and my history, that list includes me! But there's plenty of people not on that list, and so I just don't think you can make blanket judgements like that.