41–50 of 143 posts
That seems to be the point here. Forget about beer in the office and focus on the things that really matter.
I work at a place that doesn't have beer on tap, but people will frequently have beers in meetings on Friday afternoons. Which never really struck me as a "fratty" thing to do. It would be interesting if places switched to wine, then the frat angle would be a lot more incongruous. But probably other problems would result :)
Drinking glasses of beer from a tap during a working meeting sounds very frat-y to me, and I'm a drinker.
It seems like it shouldn't matter if the beers are fancy stuff from Whole Foods (which is what happens here), or crappy stuff from a tap. But I guess it does.
Is the subtext here about hostile frat culture, or, worse, about harassment? That's what I think it is. Like a lot of things, I think beer is fine if you're adult about it. We've got quite a lot of beer in our Chicago office (we haul crates from Russian River and Three Floyds and Jolly Pumpkin). But nobody drinks while they work, and nobody drinks whole bottles; we open a bottle and a bunch of people taste. If it's F…
I think the difference here is what you're describing is a group of beer nerds who happen to work together (Russian River in Chicago, that takes effort) vs a culture of slamming miller lite all day long while "working"
Is the subtext here about hostile frat culture, or, worse, about harassment? That's what I think it is. Like a lot of things, I think beer is fine if you're adult about it. We've got quite a lot of beer in our Chicago office (we haul crates from Russian River and Three Floyds and Jolly Pumpkin). But nobody drinks while they work, and nobody drinks whole bottles; we open a bottle and a bunch of people taste. If it's F…
I think the difference here is what you're describing is a group of beer nerds who happen to work together (Russian River in Chicago, that takes effort) vs a culture of slamming miller lite all day long while "working"
Personally I hate ties. I hope I'll never have to work at a place where I'd be forced to wear a tie. Yet I am not calling for all offices to ban ties.
FTFA: It’s a recipe for mixed signals, disagreements, misunderstandings. So are endless meetings, endless emails, emergencies at 4:55p on a Friday, upper management, the phase of the moon, and tidal activity. We get it. Your vision of "professional" explicitly doesn't allow for any kind of alcohol ever, but how about not dictating that for everyone else, eh?
You are responding to the tone of the post and to your presumption of who the author is and what they represent, but you're not really responding to the message of the post.
I don't understand why companies don't promote an ice cream culture. Have custom flavors available throughout the day, a stocked freezer, etc. Sit back and have a sundae while discussing code problems. Try new toppings/sauces now and then, etc.
I don't drink beer. When I was younger, it was mostly a financial issue. As I'm older, I just don't like the taste. "Oh! But try this one - it's got a bold whatever with a hint of foo aftertaste". I don't care. It's beer. If it tasted so radically different from beer, it would be called something else. It's still beer.
Tech conferences often revolve around a subcontext of beer. "Let's go grab a beer!" Beers provided at open bars. Etc. I get it - it's a social lubricant. But... it's so ingrained in many cultures and subcultures (much like sports) that not participating is an odd signal. With more pushy types, ordering a non-beer gets a weird look and I have to explain myself multiple times. I shouldn't have to.
Ordering food, there's generally no such pushback - even vegans at the table generally don't say anything when I order a chicken sandwich. But order a water or coke when the rest of the table's ordering specialty beers, and 7 times out of 10 there's someone who questions you.
Again... I don't get the beer culture, and would love to see it replaced with nothing, or something else like ice cream.
EDIT: Sometimes people ask me if my non-beer attitude is a religious thing. It's not. I occasionally drink alcohol (wine/spirits) because I like the taste.
EDIT 2: What I was trying to get at above was that promoting a beer culture will necessarily be somewhat exclusionary, and some people may be on the defensive or feel like 'outsiders' at the outset. If you know you're doing that - you only want to hire people with a shared love of beer - that's great. But... that's probably not the point of your business. For pintlabs.com, for example, that is the point of their business (local startup focusing on beer - gentle plug for them)
Is the subtext here about hostile frat culture, or, worse, about harassment? That's what I think it is. Like a lot of things, I think beer is fine if you're adult about it. We've got quite a lot of beer in our Chicago office (we haul crates from Russian River and Three Floyds and Jolly Pumpkin). But nobody drinks while they work, and nobody drinks whole bottles; we open a bottle and a bunch of people taste. If it's F…
Perhaps there's a difference in culture between bottles versus kegs? The former suggests restraint, the latter doesn't?
And beer especially is loaded with gender baggage as the drink for choice for men. In light of all the recent discussion about gender equality in tech (not to mention "rape culture") having a keggerator in the office can easily be construed as throwing your company's hat in the male-privilege ring. Beer enjoys a better reputation than liquor, at least, but would the conversation change if the office stocked wine? Or drink with the opposite gender stereotypes, like maybe strawberry margaritas on tap?
I like beer (and homebrewing) and have no problem with it in the office. But I'm a young, white, male, developer; so no surprise there. It would appear I am who these companies (think they) want to attract and retain.
But assuming my demographic is not the only one who should feel comfortable in the office, I could see erring on the side of sensitivity and "professionalism", and not having beer on tap in the office.
The beer culture is very very weird to me, and something I just don't get. I don't understand why companies don't promote an ice cream culture. Have custom flavors available throughout the day, a stocked freezer, etc. Sit back and have a sundae while discussing code problems. Try new toppings/sauces now and then, etc. I don't drink beer. When I was younger, it was mostly a financial issue. As I'm older, I just don't…