Flagged. Stop commanding people what to do, who are you anyway?
Beer
91–100 of 143 posts
Re: Beer
#92Is 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…
> Like a lot of things, I think porn is fine if you're adult about it. We've got quite a lot of porn in our Chicago office... > Like a lot of things, I think guns are fine if you're adult about it. We've got quite a lot of guns in our Chicago office... (I'm sorry, did I misquote you?) Just because some things are fine if you're adult about it, doesn't make them appropriate at the office. Why would you have alcohol in…
> Like a lot of things, I think coffee is fine if you're adult about it. We've got quite a lot of coffee in our Chicago office...
(I'm sorry, did I misquote your misquote?) Just because some things aren't fine if you're adult about it, doesn't make all things inappropriate at the office.
Why would you have coffee in the office? What about all the people who can't drink coffee, because of their religious beliefs(Mormons), or because they have cardiovascular conditions which prevent them from intaking coffee?
> If their work is done (it has to be since you can't work after beer) why don't they go home to their family and kids?
It seems you have a very unhealthy relationship with beer. You seem to think that the only reason to drink beer is to get drunk. Are you really saying that it isn't possible to work after drinking one beer? And are you really saying that people who are parents shouldn't be wasting their time socializing with coworkers, and they need to just shuttle immediately from the office to their family once work is done?
Re: Beer
#93Here's a snippet from the carefree happy days of the previous century, before 9/11 and the New Earnestness --
Baumholder, Germany, 1986. The daily march to the motor pool. Yes, I was in the Army. A little later than usual for reasons no longer remembered. Early summer, it might have been 70-F, considered a heat wave back then. A local work crew was pouring new concrete to replace some crumbling pad. They were on break drinking beer, at 1030. To those of you who do not habla, that's 10:30 AM.
They did seem to work a little slowly compared to the crews I have observed since. But I've never used a stopwatch, so I could be wrong.
Re: Beer
#94Everybody's talking about it as though everyone goes on a raging bender at work every evening. It's as though offices offered free cake and you're all imagining meeting rooms full of rotund programmers stuffing half a bundt down their gullet.
If beer in an office is causing issues it's because someone doesn't know their limits, and that is an entirely individualized and likely very marginalized issue. The author's immediate correlation of beer and "frat culture" is easily the most sexist thing I've read this week, and the implication that "raging hormones and inexperience" combined with an occasional afternoon beer automatically means I become a raging pervert bent on harassing any woman in sight is ludicrous.
Re: Beer
#95Is 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 can't imagine this creating a problem. Are you serious? Talk to just about any attorney, and it won't take him or her more than a minute to rattle off a laundry list of scenarios that could literally turn your business upside down in an instant. Your question, "Is the subtext here about hostile frat culture, or, worse, about harassment?" suggests that you have some idea of what can go wrong but frankly, a hostile…
If what you said is true, why do many extremely large corporations serve beer at company events, and sometimes even stock it in the office?
Are their attorneys incompetent?
Re: Beer
#96Probably not great in the office, but having a nice craft beer shouldn't be discouraged - it opens up the thoughts, creates an aura of relaxation and can promote conversation and creative collaboration pretty damn fast. Not everything must be productive, productive, productive all of the damn time. Creative thoughts are an important part of the ability to execute them. Just relax and have a beer every now and then.
At my prior employer, there was a legend of two guys who wrote the companies email system (before commercial packages were available) in 6 weeks. There method was to hit a pub for 4 hour design sessions every few days, followed by a few days of marathon coding. As soon as they'd get stuck, back to the pub. This was an uber-conservative employer, so beer in the office would have been cause for celebration. I'm with yo…
> A trend I've seen lately is scotch at work.
Watching Mad Men I always wondered whatever happened to strong beverages in the offices. Was it cultural? Have people decided that drinking during workday is faux pas? Was it some campaign against alcohol, similar to what happened to tobacco?
Re: Beer
#97The 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…
If people harass you or treat you differently for not [drinking/eating/smoking/whatever personal choice] then you know who the assholes of the group are. Call them out.
Re: Beer
#98Maybe it's because i'm european and not living in the US, but this kegerator in the office thing looks like something that gets old fast. The first weeks it may sound fun, beer in the office, branded beer glasses,etc... but i don't understand how someone could care as the novelty wears of. And i hope i don't need to comment on that "devs need beer" thing, c'mon, childish stuff. Does a subset of the employee likes bee…
Alcohol makes me sleepy and lose the ability to concentrate. I have no idea why people enjoy drinking when they're trying to get stuff done. Especially if any of that "stuff" requires significant brain power.
Maybe because different people react differently. That might be it.
Re: Beer
#99I 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.
Okay. Now we have two opinions.
Re: Beer
#100Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Like a lot of things, I think porn is fine if you're adult about it. We've got quite a lot of porn in our Chicago office... > Like a lot of things, I think guns are fine if you're adult about it. We've got quite a lot of guns in our Chicago office... (I'm sorry, did I misquote you?) Just because some things are fine if you're adult about it, doesn't make them appropriate at the office. Why would you have alcohol in…
> Like a lot of things, I think coffee is fine if you're adult about it. We've got quite a lot of coffee in our Chicago office... (I'm sorry, did I misquote your misquote?) Just because some things aren't fine if you're adult about it, doesn't make all things inappropriate at the office. Why would you have coffee in the office? What about all the people who can't drink coffee, because of their religious beliefs(Mormo…
> You seem to think that the only reason to drink beer is to get drunk.
I'm not saying that and I'm not thinking that either. I don't like beer very much but I drink it occasionally. I prefer wine.
> Are you really saying that it isn't possible to work after drinking one beer?
Yes, I'm saying that, absolutely. You (I) can't do creative thinking (or any kind of thinking) after one glass of alcoholic beverage.
> And are you really saying that people who are parents shouldn't be wasting their time socializing with coworkers, and they need to just shuttle immediately from the office to their family once work is done?
Yes, I'm kind of saying that too. I don't think "socializing with coworkers" is very healthy. Friends are friends, coworkers are coworkers. Just because I'm in an office with other people doesn't make them my "friends".
If friendships develop, then great! and we can meet outside of work. But drinking together while at work but not working, in front of the boss, is not my idea of a good time.
I think it's mostly the boss's idea of a good time; it makes him think he has so many friends! But they're not his friends, he's paying them to be there.