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>talks of a culture that has never made drinking a forbidden fruit The same thing is often said about Italy and France. For the life of me I can't recall wher

>talks of a culture that has never made drinking a forbidden fruit The same thing is often said about Italy and France. For the life of me I can't recall where I read it (maybe someone can help out), but I've seen that because alcohol isn't treated as a forbidden fruit in such countries, alcoholism is also not treated as a problem, and that rates of it are severely understated. In other words, for example, it's far more socially acceptable to have 3 glasses of wine with your lunch every day in France than in the US.

noxToken 11y ago
Anecdote: Many of my coworkers are from Spain. It is commonly said that two hour lunches with a beer or three are the norm. When I first started, the director took the 5 new hires to lunch, and I recall him stating that he would have bought pitchers for the table if our client was not a stickler about noon drinking. It is also very common for company events (perhaps twice/month on average?) to be held at bars immediately after work. There is no pressure for anyone to participate, but there is definitely an emphasis on drinking.
- mason55 11y ago
  > It is also very common for company events (perhaps twice/month on average?) to be held at bars immediately after work. I mean, I don't think that is necessarily rare in the US either. We have weekly happy hours that get expensed if someone senior enough is there. And we have quarterly company parties that are paid for by the company and are just three hour open bars in a different location each time (boat, bowling, etc).
Retric 11y ago
3 five ounce glasses of wine with lunch is not really that bad for or all that much to drink. At 130+lb you would probably stay under .07 BAC which is still legal to drive in the US. Alcoholism generally involves either heavy drinking or life impairment issues.
- JoeAltmaier 11y ago
  Really? That's all you need out of an employee after lunch - that they won't crash their car on the way back? Its inappropriate to do any drinking at lunch, if you have work to return to.
  - Retric 11y ago
    Its inappropriate to do any drinking at lunch That's pure social stigma. There is a vast difference between drinking to intoxication and 2-3 glasses of wine with a meal. It's about as limiting as eating a heavy lunch and spending a few hours digesting.
    - JoeAltmaier 11y ago
      There is a vast difference between not drinking at all, and coming back to work muddle-headed and slow. Especially at a technology company. If you're just moving packages between bins in the mail room, ok maybe. But you're for instance checking in to my code base, forget it.
      - vezzy-fnord 11y ago
        You're severely underestimating a lot of people's alcohol tolerance, I think.
        JoeAltmaier 11y ago
        No, I understand that completely. Some folks can look normal, while their critical judgment skills are already compromised. Those with high tolerance are a bigger problem than most.
        pavel_lishin 11y ago
        > Some folks can look normal, while their critical judgment skills are already compromised. I think that this illustrates that you do not understand that completely.

noxToken 11y ago

Anecdote: Many of my coworkers are from Spain. It is commonly said that two hour lunches with a beer or three are the norm. When I first started, the director took the 5 new hires to lunch, and I recall him stating that he would have bought pitchers for the table if our client was not a stickler about noon drinking. It is also very common for company events (perhaps twice/month on average?) to be held at bars immediately after work. There is no pressure for anyone to participate, but there is definitely an emphasis on drinking.

mason55 11y ago
> It is also very common for company events (perhaps twice/month on average?) to be held at bars immediately after work. I mean, I don't think that is necessarily rare in the US either. We have weekly happy hours that get expensed if someone senior enough is there. And we have quarterly company parties that are paid for by the company and are just three hour open bars in a different location each time (boat, bowling, etc).

Retric 11y ago

3 five ounce glasses of wine with lunch is not really that bad for or all that much to drink. At 130+lb you would probably stay under .07 BAC which is still legal to drive in the US. Alcoholism generally involves either heavy drinking or life impairment issues.

JoeAltmaier 11y ago
Really? That's all you need out of an employee after lunch - that they won't crash their car on the way back? Its inappropriate to do any drinking at lunch, if you have work to return to.
- Retric 11y ago
  Its inappropriate to do any drinking at lunch That's pure social stigma. There is a vast difference between drinking to intoxication and 2-3 glasses of wine with a meal. It's about as limiting as eating a heavy lunch and spending a few hours digesting.
  - JoeAltmaier 11y ago
    There is a vast difference between not drinking at all, and coming back to work muddle-headed and slow. Especially at a technology company. If you're just moving packages between bins in the mail room, ok maybe. But you're for instance checking in to my code base, forget it.
    - vezzy-fnord 11y ago
      You're severely underestimating a lot of people's alcohol tolerance, I think.
      - JoeAltmaier 11y ago
        No, I understand that completely. Some folks can look normal, while their critical judgment skills are already compromised. Those with high tolerance are a bigger problem than most.
        pavel_lishin 11y ago
        > Some folks can look normal, while their critical judgment skills are already compromised. I think that this illustrates that you do not understand that completely.