Lunchtime beers. Sorely missed...

summerskin

Working in the UK, and particularly in London, we used to go out for a pint most lunchtimes, and every friday lunch meant about three hours in the pub followed by an hour of chilling in the office doing nothing. How i miss those days.

How come nobody in Ireland seem to do that? Last time I mentioned it to someone they looked at me as though I was from another planet, and shouldn't I just get a chicken roll and a can of pop from Spar like everyone else???


So, how many of you would like to go for lunchtime pints, and how many think it's just another step down the rocky road to alcoholism and is unprofessional?

seantorious

Cause the pub is expensive. The naggin in my drawer is much closer too.

Battered Mars Bar

I often do beers at lunch Doesn't everyone?
Have a hip flask aswell

Kerrydude1981

I dunno about ye but having three pints at lunch would only give you the taste for more and before you know it your inside some nightclub working the top shelf

summerskin

Kerrydude1981 wrote: »

I dunno about ye but having three pints at lunch would only give you the taste for more and before you know it your inside some nightclub working the top shelf

funny you should say that, but i've had a fair few of my irish friends asking me how i can go to the pub and only have one or two pints and then go home. they all say that once they've started they need to carry on and have at least six or seven just to "make it worth it". I'd never come across that attitude before.

Kerrydude1981

summerskin wrote: »

funny you should say that, but i've had a fair few of my irish friends asking me how i can go to the pub and only have one or two pints and then go home. they all say that once they've started they need to carry on and have at least six or seven just to "make it worth it". I'd never come across that attitude before.

The only time ive done the lunch time pints was when the 02 World Cup was on,went to the pub to watch Ireland playing Germany and never went back to work,I blame Robbie Keane really he owes me a half days wages

Micky Dolenz

Used to do it a lot in different countries I worked in. Most people were amazed when I told them it wasn't the done thing in Ireland.

When I'm working, I'm working. when I'm drinking, I'm drinking. Best to get them both separate.

chin_grin

Do it insanity wolf style!

Bring a few cans in to work. Take one out (could be at anytime, but just make sure you're boss is looking at you), open it and take a glug. All while maintaining intense eye contact with aforementioned boss.

I Heart Internet

That sounds Yock to be honest. I'd have a headache if I had just the one pint especially early in the day like that.

I can think of ffew things worse than sitting in a stuffy office on a sunny day AFTER having one or two pints. Groggy, headachy, stinking of drink yockness.

But to each his own.

Btw, if Coronation Street has taught of nothing else (and it hasn't) it's that the English are a breed of raging alcoholics who are in the pub at all hours of the day.

jester77

Fairly normal here, you can get beer in most company canteens. The difference is people will have just one with their meal and go back to work. They wouldn't be trying to wolf down 3 pints and head back.

summerskin

I Heart Internet wrote: »

That sounds Yock to be honest. I'd have a headache if I had just the one pint especially early in the day like that.

I can think of ffew things worse than sitting in a stuffy office on a sunny day AFTER having one or two pints. Groggy, headachy, stinking of drink yockness.

But to each his own.

Btw, if Coronation Street has taught of nothing else (and it hasn't) it's that the English are a breed of raging alcoholics who are in the pub at all hours of the day.

I'd say it's not the people who have one or two pints in the afternoon that have much of a problem, more the people that binge drink all weekend to the point of blacking out.



*did that way too much in my younger days. can hardly remember when the last time i actually got drunk was now. much prefer to have one or two pints and then stop.

mikemac1

Worked in a Dublin branch of a Dutch company

Before I started I was told there was a fridge full of beer in the canteen.
BS I said

It was true!
Staying late? Weekend coming? Working long hours? Hot day?

Just head up the canteen, grab a longneck or two and drink at your desk
Everyone did it, from the top managers to the lowly skivvies like me

Long live the Dutch!


Now you don't take the piss
Some lads would have six bottles and that's just wrong
But three is perfectly grand

Sykk

If you can't get through a day of work without having need for a pint then you've got a problem, man.

ejmaztec

summerskin wrote: »

funny you should say that, but i've had a fair few of my irish friends asking me how i can go to the pub and only have one or two pints and then go home. they all say that once they've started they need to carry on and have at least six or seven just to "make it worth it". I'd never come across that attitude before.

I worked with someone in an office over there (English through and through), who used to drink 4 or 5 pints every lunchtime, then nod off at his desk at about 3.30. He never got caught napping once, and must have had some kind of inbuilt early warning system letting him know that the boss was on the way.

On the whole though, having a couple of pints and a ploughman's is a very civilised way of breaking the monotony of a day on the treadmill.

summerskin

Sykk wrote: »

If you can't get through a day of work without having need for a pint then you've got a problem, man.

Hmm it's not a need, it's a want. Sometimes I want a beer with my lunch. I used to do it. And now i don't. Quite simple, no problem. Why do you see having a pint as a "need"? If I said coffee would you feel differently? The way some people view/fear alcohol in this country amuses me. Like when people say they have "taken a drink", it makes it sound like drugs. What's wrong with "had a drink"? Nobody says they had "taken a rock shandy", do they?

Nothingbetter2d

when i used to work for John Moylan & Associates on the last friday of the month they used to put a table up in the office full of beer/wine/and softdrinks... they would also have crisps and nuts there too.

we could drink at our desks while we worked.

mikemac1

Sykk wrote: »

If you can't get through a day of work without having need for a pint then you've got a problem, man.

It's this kind of attitude that sets up our woeful relationship with drink

The French may drink every single day but that's a few glasses of wine


Your post makes it seem that alcohol is some forbidden problem and so people go days without drinking and then just abuse it on a night out


It's not a mature relationship at all

meoklmrk91

Few of us did it a few times during the college year, grand craic nice to get away and sit down and relax, we never had a problem with just having the one and then heading back for class. Nothing better on a nice day.

starbelgrade

Lunchtime bears are cooler.

aujopimur

I did in my younger days, but we used to skip the going back to work bit.

Marcusm

In Ireland, too many people commute by driving to make drinking that possible.

In London, I have found it job/ team specific thing. The last place I worked, some spent 2 hours a day in the gym ad sneered at anyone who had a lunchtime drink. Needless to say, I assisted in changing that culture. ;-)

o1s1n

Whenever I go out for 'just one pint' with the lads in work it usually results in at least 10 and a taxi home in the early hours in the morning.

I cannot see this going down well!

120_Minutes

It's not done in Ireland simply because we're weak willed with an immature attitude to drink, and can't stop at " just one"

iguana

summerskin wrote: »

Like when people say they have "taken a drink", it makes it sound like drugs.

Alcohol is a drug, just a legal one. And tbh, it's a hell of a lot more problematic than many drugs, even those in the Class A category.

omgitsthelazor

summerskin wrote: »

can of pop

:pac:

Who calls it this?

grindle

120_Minutes wrote: »

It's not done in Ireland simply because we're weak willed with an immature attitude to drink, and can't stop at " just one"

This (and all posts like it).

Went to Denmark in Transition Year, walked into one of the (doorless!) classrooms in their school, and the bins had beer cans in them, there were a couple of students dotted around the room with a can in their hand, and other students leaving whenever they wanted a cigarette!
In my conditioned Irish brain I thought "This can only end in chaos!"
Nope. Most attentive students I've ever sat around.
Apparently, if you treat people maturely, like adults, they behave maturely.
Crazy. Unthinkable in Ireland.

What do we have to change to become less... cünty?
At what point is it conditioned into us to go "Jesus, I can take advantage here, better act the spastic."?

seamus

If it was a job where you have minimal interaction with other people, you'd get away with it. A programmer or something sucking on a couple of bottles while tying up loose ends on a friday afternoon.

If you have to talk to other people, go to meetings or write up mails and such though, I can't see how being even the slightest bit tiddly would be in any way a good career move. Personally I would find it very frustrating having to deal with a colleague who'd had 3 pints this afternoon and came back to work.

A pint, grand. Two or three bottles over the course of an afternoon would also be fine, you wouldn't even feel it. But three hours in the pub before going back to work? No way.

I've gone out for lunches which include wine and even after a glass and a half I'm nearly nodding off at the desk and ridiculously unproductive. Then about 4.30 the goo kicks in and all I can think about is getting out of work and down to the pub for a nice pint.

"Weak willed and immature" is a very naive and simplistic way of looking at it. Having the willpower to stop after two pints doesn't make you any more productive when you go back to work. I don't avoid drinking at lunchtime because I'm afraid I won't stop, it's because I know that once I've had a couple of drinks, I'll get nothing else done that day (either in work or at home).

Sea Filly

jester77 wrote: »

Fairly normal here, you can get beer in most company canteens. The difference is people will have just one with their meal and go back to work. They wouldn't be trying to wolf down 3 pints and head back.

Hate daytime drinking, makes me feel wrecked and disorientated and unmotivated, even if I only have ONE.

BTW, I used to work in the UK and in my workplace, it was NOT the done thing and would be seriously frowned upon. It was scientific work though, an area not compatible with a liquid lunch.

Dangerous Man

I have a beer on ocassion with my lunch. I went last Friday to bar with a colleague for a feed and a beer. I had two beers and a bloody lovely Irish stew, went back to the office and answered some emails. Don't get me wrong, I like to have a few, but I'm also able to leave it at one or two.

westendgirlie

I had a brunch, for lunch.






This isn't the hemingway thread, is it?

Cee-Jay-Cee

Its because we Irish are physically unable to go into a pub without getting absolutely bladdered. It actually shows great resilience on our part where we resist the urge to go to the pub for an hour and save it for that night or the weekend when we can go and stay for much much longer.

ciarang85

did it once with 2 lads from work, went down and necked as many pints as we could in a hour, one of the lads was banana's going back to work , i don't know how we didn't get caught

wouldn't do it again it's not worth looseing a job over

shopaholic01

Sackable offence for me unfortunately

Sea Filly

summerskin wrote: »

Like when people say they have "taken a drink", it makes it sound like drugs.

It is drugs.

So is caffeine, I suppose.

Mairzydoats

westendgirlie wrote: »

I had a brunch, for lunch.






This isn't the hemingway thread, is it?

I just started a thread about brunches. Had one yesterday. Massive disappointment.

Agricola

I used to do it alot in college. If there was a free class and there was nothing pressing to be done, we'd head to the college pub for usually 1 pint because thats all the time we'd have. But there were a few occasions when whole afternoons were written off. I found the task of listening to a lecturer difficult after 3 pints, so I don't know how you could be any way useful in a job after it. I don't think its a case of the Irish being responsible in the work place though, its more a culture of alcoholism which dictates that when we go to the pub, we GO TO THE FÚCKING PUB BABY. So best not to mix business and pleasure.

Sea Filly

120_Minutes wrote: »

It's not done in Ireland simply because we're weak willed with an immature attitude to drink, and can't stop at " just one"

grindle wrote: »

This (and all posts like it).

Went to Denmark in Transition Year, walked into one of the (doorless!) classrooms in their school, and the bins had beer cans in them, there were a couple of students dotted around the room with a can in their hand, and other students leaving whenever they wanted a cigarette!
In my conditioned Irish brain I thought "This can only end in chaos!"
Nope. Most attentive students I've ever sat around.
Apparently, if you treat people maturely, like adults, they behave maturely.
Crazy. Unthinkable in Ireland.

What do we have to change to become less... cünty?
At what point is it conditioned into us to go "Jesus, I can take advantage here, better act the spastic."?

But for some of us, even just one is potent and makes us useless for the rest of the work day. I wish people would realise that, that for some of us, it's not a fear of going off the head, just simply our physiological reaction to even one drink.

kfallon

omgitsthelazor wrote: »

:pac:

Who calls it this?

Me! Tin of pop and a nutty bar, great little snack

Sea Filly

seamus wrote: »

"Weak willed and immature" is a very naive and simplistic way of looking at it. Having the willpower to stop after two pints doesn't make you any more productive when you go back to work. I don't avoid drinking at lunchtime because I'm afraid I won't stop, it's because I know that once I've had a couple of drinks, I'll get nothing else done that day (either in work or at home).

+1. Same with me.

Amazing what people will find to get on their high horses about.

shopaholic01

Nothingbetter2d wrote: »

when i used to work for John Moylan & Associates on the last friday of the month they used to put a table up in the office full of beer/wine/and softdrinks... they would also have crisps and nuts there too.

we could drink at our desks while we worked.

Ever have a job where you had to actually work :rolleyes:??????

Nothingbetter2d

shopaholic01 wrote: »

Ever have a job where you had to actually work :rolleyes:??????

once but it was too hard so i quit

kfallon

I won't lie to ye, I was tempted to have a pint at lunchtime. Too many people around tho so said I'd wait til 4ish!

Funglegunk

I'm having wine at 5 this afternoon. After work!

I'd dread going back to work if I had a few pints at lunchtime.

summerskin

shopaholic01 wrote: »

Nothingbetter2d wrote: »

when i used to work for John Moylan & Associates on the last friday of the month they used to put a table up in the office full of beer/wine/and softdrinks... they would also have crisps and nuts there too.

we could drink at our desks while we worked.

Ever have a job where you had to actually work :rolleyes:??????

At another of my jobs in London we had beers in the office from 4pm onwards on fridays and also had a team of masseuses/masseurs there to give us all head and shoulder massages while we lounged around on giant bean bags.

Great working for a company with young owners. Over here I have to wear a suit and "be professional". Funnily I don't feel as satisfied or productive in my job now as I did in that one.

My belief is that if you need a shirt and tie on in order to feel professional then you can't be that professional really. It's about much more than dress code.

Nothingbetter2d

summerskin wrote: »

At another of my jobs in London we had beers in the office from 4pm onwards on fridays and also had a team of masseuses/masseurs there to give us all head and shoulder massages while we lounged around on giant bean bags.

Great working for a company with young owners. Over here I have to wear a suit and "be professional". Funnily I don't feel as satisfied or productive in my job now as I did in that one.

My belief is that if you need a shirt and tie on in order to feel professional then you can't be that professional really. It's about much more than dress code.

any of the masseuses/massuers give happy endings?

Elvis_Presley

I'm just back after 2 pints in the beer garden downstairs! I can see a beer garden from my office window, it doesn't help productivity.

shopaholic01

Nothingbetter2d wrote: »

any of the masseuses/massuers give happy endings?

I'll give you a happy ending;)

kfallon

Elvis_Presley wrote: »

I'm just back after 2 pints in the beer garden downstairs! I can see a beer garden from my office window, it doesn't help productivity.

Few pints in the beer garden and a burger on the jax and you are as happy as a pig in shite eh

Jess16

iguana wrote: »

Alcohol is a drug, just a legal one. And tbh, it's a hell of a lot more problematic than many drugs, even those in the Class A category.

For you maybe -but most of the people I know don't turn into anti-social, homewrecking, dregs of society as soon as they've had a drink and whereas I know alcohol can be a huge issue for some people, the majority of us don't morph into monsters the minute a drink passes our lips -assholes are assholes with or without alcohol, the alcohol just makes them care less about keeping it concealed

AeoNGriM

summerskin wrote: »

Working in the UK, and particularly in London, we used to go out for a pint most lunchtimes, and every friday lunch meant about three hours in the pub followed by an hour of chilling in the office doing nothing. How i miss those days.

How come nobody in Ireland seem to do that? Last time I mentioned it to someone they looked at me as though I was from another planet, and shouldn't I just get a chicken roll and a can of pop from Spar like everyone else???


So, how many of you would like to go for lunchtime pints, and how many think it's just another step down the rocky road to alcoholism and is unprofessional?

Cos it will result in getting sacked?




Also, drinking several pints at lunchtime and then driving home = sheer stupidity.

Elvis_Presley

There's also a fridge 2m behind me, might pop out for a restock.