Drinking on the job

I don't drink, but at my first paper, there was a bar right across the street, and some of the newsroom staffers would regularly spend their dinner breaks over there. They didn't last very long.

 

I see no problem with having one while writing at home.

I have a big problem with having even just one before covering a high school or youth event.

I also have a problem with SID staffs that crack them open in the press box while there are still writers on deadline. Not only is it unprofessional, IMHO, but it mocks those who are still working. After everyone's done? Pass me one.

 

It's clear to me that this is an awfully, awfully bad reason to stop at the bar and have a drink in the first place. If you can't "deal" with covering a winless girls' basketball team, you might be in the wrong profession. God, man, it's a sporting event.

 

I admitted it was a stupid thing to do. It's easy to say that now, hindsight being 20/20 and all. It was early in my career, I'd spent all day designing pages on deadline and I had about two hours to kill before the game started. I went out to get some dinner and faced with the prospect of spending the rest of the night watching two abominable girls basketball teams, I decided a beer sounded mighty good.

Good idea? Absolutely not. Unprofessional? Sure. But I was young and dumb and didn't know any better at the time. Does that make me a bad person or unworthy of my job title? I hope not.

 

Obviously. Everyone knows stoners are awful quotes.

 

When I worked for an afternoon paper, I spent many a summer evening watching amatuer baseball and drinking beers in the press box.

PA guy used to crack his into the microphone. Claimed it increased sales.

I'd also end up having to announce a half inning with half a buzz on while he hauled ass to the men's to deposit some used Coors.

 

Look, it's not just you. I've read this sort of thing a good bit. And I just don't get where covering a bad girls' basketball game is such an unbearable thing. It's not spending eight hours with a shovel.

 

As an aside, my predecessor at my current gig used to finish designing pages on deadline day, then spend the rest of the afternoon throwing back cold ones at the local watering hole while he waited for games to start. He was roundly criticized by the rest of the staff but never fired. His behavior has always made me a little wary around this subject, but the fact that he wasn't shit-canned is part of the reason I started this thread.

It's pretty obvious from the responses so far where most people draw the line on this issue. It has always struck me as funny that Fortune 500 execs can go out for a three-martini lunch and think nothing of it. When I go out to lunch with colleagues, I always order water. But enjoying a good beer with lunch shouldn't make me a bad person or a bad sports writer.

 

Nobody seems to have answered this one yet...
What about college or professional press boxes that open up the tap or set out a few six-packs while everyone is writing their stories? Whether or not it is smart to do so, is it alright to drink then?

 

If you're done for the day, sure.

 

Hey man, I get it. I've done the manual labor thing too, and I much prefer my current gig. But every job, even the best job in the world, has a downside. It just so happens that there is nothing on this earth I hate more than bad girls basketball. There just isn't.

It's not an excuse, it's just info relevant to my previous story.

 

I know some midwest SID's who have done the same in the past after ball games, tho I dont know if they do any more.