Would you have a drink at lunch and then go back to work?

I used to think it was unprofessional. But once I had a few jobs where employees were treated like crap, I changed my mind.

Bartender. I don't get a lunch break so I just drink on the clock.

US/Engineer

At my first job, a fairly large firm with a few hundred people, I remember the furtive glances around the table as everyone didn't want to be the first one to order a beer. Once a single person ordered one, several others would too. The boss was fine with it, but nobody did it in front of the boss's boss. We never had more than one, though.

At my second job, a small, new company with 12ish people, it was pretty common. Sometimes someone would bring a six pack to share into the office on a Friday afternoon. Usually, the owners would join in.

At my current job in the public sector, the culture just isn't there. Nobody drinks at all during work hours. I don't drink as much anymore, anyway.

Switzerland, IT

Depends on the team. It's not that uncommon in some occasions, for example on a friday, to have a beer when eating lunch in a restaurant.

Very common is the "Apero"-culture. Small festivities after work to celebrate something. Snacks, beer and wine are part of it. Sometimes this can also be during the day and people will continue to work after.

UK IT dev here. When I started working in the field back in 2000ish it was perfectly fine for IT staff to pop to the pub. Did for many years. Then in my 20s it became normal to have drinks after work rather than during work. Then when marriage etc came along, it became neither.

I see no problem with a single drink at lunch, specially with your team. It helps you relax and build rapport imo.

At my previous job, my manager would take our 5-6 people team out for lunch and a beer for anyone's birthday and at the end of the year. I miss that.

My current job doesn't allow it, so going out for lunch with co workers is a little more stiff, and so is my relationship with my manager.

Last christmas I had to work during the break with only 1 co-worker, we snuck out and had pizza with a berr. It was great.

I am a winemaker in the Pacific Northwest. I sample wines a lot throughout the day but mostly I spit, I still catch a bit of a buzz sometimes though. Sometimes during harvest when we're working long days outside I'll have a beer or two. We celebrate the start and end of harvest with champagne. When I work wine tasting events I look forward to trying wines from other local wineries, I usually have a fair number of tastes throughout the event. I think I actually drink more at work than I do at home.

At a professional office in the American South, I wouldn't drink alcohol for lunch, but if a coworker brought some into the office, I'd have some.

When I worked in kitchens and bars? Regularly

Now, driving a forklift and using a nail gun every day.. I’ll wait till I get home

Sure, if I'm meeting a vendor for lunch it would be normal. If I'm just sitting at my desk working through lunch like I typically do, it would be really strange to have a drink and I'd probably be reprimanded.

USA, IT worker

Used to work for a company that started out as a US startup for IT Services, later it was purchased by a large German company.

During its startup days, you did not dare drink alcohol at lunch time.

After being bought by the German company, you did not dare NOT to drink alcohol at lunch time. Especially if someone from Germany was visiting. They viewed it odd that we had an aversion to drinking beer at lunch.

I work in manufacturing in America. There's NO FUCKING WAY. You'd be fired immediately if caught. I don't even think the union would try to back you up. It's simply too dangerous of an environment. However, reeking of booze from the night before? Apparently totally fine.

US IT. They provide us with drinks at lunch anytime there’s a company wide meeting.

I'm in the UK. I worked at a couple of places in the '90s - sysadmin and IT trainer - where this was considered perfectly acceptable at the time, but I definitely wouldn't now. I'm no longer in IT at all, but I don't think that it is seen as acceptable very widely anywhere now.

IT worker in system analysis and design in the public service in Canberra, Australia.

There's no official policy though many of my co workers believe a lunch time drink is not allowed. I have often enjoyed a couple of glasses of wine or a beer at lunch, have never made a secret of it, and have never been told off or warned by anyone above me

Where I work, it's a non issue. As long as it doesn't impact your work and nobody notices it (foul odor or behaviour), nobody could care less.

Used to work in marketing, UK. There was a frew beer fridge, with instructions to only help yourselves after 1630 on a Friday. Beers at lunch were fairly standard on a Friday, less so on other days but not unheard of.

In my past life, I worked as Data Manager in a movie, at the lunch break, everyone would smoke pot as if nothing. I couldn't do it because I can't use computers while high.

In the US at a white collar job. 1 (2 max) drinks every once in a long while for a work lunch is acceptable. Depends on how comfortable you are with your coworkers and if anyone else seems willing to drink a beer or two.

When I worked for a startup we'd sometimes go out for lunch and everyone would have a drink or two. We also kept beer in the office fridge but that was reserved for more Friday afternoons.

Since I work from home... this is totally acceptable.

No. Work is giant liability now days.

I've had white collar jobs where champagne breakfast was a thing, and blue collar jobs with heavy equipment where driving with any degree of intoxication had serious consequences but, surprisingly enough, not necessarily dismissal.

Also, decades ago, I worked with skilled laborers who would have a beer over lunch, and with concrete finishers who would drink a case of beer between 2 or 3 people while working. I feel like concrete finishers used to work for a flat dollar rate plus beer. If there was enough beer, they would stay all night long.

I worked in 3 different European countries, in both academia and industry,

While not being common, it's not that rare to take a glass of wine or beer when doing a real-restaurant for lunch break at work. At least for people working in office.

Depends on what drink it is, I think that a beer would be acceptable in most places, hard liquor brobably not.

Most places have an alcohol restriction on premises. But lunch time is your own time. Bars near the auto plants used to have 30+ beers already opened so the workers could come in slap their money down and get right to drinking at 12:05. I worked at one place where boss bought beer and pizza for the whole company for doing well that week. I think shop guys had 1 beer restrictions, for "safety". Us office guys could have more. 2 beer and pizza makes it hard to stay awake at the computer though.

US, audit & tax

Once in a blue moon, on a really nice day, we would get a patio table and have a margarita with lunch. Only if it was a slow work day, like with nothing but webinars scheduled for the afternoon (as attendees, not presenters).

It was not uncommon to see beer in the office fridge during tax season because those folks would be pulling 15+ hour days for pretty much 3 months straight.

I'm currently in a production support role in the US, and I'd never consider it: I work too closely with production operatives that they'd smell it on me. My last couple of role involved programming automated forklifts, so it was strictly forbidden.

Ten years ago I was doing an internship an engineering firm in the UK, and a few times we went out for a beer with lunch. It wasn't exactly common, but it did happen.

If my boss gets a drink and I want a drink, it's fair game. Otherwise no.

no.

Depends on what the boss does, but if I'm the most senior person, and especially if it's a conference or lunch meeting with someone I know well, and the itemized bill isn't required for reimbursement, sure thing. Have many times.

Some older companies have policies in place that define appropriate circumstances under which staff can have 1 drink during duty hours and it not be an actionable offense.

In my previous job I had to travel very often to customer's sites or or other offices

The ones in Germany drank regularly during lunch time. I never felt comfortable to do it since my job was very technical. In one office they even had a fridge full of beers and wines that you could grab freely. I never saw anybody drinking at the office tho

I personally don't drink, but my team is all WFH, so I don't doubt at all that there are some that have a beer or two with lunch. Or a glass of wine.

When we have in person events, there's a pretty strict no drinking culture, but once the event is over, usually people will shuffle off to the nearest pub or bar or we've done a board game cafe with booze before.

Don't drink.
Sometimes the colleagues crack open a cold one near the end on a Friday or we chill in an office corner as a sort of after-work "party"

Years ago, I was working on a house where there were several nests of these wicked looking red wasps. I had been working around them all morning quite safely. At lunch, I drank half a beer, and was almost immediately stung twice when I went back to work. I don't know if it affected my timing or my scent, or something else.