

How many of you are allowed to drink beer at work? - blhack

I swear I used to see this as a "perk" that lots of tech companies offered.  A few of my friends have worked jobs that have a kegerator in the break room.<p>Maybe I'm just living in a filter bubble, is this actually common at tech companies?
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gyardley
Sure - it's fairly common at startups, especially in urban areas where many or
most people aren't driving home at night. If you like beer, it's a nice-enough
perk.

Note that there's unwritten etiquette around the consumption of alcohol in the
office - don't get sloppy or obnoxious, save it for lunch / the end of the day
/ Friday afternoon (varies from company to company), use common sense. No one
arrives in the morning and helps themselves to a tasty pint during the morning
stand-up.

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byoung2
I worked at a startup in Malibu, CA and we had "Tasty Beverages" (a nice
selection of beer) every Friday afternoon on the terrace overlooking the
Pacific Ocean. Once we grew as a company and "went corporate" we had to sign a
sheet pledging not to exceed the legal limit according to an attached DMV
chart. As the largest employee in the office (6', 225 lbs), I was able to
drink 3 beers, while everyone else was limited to 1-2.

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EnderMB
We've always had beer available near the end of a hard day at work, and it
seems to be the norm at nearly every agency I've worked at or with.

Frankly, I don't see the fuss. After just a single beer I don't really feel
like carrying on with my work. It's nice, but it's not something I'd miss and
since people rarely seem to carry on working after a bottle of beer I'd rather
just either head home or for the team to head out and have a drink at a pub.

It's more a ploy to make the job seem better than it is to twenty-something
developers.

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ameister14
It's not just in tech companies. A few friends of mine that worked on Capitol
Hill used to have beer in the congressional office fridge provided by the
Chief of Staff.

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ishbits
I've found that companies are more open to Friday beers until someone has an
incident on the way home.

But back in the dotcom bubble the startup I was at had beer in the pop machine
on Fridays.

Now I work at home and have a beer fridge just outside my home office door.

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venturebros
I some times look at the career section for startups and alcohol seems to be a
common theme. Either kegs or stocked fridges.

I wonder if we will see 420 friendly companies in WA and CO in the near
future.

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PonyGumbo
A friend works at a company that sends around a beer cart at 4pm on Fridays.
It seems like sort of a bad idea to provide employees with alcohol, then send
them out into rush hour traffic.

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dagw
We do on occasions, but only on Fridays after 4 pm and not more than a couple
of beers (not an official rule, but everybody pretty much sticks to it) unless
its a planned office party.

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codegeek
Not necessarily allowed, but I used to work with IB traders who used to have
beer/pizza every other week and being their "IT support", we used to get the
leftovers. fun times :)

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eshvk
We have bottled beer and a "home"-brewing kit at work. I think this is fairly
common in startups. Obviously, use good judgement and save it for the end of
the day.

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john76y
In my previous employment, alcohol was not allowed at work. In my current job,
there is no rule like that but none of them offered beer at work anytime.

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peterxy37
same here

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mildavw
Beer is always available in the fridge. It's consumed at a slow pace though,
usually at the end of the day by a few people, and not every day.

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jpker
Yes it is, here in Crowd Interactive (www.crowdint.com) we drink beet at
anytime, we have billiard table, xbox's, air hockey and bbq grill.

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skylarsch
We have a kegerator and frequently go out to local breweries for lunch.

No one gets "drunk" but it's a nice way to wind down the day.

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lewispollard
The IBM lab I interned at had a cricket clubhouse with a full bar!

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Randgalt
We have beer and whisky every Friday

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leeloo
We have beer in the fridge.

