Re:Zenefits will pay $3.4M in unpaid overtime to 743 employees
by timr on Tuesday June 20, 2017 @09:25PM
(#14599954)
Yeah, like I said...I've worked in offices that started with "we're all reasonable adults" policies. That's fine until it isn't anymore, and then it's a big, sad outrage and an excuse to complain about the "culture dying" when the rules change.
I'm not a teetotaler, but it just seems unnecessary to me. Start with a culture of "we drink at the bar", and it never has to be a problem for anyone in the first place. Alcohol doesn't make you better at your job, so there's really no argument for it, other than "culture", which goes back to the shibboleth thing....
Re:Zenefits will pay $3.4M in unpaid overtime to 743 employees
by walshemj on Tuesday June 20, 2017 @10:01PM
(#14600100)
The ultra puritanical attitude in parts of the USA is also a culture - and if you know your history it has a sectarian nativist basis against immigrants.
Re:Zenefits will pay $3.4M in unpaid overtime to 743 employees
by timr on Wednesday June 21, 2017 @01:18AM
(#14600845)
A dry workplace isn't "ultra puritanical", and implying that immigrants somehow need alcohol in the workplace is hilariously crude.
Re:Zenefits will pay $3.4M in unpaid overtime to 743 employees
by walshemj on Wednesday June 21, 2017 @02:10AM
(#14601163)
I was referring the attitude in the USA in general due to the early ultra protestant settlers, and if you look at the history of nativist anti immigrant movements it was aimed at European often poor catholic immigrants who came for areas with a well established brewing and wine traditions.
Re:Zenefits will pay $3.4M in unpaid overtime to 743 employees
by timr on Wednesday June 21, 2017 @03:11AM
(#14601552)
Yes, I know what you were referring to. But there's a huge logical gap between "established brewing and wine traditions" and "must have alcohol at work".
The prohibition movement was at least partially anti-immigrant. But saying "drink on your own time" is neither prohibitionist, nor anti-immigrant.
They're not mutually exclusive. My office has alcohol, but people only tend to drink around or after 5, and typically quietly at their desk while working on something. Occasionally there will be a few people having a conversation in the kitchen over beers in the late afternoon.
I wouldn't describe it as a frat house though, and I think if you need to use that to describe an office, that's your problem; the alcohol is just a symptom.
I'd be okay with removing the alcohol if my employer also stopped driving me to drink[1].
[1]: https://www.stilldrinking.org/programming-sucks