Thursday, June 6, 2013

Booze in the Office?



I love AMC's Mad Men.  The wife and I are finishing up the fifth season on Netflix (we typically run behind on our stories) and I am really getting a kick out of Don's newfound hunger for excellence.  Because I work every day in an office setting, I find myself furnishing my space after Sterling Cooper Draper Price's decor as best I can, which of course includes a bottle of good booze.

Man, those folks can drink!  Watch any episode and you will see that the first thing they do is poor a glass of whisky or vodka before meetings in each other's offices.  And this seems to be at all hours of the day.  Bourbon in Don's office, vodka in Roger's, and cognac or gin in Lane's.  The liquor itself tells a little about each character, but their always "neat" pours of booze convince me that there was never an edge to take off.

Fast forward to today.  Sure, Mad Men is a tv show that celebrates perhaps the fringes of Madison Avenue, but the drinking all seems fairly common and well-received.  If I met with a client today and offered a glass of Scotch (Laphroaig Triple Wood at present) I imagine the result would not be landing the Jaguar campaign.  More likely, I would be refused, maybe not hired at all, and at best my client would always assume I'm sitting at my desk with a glass, hacking up their case.  Why is it that our American society has become so much more liberated in the past fifty years, yet so much less intolerant to imbibing in the liquors of the world?

Don't get me wrong; I am not advocating working intoxicated.  I practice the law, and my clients deserve me at my best.  I just want to point out how things have changed in the US so that anyone not at a bar that offers a drink is looked down upon like an alcoholic.  I suppose many on the show would be considered alcoholics by today's standards, but I still think it's odd.

I do have a bottle of Scotch in my office, and it rarely sees the light of day.  Just having the bottle and glasses on my bookshelf gets the occasional comment.  I don't drink during the day, and I don't drink with clients.  It just seems strange to me that what once was such habit has become taboo in the business community (at least my business community).  Weird.

Slainte'

JD


John D. Duncan is president of J.D. Duncan, PC, founding partner of Prater, Duncan & Craig, LLC in Newnan, Georgia, and is Esquire by Day.  You can find him at www.jdduncanlaw.com, or follow him on twitter and Facebook.